James Shields and Justin Verlander provide a great start to the baseball day as the Royals and Tigers battle this afternoon in Detroit. Shields is showing the same great control he did with the Rays, but added an improvement in his home run rate Royals. Verlander cut down on his home runs allowed as well (as if he needed improvement) and is holding batters to a .150 BA with runners in scoring position.

Jeremy Hellickson and Chris Sale have both pitched well except for home runs allowed. Both gave up four so far in a little over 25 innings. Sale’s high K rate has not translated into a very low BA allowed, as opponents are hitting .245 against him. That makes the White Sox defense look suspect. The Rays look good on defense again, as with a lower K rate, Hellickson holds opponents to a .211 BA.

Finally, the Rockies and Diamondbacks continue their race for the NL West title with Jorge de la Rosa visiting Trevor Cahill. Jorge made most of his starts on the road this season, holding opponents to a .224/.297/.379 slash line. Cahill worked as much at home, with opponents posting a .234/.306/.359 line against the righty in Phoenix.

Enjoy!