Stingy hurlers Kennedy, Zimmermann to match up

Jordan Zimmermann and Ian Kennedy have settled in quickly with their respective new teams thanks to strong starts. On Wednesday, they'll get their first experience of the division rivalry the Tigers and Royals built the last few years.

It'll be a test for both, who were the major rotation additions for their respective teams. The Tigers jumped the market by signing Zimmermann to a five-year, $110 million contract over Thanksgiving weekend. Three months later, the Royals found their replacement for Johnny Cueto in Kennedy, signing the former D-back and Padre to a five-year, $70 million deal.

Both additions have paid off big early. While Zimmermann has yet to give up a run in 13 innings, beating the Yankees and Pirates, Kennedy has 13 2/3 innings of one-run ball in wins over the Twins and Astros. They'll get a different test Wednesday night.

Things to know about this game

• Kennedy will face the Tigers for the third time since he was part of their three-team trade with the Yankees and D-backs at the 2009 Winter Meetings that brought Max Scherzer to Detroit and Curtis Granderson to New York. Scherzer's signing in Washington a year ago helped set up Zimmermann's free agency.

• Justin Upton, a former teammate of Kennedy's in Arizona, is 3-for-8 with a home run against him. Ian Kinsler is 5-for-7 with three doubles off Kennedy.

• Zimmermann beat the Royals in their only meeting in 2013, tossing 7 2/3 innings of two-hit ball with seven strikeouts at Kauffman Stadium in Washington's win.

Salvy's 5-RBI night leads Royals past Tigers

Catcher Salvador Perez doubled and homered and drove in a career-high five runs as the Royals held off the Tigers, 8-6, on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Perez doubled in two runs in the third, then blasted a three-run homer off reliever and former Royal Blaine Hardy that gave the Royals an 8-2 lead.

"I didn't know [it was a career high] until after the game," Perez said. "It felt really good."

Added manager Ned Yost: "Salvy had a great night. Big three-run homer."

Right-hander Yordano Ventura started for the Royals and survived five innings, giving up six hits and two runs while walking three and striking out six.

Shane Greene had command issues and was chased with one out in the fifth. He gave up six hits and walked four, while being charged with seven earned runs.

"Leadoff walks, two-out walks, they all come back and haunt you," catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Aggressive sends: Royals third-base coach Mike Jirschele tested Tigers left fielder Justin Upton early twice, and it got the Royals' offense going. In the second inning, Jarrod Dyson, just off the disabled list, blooped a single to left and Jirschele sent slow-running Kendrys Morales from second base. The throw from Upton beat Morales easily, but the ball skipped past Saltalamacchia. In the third inning, Perez shot a double down the line in left with runners on first and second. Jirschele sent Gordon, who had been on first, home, and Gordon easily beat Upton's errant throw.

"Jirsch had some really good sends," Yost said.

Saltalamacchia homers again: Saltalamacchia couldn't handle Upton's throw home in the second inning, helping the Royals build their lead, but he handled Danny Duffy's breaking ball in the seventh to try to bring the Tigers back. Saltalamacchia's three-run home run, a 423-foot drive to straightaway center field according to Statcast™, was his third homer in as many games, and his fifth this season.

Herrera puts out fire: Royals reliever Joakim Soria inherited an 8-5 lead in the eighth but quickly got into trouble with two hits and a walk around a strikeout. In came Kelvin Herrerato face Miguel Cabrera, and Herrera promptly struck him out on three straight sliders. Herrera plunked Victor Martinez in the right knee with a slider, forcing in a run, making it 8-6. But Herrera then got J.D. Martinez to pop out.

"Quite frankly, [Soria] is having hard luck," Yost said. "Every ground ball is finding a hole against him."

Herrera and Cabrera matched up in a classic 10-pitch duel at Kauffman Stadium last May, and Herrera won it with a 98-mph fastball for strike three. This time, Herrera went all sliders.

"I remembered that at-bat last year," Herrera said through interpreter Pedro Grifol. "I thought he would be looking for [fastball] again. I thought I would change it up with the slider, maybe get the ground ball. ... He's a great hitter."

Traffic jam for Cabrera: Longtime Royals nemesis Miguel Cabrera, flummoxed for most of the evening by Ventura's changeup, put the Tigers on the scoreboard in the fifth inning with a two-run double into the right-field corner off Ventura's fastball, atoning for a bases-loaded opportunity squandered with a strikeout in the third.

