(Sports Network) - The Detroit Tigers will play the final tuneup before one of their biggest series of the season this afternoon, when the current American League Central leaders wrap up a three-game set with the visiting Kansas City Royals at Comerica Park.

Detroit enters today's play owning a 4 1/2-game lead on second-place Minnesota in the division standings with 17 remaining in the regular season. The Tigers and Twins will face one another three times at the Metrodome this coming weekend.

But first the Tigers will have to deal with Royals ace Zack Greinke in today's finale. The AL Cy Young Award candidate has yielded two runs or less in each of his past four starts to lower his major league-best earned run average to 2.19 for the season, and has given Detroit plenty of trouble in previous encounters this year.

Greinke is 2-1 in four starts against the Tigers in 2009, but has allowed a mere five runs (4 earned) and 19 hits over 31 innings in those outings. In his most recent trip to the Comerica Park mound, the standout right-hander gave up only three hits through seven shutout frames in a tough-luck no-decision during a contest Detroit won by a 1-0 score.

The 25-year-old has also been plenty good against the rest of the AL as of late. Greinke held Cleveland to one run and four hits in a seven-inning no- decision this past Friday, six days after surrendering only one unearned run and fanning eight through eight frames in the Royals' 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

In 21 career games (18 starts) versus Detroit, Greinke has built an impressive 10-5 record with a 2.62 ERA.

The Tigers counter with an All-Star of their own in Edwin Jackson, who's won five of his last six decisions to up his 2009 record to 12-6 and has been tough to beat at home this season. In 13 starts at Comerica Park, the offseason acquisition is 7-1 with a 3.44 ERA.

Jackson wasn't at his best in a home appearance against Toronto on Sunday, however, as the right-hander was reached for five runs and served up three homers in a seven-inning stint while getting a no-decision in his team's 8-6 loss. He has permitted four runs or more in three of his past four starts.

The 26-year-old is 1-1 with a 3.65 ERA in two matchups with Kansas City earlier this year, with the win coming at Comerica Park back on August 15. Jackson owns a 3-2 record with a 4.34 ERA over six lifetime games against the Royals, five of which have been starts.

Detroit rebounded from a humbling 11-1 defeat to Kansas City in Tuesday's series opener with last night's 4-3 victory, in which Adam Everett and Placido Polanco delivered RBI singles in the bottom of the sixth inning to bring the Tigers back from a 3-2 deficit.

Everett finished 2-for-4 and knocked in a pair of runs on the evening, while four Detroit relievers combined for four shutout innings. Zach Miner picked up the win after working a scoreless top of the sixth, with Fernando Rodney protecting the one-run edge in the ninth to notch his 33rd save.

The Tigers had lost six times in an eight-game span before coming through on Wednesday, and halted a string of five straight defeats to the last-place Royals.

"It's been a long time," said Everett of the win. "[The Royals] have been beating us up pretty good. To get a win and to win in that fashion is big for us,"

Mitch Maier went 3-for-4 with an RBI single for Kansas City, while David DeJesus collected a base hit in his final at-bat to extend his hitting streak to 16 games. The outfielder is batting .338 (23-for-68) over that span.

Detroit has won nine of the 17 overall meetings between the divisional foes this season, including five of the eight tests held at Comerica Park.









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