1. That’s three straight losses for the Tigers, pulling the Twins within 1 1/2 games of first place. Armando Galarraga overcame his recent struggles and tossed seven strong innings Monday, but the Royals scored two off Joel Zumaya before Mike Jacobs hit his game-winning homer off closer Fernando Rodney.

Tonight, the Tigers will send Justin Verlander to the mound, opposite Kansas City’s Bruce Chen. It’ll be Luke French vs. Zack Greinke on Wednesday.

2. Jesse Crain had his best outing since reporting to Class AAA Rochester on Monday night, though it came against last-place Buffalo. The righthander held the Bison hitless for 2 2/3 innings, allowing one walk and notching two strikeouts, earning his first Triple-A victory since 2004 and lowering his ERA to 3.72. Crain threw 19 of his 30 pitches for strikes.

3. Tonight, the Twins will face C.C. Sabathia for the first time since June 10, 2008, when he fired a five-hit shutout against them in Cleveland. It’s time to dust off some career numbers against Sabathia, and they aren’t pretty:

Michael Cuddyer 10-for-49 (.204)
Justin Morneau 6-for-36, with 1 HR (.167)
Joe Crede 6-for-38 (.158)
Nick Punto 6-for-35 (.171)
Joe Mauer 5-for-20 (.250)
Brendan Harris 3-for-12 (.250)
Delmon Young 2-for-12 (.167)
Carlos Gomez 1-for-4 (.250)
Jason Kubel 0-for-2 (.000)

OK, but someone explain these: Mike Redmond 13-for-26 (.500); Alexi Casilla 9-for-13 (.692).

Redmond hopes to be ready tonight after being out with a bruised right forearm, and Casilla is at Rochester, where he went 3-for-5 on Monday, raising his average to .343.

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