Cabrera later struck out with the bases loaded in the eighth for his fourth punchout of the night, just the fourth time he's fanned that many times in a big league game.

"When you're swinging at balls, that means you make a good pitch," Cabrera said.

QUOTABLE
"It means the world to me." -- Teresa Thaman, cancer patient from Joplin, Mo., on getting to meet Perez, her favorite player, before Tuesday's game.

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Saltamacchia became the first catcher in Tigers history to hit five home runs in the team's first 12 games of a season. He's the first Tigers catcher with a three-game homer streak since Alex Avila in August 2011.

WHAT'S NEXT
Tigers: Jordan Zimmermann, owner of 13 consecutive scoreless innings to begin his Detroit tenure, gets his first taste of the Tigers-Royals rivalry in the second game of the series Wednesday night at 7:15 p.m. ET. Zimmermann -- then with the Nationals -- tossed 7 2/3 innings of two-run ball at Kansas City in his only meeting with the Royals in 2013.

Royals: Right-hander Ian Kennedy gets the nod in Game 2 of the series in a 6:15 p.m. CT start on Wednesday. Kennedy has dazzled in his first two starts, both wins, posting a 0.66 ERA.

Archer seeking better results from slider

A quality pitching matchup will be featured Wednesday night when the Rays send ace Chris Archer to the mound and the Red Sox go with Rick Porcello.

Neither has been in top form this season, but that could turn around at Fenway Park.

Archer took the loss against the Indians on Thursday, dropping him to 0-3 with a 5.87 ERA in three starts. He is now 0-6 with a 5.83 ERA in nine starts since picking up his last win on Aug. 31 at Baltimore. Opponents are batting .289 (55-for-190) over that stretch.

"I haven't had my A slider yet and I've still had some pretty decent results," Archer said. "I'm thinking that I can definitely use my changeup a little more. My fastball's been OK, but I think at the end of the day, the sharpness of my slider has been the difference maker. Look at the balls that I've had damage on. They're not-executed sliders. Maybe decent action, but not in the right location."

Archer maintains that he has not lost confidence despite the streak.

"How do you navigate through that?" Archer said. "Trust yourself, period. Just like any other walk of life when you're struggling. You look in the mirror and say, 'I can do this. I can get this done.' And then you typically get it done with that attitude."

Archer is 1-6 in 11 career starts against the Red Sox with a 5.14 ERA.

Porcello recorded wins in his first two starts of the season, both against the Blue Jays even though he has a 5.11 ERA. The long ball was Porcello's only problem in both outings. He gave up two to Jose Bautista in his first start and two to Edwin Encarnacion last time out.

"He did a really nice job with throwing his fastball to both sides of the plate," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "Against a powerful, right-handed hitting lineup, I thought he pitched in effectively. He used enough secondary pitches to set up his fastball."

Porcello is 5-4 in 11 career starts against the Rays.

Three things to know about this game

• Rays manager Kevin Cash said there was a good chance Hank Conger will start at catcher for the Rays. He is 0-for-7 throwing out would-be basestealers this season and 0-for-44 dating back to May 27.

• After starting nine of the first 10 games this season, Brock Holt was out of the lineup for the last three. He will return to left field for this one against Archer. Holt had a strong road trip to start the season, but he is 1-for-13 on this homestand.

• Brad Miller has two at-bats against Porcello and homered in each during a game last season. David Ortiz has had success against Archer over the years, going 9-for-26 with two homers and 11 RBIs.

Rays have plenty of reasons to smile

 Kevin Kiermaier roped a homer deep into the right-field seats to open the top of the 10th and lead the Rays to a 3-0 victory over the Red Sox on Tuesday night at Fenway Park.

It was Kiermaier's first homer of the season, and it came on a 2-2 curveball from Matt Barnes. The long ball was projected by Statcast™ to land 402 feet away from home plate, and then the Rays padded their lead on a two-run ground-rule double by Desmond Jennings that came after a two-out error by third baseman Travis Shaw.

Lefty Drew Smyly was magnificent for the Rays, firing eight innings of one-hit ball. After a single by Jackie Bradley Jr. loaded the bases with nobody out in the third, Smyly retired 17 batters in a row before giving way to the bullpen in the ninth.

