Tigers right-hander Spencer Turnbull will look to win his third straight start when Detroit hosts the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.
He’ll try to help the Tigers put Saturday’s embarrassing 15-3 loss behind them and win the rubber game of the series.
Turnbull (2-2, 2.53 ERA) has allowed one earned run in 17 innings over his past three starts. He’s managed to mostly work around eight hits and eight walks in that span.
“He’s got a good arm,” manager Ron Gardenhire told the Detroit Free Press. “He can rear back and let it fly and blow it by people. I’ve said all along, I like watching this kid pitch.”
Last time out, he gave up one run on three hits and two walks in six innings against the Philadelphia Phillies. Turnbull struck out five, but hit a pair of batters and threw three wild pitches.
“Not necessarily,” a smiling Turnbull told MLB.com when asked if he views the description “effectively wild” as a compliment. “But work with whatever works. Definitely kind of just rolling with that term right now, but I’m just trying to get outs, and however I have to do that is what I’m going to do.”
He’s gone six innings in two of his past three starts and the Tigers could use that length after using five relievers on Saturday.
Turnbull allowed three runs — two earned — in six innings of a no-decision against the Royals on April 4. He struck out 10 batters that day while walking two.
Sunday’s start will be his 10th in the majors, making Royals starter Brad Keller a grizzled veteran by comparison.
Keller (2-3, 4.07) will be making his 28th career start and second since returning from a five-game suspension for throwing at the White Sox’s Tim Anderson.
In his first post-suspension start, he gave up four runs in the first two innings against the Tampa Bay Rays. Manager Ned Yost left him in and Keller settled down, throwing two scoreless innings before allowing one more run in the five-inning effort.
“A lot of people could’ve been out of that game in the second inning,” Yost told the Kansas City Star. “I told (pitching coach Cal Eldred) there’s no way we’re doing that. One, I can’t afford it. I don’t have the pitching for it — he’s going to have to go 100 pitches.
“A lot of guys could just continue to fight it, fight it, fight it and be down 10 runs, be down 11 runs. But he continued to compete.”
It was the second straight subpar outing for Keller, who started the season 2-1 with a 2.64 ERA over his first five starts.
Keller’s only previous start against the Tigers came on April 7 when he allowed three runs on five hits in six innings of a 3-1 loss.
He’ll be hoping the Royals’ offense on Sunday looks more like it did on Saturday when they scored 15 runs on 19 hits and 10 walks.
Alex Gordon had three hits, including a homer, and drove in five runs. Whit Merrifield also homered as the Royals set season highs in runs and hits.
Rookie Kelvin Gutierrez had his first career four-hit game, Jorge Soler had three hits and two RBIs, and Adalberto Mondesi had two hits and three RBIs.
It was the third multi-hit game for Gutierrez since his April 27 debut, but his first with more than two hits.
“I feel great because the team gives me an opportunity and I play great,” Gutierrez told the Star.