Detroit @ Kansas City preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 12, 2019 ) Detroit 3, Kansas City 2

The Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals boast several College World Series veterans, and those players will return to Omaha on Thursday when Major League Baseball is played in Nebraska for the first time. The Tigers and Royals started their three-game series in Kansas City, Mo., but conclude the set at TD Ameritrade Park with Detroit right-hander Matthew Boyd, who takes the ball Thursday, recalling his stellar performance in the 2013 CWS.

“It was a lot of fun,” Boyd told reporters about his four-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts over Indiana in an elimination game. “It was the last time I took the mound in an Oregon State uniform. It was a special game, big scene - it was win or go home sort of thing and we were facing the best offensive team in the nation. Just really, really special.” Thursday's contest offers a diversion for the Royals (21-46) and Tigers (25-39), who split the first two games of the set with Detroit's 3-2 victory Wednesday giving it a 6-2 season series edge. Kansas City's Alex Gordon, a Lincoln, Neb., native who played in the 2005 CWS with Nebraska, hopes a homecoming of sorts helps him snap out of a 2-for-16 funk over the last four games. Homer Bailey tries to halt a five-game winless streak during which he is 0-3 with an 8.10 ERA for the Royals, who are 0-14-2 in their last 16 series and share the worst record in baseball with Baltimore.

TV: 8:08 p.m. ET, ESPN

PITCHING MATCHUP: Tigers RH Matthew Boyd (5-4, 3.08 ERA) vs. Royals RH Homer Bailey (4-6, 5.90)

Boyd enters his unique start on a roll, going 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in his last four starts. The 28-year-old Washington state native allowed three runs in each of his last two turns, settling for no-decisions in losses to Minnesota on Friday and at Atlanta on June 2. Whit Merrifield, who delivered the walk-off hit that gave South Carolina the 2010 CWS title, is 12-for-28 with four RBIs and four doubles against Boyd, who improved to 4-7 with a 6.25 ERA in 15 starts against the Royals after defeating them 4-3 on May 3, yielding two runs with nine strikeouts in seven innings.

Bailey received a no-decision after permitting three runs and seven hits in six innings of Kansas City's 6-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Friday. The 33-year-old Texan, who threw no-hitters while with Cincinnati in 2012 and 2013, is 13-33 with a 6.18 ERA since the start of 2015. Bailey won at Detroit 15-3 on May 4, yielding two runs in seven innings, and is 1-1 with a 3.05 ERA in three starts against the Tigers.

WALK-OFFS

1. Detroit C John Hicks, who attended Virginia, is the only player to hit a home run in the CWS at Rosenblatt Stadium, which closed in 2010, and at TD Ameritrade Park, which seats 24,500 and hosts its ninth CWS beginning Saturday.

2. Kansas City starters boast a 2.51 ERA in their last four games with the shortest outing 6 2/3 innings.

3. Tigers CF JaCoby Jones, who played in the CWS with LSU, extended his career-high on-base streak to 17 games with two walks Wednesday and is batting .407 with a .470 on-base percentage during the run.

PREDICTION: Royals 3, Tigers 2