"[Smyly] made it look pretty easy tonight, and I know it's not," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "That lineup is very deep and has a bunch of solid hitters. So you can get tricked into thinking it looks easy, but we know it's not."

Red Sox right-hander Joe Kelly was forced out of the game after recording just two outs in the first with a right shoulder impingement and will be placed on the 15-day disabled list.

Despite the overpowering performance by Smyly, the Red Sox stayed in the game thanks to a stellar performance from the bullpen. Manager John Farrell deployed four relievers over 8 1/3 scoreless innings.

"Outstanding," Farrell said. "They were efficient, they had good stuff and they threw a lot lot of strikes. All of them threw the ball exceptionally well."

That stretch ended abruptly when Barnes came on to start the 10th against Kiermaier. It was the third loss in a row for the 6-7 Red Sox. The Rays have the same record, but have won three in a row.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Smyly dominates: The left-hander extended his scoreless streak against the Red Sox to 20 1/3 innings. Smyly threw 105 pitches, 71 of them for strikes, and he tied a career high with 11 strikeouts for the second consecutive start.

"Yeah, I was just real sharp today," Smyly said. "I had command of all four of my pitches. I was able to get ahead and work the counts." More >

Missed opportunity in third haunts Sox: It seemed all but certain the Red Sox would jump out first when they loaded the bases with nobody out in the third. Chris Young and Ryan Hanigan opened with walks, followed by Bradley's single to center. But Mookie Bettsfollowed with a crisp grounder to third, and Evan Longoria easily cut down the run at the plate. Dustin Pedroia hit into a 6-4-3 double play, and the Rays were out of the jam.

"I'm trying to just drive the ball to the middle of the field," said Pedroia. "I fouled off some pitches and he threw kind of like a cut fastball down in the zone. I was trying to stay inside of it. It cut at the last second. I pulled my hands in and just kind of hit a ground ball to short."More >

Kiermaier jump-starts offense: The outfielder was sitting fastball in the 10th, but he reacted quickly enough on a curveball to break the scoreless tie.

"I didn't want to get beat on a fastball, so I was looking fastball," Kiermaier said. "I was ready for the fastball. I had my foot down and reacted to the curveball. So I was not sitting on that, but that's what I had and I saw it really well out of his hand and just put a really good easy swing on it and it jumped off good enough to go over right there." More >

Hembree strong in return: After Kelly departed, reliever Heath Hembree was pressed into emergency duty on the same day he was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket. The righty came through in a big way, firing 3 1/3 shutout innings while walking none and striking out four.

"When I come into that situation there, I know I have to eat some innings and help the bullpen out," said Hembree. "I was just trying to get quality innings and go as far as I could."More >

QUOTABLE
"He does so many good things for us. He can be quiet at the plate and impact us. We all see what he does defensively. When he does get on base, the havoc that he can create. ... It's just a matter of time before he gets going." -- Cash, on Kiermaier's offense

UNDER REVIEW
When Red Sox lefty Robbie Ross Jr. fielded a Longoria grounder and threw to first in the top of the sixth, Hanley Ramirez was initially pulled off the bag. Farrell challenged the call, and it was overturned after a review of one minute and 13 seconds. Though Ramirez did come off the bag, he got his foot back on an instant before Longoria arrived.

In the top of the ninth, Farrell again tried his luck on a challenge play. Brad Miller hit a grounder to second and the Red Sox tried to turn a 4-6-3 double play. The throw by Xander Bogaerts pulled Ramirez off the bag at first, but Farrell challenged that the takeout slide by Jennings was illegal. However, the call stood.

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
This was just the second time in the past 100 years the Red Sox were held to one hit or fewer in an extra-inning game. The last time was Sept. 18, 1934, in a 2-1 win against the St. Louis Browns. The last MLB team to be held to one hit or fewer in an extra-inning contest was the White Sox in a game against the Mets on May 7, 2013.

Smyly has a 0.00 ERA in the first innings of his last 11 starts.

WHAT'S NEXT
Rays: Chris Archer (0-3, 5.87 ERA) is looking to find the magic in his fourth start of the season on Wednesday against the Red Sox at 7:10 p.m. ET after a disappointing beginning to 2016. The Rays' ace has not won since Aug. 31. The deepest he has pitched in a game this season was 5 1/3 innings in his last start on Thursday against the Indians.

