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 http://www.athleticsfanproshop.com/authentic-andrew-triggs-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, 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 Jake Smolinski Jersey ,” 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, he’s 4-1 with a 2.08 ERA.The teams have split the first two games of the series. MIAMI — On Wednesday night, Miami Marlins rookie right-hander Sandy Alcantara will get another chance.Alcantara (1-0, 1.80 ERA), set to face the visiting Philadelphia Phillies in the rubber game of a three-contest series Bruce Maxwell Jersey , will be making just his second major league start.Still, he doesn’t lack for confidence. The Dominican native with the golden right arm — his fastball has reached 102 mph — wasn’t too happy earlier this summer when he was still in New Orleans, which is Miami’s Triple-A affiliate.Article continues below ...“I have to wait for (the Marlins’) decision,” Alcantara said in Spanish at that time. “But I feel I should’ve been in the majors a long time ago. Sometimes it makes me mad. I attack hitters so that they know I should not be in the minors.”Alcantara, 22, finally made his first major league start on June 29, beating the New York Mets while allowing three hits, five walks and one run in five innings.Immediately following that game, however, Alcantara landed on the disabled list due an infection in the armpit area.Now Alcantara will be matched up against Phillies right-hander Nick Pivetta (7-10, 4.66 ERA), a 25-year-old native of Canada.Pivetta took the road less traveled to the majors — from Canada to New Mexico Junior College and then the Washington Nationals http://www.athleticsfanproshop.com/authentic-chad-pinder-jersey , who drafted him in the first round in 2013.Last year, Pivetta made his major league debut, flashing a high-powered fastball that averages 94.8 mph.Pivetta has a 4.28 ERA in 16 home appearances this year, including 15 starts. On the road, Pivetta has been worse — a 5.19 ERA in 12 starts.In six career starts against the Marlins, Pivetta is 2-1 with a 5.83 ERA.The Phillies are counting on Pivetta because they gained a game on the first-place Atlanta Braves on Tuesday. The Phillies are now three games behind Atlanta in the National League East.“We have a ton of confidence,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler told philly.com.The Phillies certainly played with confidence on Tuesday, getting three RBIs each from Cesar Hernandez and Asdrubal Cabrera in a 9-4 win over the Marlins.Carlos Santana also homered and had two RBIs for the Phillies, and Jake Arrieta struck out a season-best 11 batters to earn his 10th win of the season.Cabrera, acquired from the New York Mets on July 27, hit a two-run double and a solo homer. He has 23 homers this year — seven of them against Miami and five of those at Marlins Park. In fact, Cabrera has a home run in four straight games against the Marlins.Hernandez Brett Anderson Jersey , who went 2-for-3 with two walks, a single and the triple, snapped out of a slump — he had gone 1-for-18 in his past five games.As for a hot Marlins hitter heading into Wednesday’s game, watch out for catcher J.T. Realmuto, who homered twice on Tuesday. He has 20 homers this season as a first-time All-Star.Realmuto will also be in charge of guiding Alcantara from his crouch behind home plate.“(Alcantara) throws hard, but they will hit you as you go up levels if that’s all you have,” New Orleans manager Arnie Beyeler said. “He needs to continue to develop his fastball command.”