David Price, Tigers kick off 10-game road trip Monday

Tigers 1/2 game ahead of Royals in AL Central

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Detroit Tigers (13-6) hit the road Monday for the first time since April 15 after finishing a mediocre home stand with a series win over the Indians on Sunday.
Detroit split 10 games during the stretch at Comerica Park, losing four straight before winning the last two over the weekend. Among the four losses was a 13-4 defeat at the hands of the New York Yankees in which ace David Price allowed eight earned runs in 2.1 innings.

Price will look to get back on track Monday against the Twins.

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First Pitch: 8:10 p.m. on FSD

Minnesota is all-too familiar with Price, who shut down the Twins offense for 8.2 innings on Opening Day. The 29-year-old allowed just five hits in the game, striking out five and inducing 15 fly balls.

The Twins own average numbers against Price in his career, coming in with a .250 batting average and five home runs as a team. Torii Hunter has eight career hits off of Price, including one home run, while Joe Mauer bats just .185 with seven strikeouts in their meetings.

Tommy Milone will oppose Price for the Twins, entering the game with a 2-0 record and 3.38 ERA. Milone threw 7.2 shutout innings in his first start, allowing just two hits and striking out seven. But in his two outings since, he's tossed only 11 total innings and allowed seven runs on 12 hits, seven walks and three homers.

His numbers against Tiger batters aren't pretty.

Miguel Cabrera bats .385 against Milone, while Ian Kinsler (.313) and J.D. Martinez (.286) have a combined nine RBI in 30 at-bats. The roster as a whole bats .314 with 13 RBI and only 13 strikeouts against Milone.

In his last start against the Tigers (Aug. 22, 2014), Milone allowed 10 hits and three earned runs in 4.1 innings, but the Twins won 20-6.

For Detroit, this is the fifth series against an AL Central opponent this year. The Tigers have won each of the four previous series and own a 10-2 record within the division.

Brad Ausmus is really shaking up the order for the series opener:

Ian Kinsler, 2B
Jose Iglesias, SS
Miguel Cabrera, 1B
Victor Martinez, DH
J.D. Martinez, RF
Yoenis Cespedes, LF
Alex Avila, C
Hernan Perez, 3B
Anthony Gose, CF

Iglesias, who is hitting .379 with only six strikeouts this season, will hit in the No. 2 hole after hitting at the bottom of the lineup (except when he hit 8th in Pittsburgh, ahead of the pitcher) in his first 18 games.

Gose will carry his .333 average to the ninth slot.

Kinsler starts his first game at leadoff this season. He was best atop the lineup in 2014, batting .287 with 12 homers in 359 at-bats.

The Twins will line up like this:

Brian Dozier, 2B
Torii Hunter, RF
Joe Mauer, 1B
Trevor Plouffe, 3B
Eduardo Nunez, DH
Kurt Suzuki, C
Shane Robinson, LF
Jordan Schafer, CF
Danny Santana, SS

In the last meeting between these two teams, the Tigers swept the Twins by a total score of 22-1 in three games. Minnesota scored its only run on a fielding error in the 7th inning of Game 3.

Detroit enters the series just a half game up on Kansas City for first in the division. Minnesota is 4.5 games back of Detroit.

Game 2 of the series will feature Anibal Sanchez against Mike Pelfrey on Tuesday night. In the finale, Shane Greene battles Phil Hughes.