Red Sox: Righty Rick Porcello (2-0, 5.11 ERA) will face someone besides the Blue Jays for the first time this season. Porcello's only problem so far has been the long ball. He gave up two homers to Jose Bautista in his first start and two more to Edwin Encarnacion last time out.

Veterans Dickey, Jimenez square off in Baltimore

The Blue Jays and Orioles have two of the better lineups in the American League, but an unlikely pitchers' duel could still emerge Wednesday night at Camden Yards.

R.A. Dickey is scheduled to take the mound for Toronto, while the Orioles will counter with veteran right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez. To date, both pitchers have enjoyed a lot of success against their division rivals, and if that trend continues, it could be a low-scoring affair in Baltimore.

Jimenez is 6-4 with a 3.89 ERA in 13 career appearances against the Blue Jays, but a closer look at his pitcher vs. hitter matchup doesn't bode well for Toronto's offense. 

Baltimore has experienced similar problems with Dickey, who has a 3.09 ERA in six career appearances at Camden Yards, but so far this season Dickey has struggled to find his stride.

"I'm not disappointed in my knuckleball -- I'm disappointed in the results, obviously," said Dickey, who has allowed 11 runs in 14 2/3 innings. "But my knuckleball has been pretty good. It's moving late, I'm keeping the ball in the ballpark a majority of the hits this year."

Three things to know about this game:
• Russell Martin has more at-bats against Jimenez than anyone else in the Blue Jays' lineup, but he won't be starting with Dickey on the mound. Backup backstop Josh Thole will get the call instead, as he does for all of Dickey's starts.

• Toronto went 11-8 vs. Baltimore last year, which was the Blue Jays' first winning season against the O's since 2011. From 2012-14, Toronto went 24-32 against Baltimore and is 14-24 at Camden Yards during that same span.

• The heart of the Blue Jays' order -- Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion -- are a combined 10-for-79 all-time against Jimenez. The Orioles trio of Manny Machado, Adam Jones and Chris Davis are 14-for-66 in their careers against Dickey.

Tulo, Bautista back Stroman in Blue Jays' win

 Troy Tulowitzki drove in two runs as Toronto won for the fifth time in its last seven games against the Orioles, 4-3, on Tuesday night.

Blue Jays starter Marcus Stroman went seven strong innings, allowing homers to Manny Machado and Matt Wieters and scattering six hits in the 101-pitch performance that improved him to 3-0 on the season. Jose Bautista and Ryan Goins also drove in runs for Toronto in the series-opening win.

"It's a very dangerous team, one of the best lineups in all of baseball, up and down, one through nine," Stroman said. "Just have to be on your 'A' game. You can't really give in at any point, and you really have to execute. I feel like I executed for the most part pretty well."

Orioles starter Mike Wright, pitching on an extra day of rest, turned in a quality start over six innings. Wright allowed three runs and struck out four in the O's fourth loss in their past five games.

"Mike's firing. He's all pistons and, 'Let's go,' but I think he's learned that sometimes more's not always better," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "He still reached back and got a little fastball when he needed it. But it was part of the repertoire instead of something he was doing every time. He two-seamed the ball and four-seamed the ball and spun the ball some.

"The tack-on run usually bites you against a good team like that. Of course [Toronto closer Roberto] Osuna very quietly has become one of the better guys at the end of the game."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Tulo time: Tulowitzki's start to the season has been one to forget, but he did make some amends in the top of the third. With two outs and a pair of runners on base, Tulowitzki hit a soft liner to left field that got away from a diving Joey Rickard and rolled all the way to the wall. Michael Saunders and Bautista scored as Tulowitzki snapped a skid at the plate, in which he had gone 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. More >

Wieters' first homer: The O's catcher picked an opportune time for his first blast, sending Stroman's 1-1 pitch over the right-field fence for a homer that stood up after crew chief review. The homer, which also scored Mark Trumbo, brought Baltimore within a run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

"Last year when he came back, he had so much time away from Major League pitching. Matty's had some good at-bats. Just a reminder of what an offensive threat he can be behind the plate," Showalter said. "He had a big hit in Boston. He's been real close. I think he's been real close to being the guy we know he can be and that he has been. It's good to see." More >

Wright-ing the ship: Despite allowing three runs in the first three innings, Wright was able to find a way to stay in the game and go six. The righty scattered six hits and relied heavily on offspeed pitches to get the job done.

