The Kansas City Royals and the Detroit Tigers enter Sunday's series-finale of this three-game set tied at 1-1. The Royals picked up a rare win on the road last night, but I don't think they'll be able to repeat that today with a pitching match-up in favor of the Tigers.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Pitching - The Tigers hand the ball to Michael Fulmer (9-2, 2.11). The 23 year old rookie has been terrific over his first half of a season in the major leagues, and the Tigers have won all but two of his 13 starts. He's already faced the reigning World Series champions once when he held them to one run in 5 1/3 innings at Kauffman a month ago. The Royals counter with Yordano Ventura (6-7, 5.15 ERA). He's lost each of his three starts since returning from an eight-game suspension after a brawl with Baltimore's Manny Machado, and he's 2-5 with a 5.67 ERA in nine road starts this season.

2. Road Woes - The Royals are just 17-31 away from home this season and they've lost 14 of their past 16 road games vs. a team with a winning home record. Detroit is a solid 24-17 home at Comerica Park and Fulmer is 2-0 with a minuscule 1.04 ERA in three starts in front of the home crowd.

3. X-Factor - The Royals have lost each of Ventura's last six starts against a team with a winning record.

Selection: This is a play on the Detroit Tigers (8*)