(My Sportsbook) - Zack Greinke puts his impressive consecutive scoreless innings streak on the line tonight, when the Kansas City standout leads the Royals in the opener of a three-game series with the American League Central- rival Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium.

Greinke has fired nothing but zeros in each of his first three starts of 2009 and has a string of 34 straight innings pitched without surrendering a run dating back to last season. The former first-round draft choice has not been scored upon in any of his last five trips to the mound.

The 25-year-old continued his sensational run by tossing his first career shutout in last Saturday's 2-0 victory over Texas. Greinke scattered seven hits in that game and struck out 10 Ranger batters without issuing a walk.

Detroit has already been one of Greinke's victims during his streak, as the right-hander held the Tigers to four hits over seven shutout frames last September in his final start of 2008. He owns a lifetime 8-4 record with a 3.19 earned run average over 17 appearances (14 starts) against tonight's opponent.

Greinke is a big reason why the Royals' starting pitchers lead the AL with a collective 3.09 ERA. The team's relief corps hasn't been as effective, however, and the bullpen played a role in Kansas City's 5-2 loss to Cleveland in the rubber of a three-game series on Thursday.

The Royals held a 2-1 lead after seven innings before the Indians struck for four runs in the bottom of the eighth, with Grady Sizemore's three-run homer off lefty specialist Ron Mahay putting the Tribe ahead for good.

Sizemore's blast made a loser out of Kansas City starter Gil Meche (1-1), who had shut the Indians down through the first seven innings before faltering in the eighth. He was charged with four runs allowed (3 earned) over 7 1/3 frames.

Meche had retired 16 straight Cleveland hitters before giving up three straight hits to start the bottom of the eighth.

Mark Teahen went 2-for-4 and Alberto Callaspo had an RBI double for Kansas City, which completed a six-game road trip with a 3-3 record.

Detroit will be entering the final leg of a nine-game trek tonight and has split the first six tests of the jaunt. The Tigers took two of three matchups in Seattle to start the trip, but couldn't gain a series win against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in their next stop.

Anaheim prevailed by a 10-5 score in Thursday's finale, with the Angels compiling 14 hits off Detroit pitching and taking advantage of four Tiger errors on the night.

Edwin Jackson (1-1) was victimized by Detroit's poor defensive play, as three of the starting pitcher's six runs allowed in his five-plus inning stint were unearned. The right-hander was reached for eight hits and walked two before exiting.

Placido Polanco had a two-run single and Brandon Inge belted his team-best sixth home run of the season for the Tigers. Teammate Curtis Granderson finished 2-for-4 with an RBI to extend his hitting streak to seven straight games.

Detroit will send out 20-year-old sensation Rick Porcello to the hill in tonight's opener. The highly-regarded rookie earned his first victory in the majors his last time out, holding the Mariners to a run on five hits over seven excellent innings this past Sunday in Seattle.

Porcello, a first-round selection by the Tigers out of a New Jersey high school in the 2007 draft, made his big-league debut in Toronto on April 9 and allowed four runs and nine hits over five innings in a loss to the Blue Jays.

The Royals took 11 of the 18 overall meetings between these divisional foes in 2008, but Detroit has won in five of its last six visits to Kansas City and is 20-7 at Kauffman Stadium since the start of the 2006 campaign.