"The innings they scored runs, he wasn't quite able to throw that offspeed for strikes. It's big to be able to make that in-game adjustment for him," Wieters said. "It's not just, 'Oh, I don't have it for that inning', It's, 'I've got to find a way to get back'. And he did that tonight."

Osuna to the rescue: Osuna was not available Monday afternoon against the Red Sox because of a blister, but he was ready to pitch Wednesday. Osuna entered with two on and two out in the eighth inning and eventually got Trumbo to fly out to end the threat. Osuna came back for the ninth to record his first multi-inning save of the season and the fifth of his career.

"It felt weird watching the ninth from the dugout but [thankfully I] was out there tonight," Osuna said. More >

QUOTABLE
"He demolished that, it was a bad pitch." -- Stroman on Wieters' home run in seventh inning

"We're trying to win games, so with Kevin [Gausman] coming back, that's only a positive, so I think I'm giving my team a chance to win. If a move has to be made, it has to be made, but I think we're all out here trying to win." -- Wright on the upcoming rotation crunch

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Edwin Encarnacion extended his hitting streak to seven games with a single to lead off the second inning. After a slow start, Encarnacion is 7-for-17 with two doubles and two home runs over that same span.

Bautista registered his 900th career hit in a Blue Jays uniform with a double in the seventh inning. It was also the 300th multi-hit game of his career.

JONES EXITS
Adam Jones exited in the top of the seventh inning with a stomach virus. The news was a relief, considering the center fielder has been bothered by rib soreness that caused him to miss six games already this season. More >

UNDER REVIEW
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons lost a challenge in the bottom of the fourth inning following a disputed call at first base. Wieters hit a slow dribbler to second and Goins dove on it, then threw to first. Wieters was ruled safe, but Gibbons wanted to take a closer look. Following a three-minute review, the call stood because there wasn't sufficient video evidence to confirm or overturn the decision.

WHAT'S NEXT
Blue Jays: R.A. Dickey will look to turn his season around when the Blue Jays and Orioles continue their series at Camden Yards on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. ET. Dickey has yet to toss more than five innings in a start this year and has walked eight batters in 14 2/3 innings.

Orioles: Ubaldo Jimenez will take the mound on Wednesday night against the Blue Jays. The right-hander is looking to rebound after a loss to Boston in which he went five innings, walked four and yielded four runs on six hits.

A's look to continue recent success vs. Yanks

Coming into this week's series, the A's have dominated the Yankees in recent memory, and that knowledge will still be lingering when the teams face off Wednesday, especially after the A's pulled away with an 11th-inning victory in the opener.

Oakland won 13 of the 19 games against New York between 2013 and '15. Despite the wide margin of success, the seven games between the Yankees and A's in 2015 were split about as even as they could be. The A's held a one-game advantage, winning four of the seven games, but barely outscored the Yankees by a 27 to 25 spread.

Flamethrowing starter Nathan Eovaldi will take the mound for the Yankees on Wednesday against Kendall Graveman. Eovaldi is 0-1 with a 6.94 ERA in two starts this season, while Graveman has fared much better with a 2.38 ERA, but he is also 0-1 and has lost six straight, dating back to last season.

Things to know about this game

• Eovaldi's early-season struggles can be traced back to his inability to keep the ball in the park. The power pitcher has allowed four home runs in 11 2/3 innings this season. This is a big reason why, despite his high rate of 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings, his Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) is a less-than-stellar 5.52 in the early going.

• Graveman doesn't have much experience against Yankees hitters in his career, and the results haven't been very positive in his limited exposure. Yankees bats are a lifetime 7-for-18 against Graveman, with catcher Brian McCann seeing the most success, going 3-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs.

• Assuming Eovaldi and Graveman don't throw complete games, expect the bullpen arms to be throwing strikes, and plenty of them. Coming into this series, the A's and Yankees ranked first and second in the AL in bullpen strikeout-to-walk ratio, and the Yankees led the Majors in bullpen strikeouts per nine innings.