Victor Martinez’s playing career will come to an end on Saturday when the Detroit

Tigers face the Kansas City Royals.He will be honored in a pregame ceremony at Comerica Park and serve as the designated hitter. He will not play the remainder of the season.Martinez Brett Cecil Jersey , 39, has been in the majors since 2002. He is a career .295 hitter and has hit 246 home runs. He’s been with the Tigers organization since 2011, though he missed the 2012 season with a knee injury.Article continues below ...“I think that’s just me thanking the Detroit Tigers fans and everybody here,” he told the Detroit News. “To play the last game of my career here, it’s just one of the ways to thank everybody. I think that would be fair for everybody.”Manager Ron Gardenhire believes it’s a fitting way for Martinez to head into retirement.“He’s just a special guy who has had a great career,” Gardenhire said. “Not just a good career, a great career. I’ve watched him from both sides, from the visitors’ dugout and from the home dugout. I’m pretty lucky.”Martinez will be facing a pitcher who has become a Tigers’ nemesis, Jakob Junis.The Royals right-hander has recorded half of his eight victories against his team’s American League Central Division rival. Junis has posting a 1.74 ERA while striking out 25 batters in 31 innings in those four starts. He’s held Tigers batters to a .193 average.Subtract those performances and Junis is 4-12 with a 5.04 ERA in his other starts. He’ll try to torment the Tigers once again in the third game of the four-game series.In his last start against them on Aug. 28, Junis collected the first complete-game victory of his career. He struck out seven and didn’t issue a walk in the 6-2 triumph.Junis (8-12 http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-marcell-ozuna-jersey , 4.42 ERA) had his shortest outing of the season on Sunday, giving up four runs on eight hits in three innings against Minnesota.“I had been keeping the ball down and staying ahead of hitters,” Junis told MLB.com afterward. “(Sunday), I was behind hitters and not keeping the ball down. Wasn’t in the zone consistently.”The Tigers haven’t seen that side of him. He’s 6-1 with a 3.14 ERA in seven career starts. Junis doesn’t have more than two victories against any other team.Detroit’s top hitter this season, right fielder Nicholas Castellanos, has gone hitless in 14 career at-bats facing Junis.The Tigers will counter with veteran right-hander Jordan Zimmermann (7-8, 4.41 ERA). He, too, struggled in his last outing on Monday. Zimmermann surrendered five runs in seven hits in 3 2/3 innings against Minnesota. He’s been tagged for seven homers in his last four outings.“He was really upset,” Gardenhire said afterward. “Just trying to figure out what was going on. Part of it is we haven’t been scoring runs. He’s healthy and he’s been throwing the ball well. He’s given us a chance most night. Just the last couple have been rough.”Zimmermann has traditionally pitched well against the Royals. In eight career appearances Michael Wacha Jersey , he’s 4-1 with a 2.08 ERA.The teams have split the first two games of the series. HOUSTON — Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa, mired in an extended batting slump linked to debilitating back soreness, will not play this weekend against the Los Angeles Angels.Correa (.238, 14 home runs, 62 RBIs) missed 36 games after landing on the 10-day disabled list on June 26. Presumed healthy upon his return, Correa has struggled instead, posting a .174/.257/.223 slash line with only four extra-base hits in 140 plate appearances since being reinstated from the DL on Aug. 10.“I don’t like it by any means, but it’s just the reality for us,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of Correa and his lingering back woes. “I think for Carlos to be who he is and what he can do for us we’ve got to get him to feel better.Article continues below ...“I’m not concerned that it’s going to impact too much longer, but I don’t like that one of our best players isn’t feeling great.”That Correa Ozzie Smith Jersey , who slashed .315/.391/.550 with 24 homers and 84 RBIs in 109 games last season, initiated his slump well before going on the DL is another concern.Correa last had an OPS above .900 on May 14. Since then, he owns a .205/.286/.328 line in 280 plate appearances.“He’s a perfectionist by nature so I think performance-wise he always wants to be elite,” Hinch said. “From a comfort standpoint, he hasn’t looked comfortable. He’s been able to maintain that defensively, but it’s looked like he’s had a little bit of a governor on his swing when he’s been up to bat.“I haven’t seen him let it go really since the time he’s been off the DL.“Of course it weighs on him. He wants to be out there, he wants to be good, he wants to hit in the middle of the order, he wants to lead us to a division title and beyond. He’s frustrated.”Right-hander Justin Verlander (16-9, 2.67 ERA) will make what is tentatively scheduled to be his penultimate start of the season on Saturday for the Astros (96-57) Albert Pujols Jersey , who clinched a postseason berth with an 11-3 victory on Friday. With his next strikeout, Verlander will set a season career high of 270, eclipsing his previous best set in 2009.After a rough August, Verlander has rebounded in September, going 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 21 innings and three starts. He is 4-1 with a 2.16 ERA in four starts against the Angels this season and 12-9 with a 3.12 ERA in 24 career starts against them.Right-hander Jaime Barria (10-9, 3.61 ERA) will make the 25th start of his rookie season and 12th on the road. He has an active streak of 15 scoreless innings away from Angel Stadium and has compiled a 2.53 ERA on the road. Barria is 1-1 with a 2.81 ERA in three starts against the Astros this season.About the only thing of interest that remains for the slumping Angels (75-79), who lost for the sixth time in eight games, is the pursuit by All-Star center fielder Mike Trout of a third American League Most Valuable Player award. Trout, the league MVP in 2014 and 2016 and runner-up in 2012, 2013 and 2015 http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-marcell-ozuna-jersey , clubbed his 37th home run in the series opener.Trout has homered in consecutive games and four times in the last five games to move to within four homers of his career high of 41 set in 2015. He finished 1-for-4 with two RBIs after entering the weekend leading the majors in on-base percentage (.463), slugging (.629), OPS (1.092), and adjusted OPS (199).“Nah, I don’t even pay attention to it,’ Trout said of the MVP chase. “I’m just trying to finish strong and don’t give up any at-bats because they’re running out.”