KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- The Kansas City Royals hope to avoid the worst season in franchise history today when they face the Detroit Tigers in the regular-season finale for both teams.

	SEASON SERIES
	Jun. 22 Jun. 23 Jun. 24 Jul. 21 Jul. 22 Sep. 24 Sep. 25 Sep. 26 Sep. 27 Oct. 1 Oct. 2 Oct. 3	at Kansas City 4, Detroit 2 at Kansas City 10, Detroit 1 Detroit 6, at Kansas City 4 at Detroit 10, Kansas City 5 at Detroit 9, Kansas City 8 Kansas City 7, at Detroit 3 at Detroit 11, Kansas City 3 at Detroit 6, Kansas City 1 at Detroit 8, Kansas City 2 at Kansas City 9, Detroit 5 Detroit 4, at Kansas City 3 Detroit at Kansas City, 2:05pm ET

Saturday's 4-3 loss to Detroit dropped the Royals to 64-97, guaranteeing them no better than a tie with the 1970 squad that finished 65-97.

Rookie Chad Durbin (0-0, 0.00) makes his first major league start and only his second appearance for Kansas City. The 21-year-old righthander tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings at Detroit on September 26.

The Tigers are currently 4 1/2 games ahead of last season's 65-97 finish but they did not build off last year's strong finish under then-interim manager Larry Parrish.

First baseman Tony Clark needs one RBI to become the first Tiger to drive in 100 runs in each of his first three seasons.

Brian Moehler (10-16, 5.04 ERA) tries to beat the Royals for the second time in as many starts. The righthander limited Kansas City to two runs and nine hits over six innings in an 8-2 victory at home on Monday in the final game at Tiger Stadium.

The win was the first in five starts for Moehler, who has allowed three runs or less in six of his last seven starts.

DETROIT 10-game log	KANSAS CITY 10-game log
Sep. 27 Sep. 28 Sep. 29 Sep. 30 Oct. 1 Oct. 2 Oct. 3 Kansas City @ Minnesota @ Minnesota @ Minnesota @ Kansas City @ Kansas City @ Kansas City W 8-2 W 7-4 W 6-3 W 6-5 L 5-9 W 4-3	Sep. 26 Sep. 27 Sep. 28 Sep. 29 Oct. 1 Oct. 2 Oct. 3 @ Detroit @ Detroit Cleveland Cleveland Detroit Detroit Detroit L 1-6 L 2-8 L 1-2 W 5-2 W 9-5 L 3-4

Detroit regulars

POS

NO

PLAYER

HT

WT

B/T

AB

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

AVG

C 1B 2B 3B SS LF CF RF DH

12 17 9 7 8 34 46 23 29 25

Brad Ausmus Tony Clark Damion Easley Dean Palmer Deivi Cruz Juan Encarnacion Luis Polonia Gabe Kapler Karim Garcia Gabe Alvarez

5-11 6-7 5-11 6-1 6-0 6-3 5-8 6-2 6-0 6-1

195 245 185 210 184 187 160 208 172 205

R-R B-R R-R R-R R-R R-R L-L R-R L-L R-R

458 536 549 560 518 509 333 416 288 53

126 150 146 147 147 130 108 102 69 11

25 29 30 25 35 30 21 22 10 3

6 0 1 2 0 6 8 4 3 0

9 31 20 38 13 19 10 18 14 2

54 99 65 100 58 74 32 49 32 4

.275 .280 .266 .263 .284 .255 .324 .245 .240 .208

Complete Detroit roster

Kansas City regulars

POS

NO

PLAYER

HT

WT

B/T

AB

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

AVG

C 1B 2B 3B SS LF CF RF DH

19 15 3 16 14 1 18 36 24 29

Chad Kreuter Jeremy Giambi Carlos Febles Joe Randa Mendy Lopez Rey Sanchez Johnny Damon Carlos Beltran Jermaine Dye Mike Sweeney

6-2 6-0 5-11 5-11 6-2 5-9 6-2 6-0 6-4 6-2

200 205 170 190 190 170 190 175 220 215

B-R L-L R-R R-R R-R R-R L-L B-R R-R R-R

324 288 453 628 20 479 583 663 608 575

73 82 116 197 8 141 179 194 179 185

15 13 22 36 0 18 39 27 44 44

0 1 9 8 1 6 9 7 8 2

5 3 10 16 0 2 14 22 27 22

35 34 53 84 3 56 77 108 119 102

.225 .285 .256 .314 .400 .294 .307 .293 .294 .322

Complete Kansas City roster

Regulars Statistics source: STATS, Inc.

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