Gil Meche (4-8, 4.20) vs.
Armando Galarraga (5-7, 5.34), 7:05 p.m. EST
After a 3-9 road trip, the Detroit Tigers return to Comerica Park for a six-game homestand before the All-Star break. (And they're back in the eastern time zone! Hooray for night-time, post-game blogging at a reasonable hour!) The Kansas City Royals come to town winners of two straight, having done the Tigers a favor by defeating the Chicago White Sox in those games.
Gil Meche starts for K.C., having lost his past three starts. In his last outing, however, he held the Twins to two earned runs over six innings (despite tying a season-high with five walks). The Tigers knocked Meche around at Kauffman Stadium on Memorial Day, chasing him from the game after just 2.1 innings. But he's pitched well in Detroit. At Comerica Park, Meche is 5-1 with a 3.34 ERA in 12 starts.
The bad news about Armando Galarraga's last start is that he walked six Oakland batters in 6.1 innings of work. (Jim Leyland was not happy about that.) But the good news is that Galarraga held the A's to one run while allowing only two hits. He also struck out five batters for the second straight appearance, his highest totals in that category since April. But Galarraga lived dangerously with those six walks (the most he's issued all season), and a better team likely would've punished him for those mistakes. In three career starts against the Royals, he has a 2-0 record and 1.80 ERA.
Royals Review as your SB Nation opposing view for this three-game series.
Have you cast your All-Star vote(s) for Brandon Inge this evening? He's currently second (a close second) behind Ian Kinsler - who got to play on ESPN last night - in Final Vote balloting.
UPDATE: Here are your starting lineups: