• Changing RCF's index page, please click on "Forums" to access the forums.

2020 Series #17 Indians @ Tigers, Sep17-20

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

Wham with the Right Hand

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Oct 3, 2019
Messages
9,551
Reaction score
27,288
Points
135
The Tigers started out surprisingly well this year with a record of 17-16 before losing 11 of their last 15. I think injuries played a big role as Jonathan Schoop, JoCoby Jones, Harold Castro, C.J. Cron and Ivan Nova are all out. All those guys are starters and Schoop, Jones, and Cron all have OPS's north of .799. It's a crippled team that's lost four of their last five games.

Tonight it's Bieber against rookie RHP Casey Mize, one of their top prospects. Mize is 0-1, 5.85 in five starts, all lasting between 3.0 and 5.1 innings. His max pitch count so far has been 83. Obviously he's had a rocky intro to the bigs at age 23 but he held the mighty White Sox to one hit in 5.1 innings in his last start so we might see another performance similar to Singer's near no-hitter last week. Wouldn't surprise me a bit. The Indians' hitters bring out the best in everybody, even struggling rookies.

Next it's Plesac against Michael Fulmer who is struggling through an awful season coming back from major arm surgery. He's 0-2, 9.27. In two starts against the Tribe he's allowed 8 runs in 5.2 innings and he got lit up his last two starts. His max pitch count has been 65 as they're trying to protect his arm.

Saturday it's McKenzie against Spencer Turnbull who is having a decent year at 4-3, 3.94, which includes a 2.01 ERA at home. He's a righty but lefties are only hitting .194 against him. He tends to be very good or very bad; his last four starts he's allowed 0, 5, 0, and 5 runs. If the pattern holds he should allow...0. However, in his only start against the Tribe he allowed 3 runs in 4.2 innings including 6 hits and 4 walks, so the Indians had good success against him last time.

Sunday's finale features Cookie against lefty Matthew Boyd, 2-6, 6.75. Right-handed batters are hitting .311 against Boyd. However, in his start against the Indians he only allowed 2 runs in 5.1 innings and he shut out the Royals over 5.2 innings in his last start. Batters are hitting .339 off him with the bases empty but with runners on it's .222 and with RISP it's .235 so I can see a game where the Indians threaten to score but strand a ton of runners. This guy is good at getting out of jams and the Indians suck with RISP so it could be a frustrating game.

The Tigers' bullpen has an ERA of 5.26 so if we can run up the pitch counts and get their starters out early it should be beneficial. They are limiting the pitch counts of Mize and Fulmer anyway, so it shouldn't be too hard. It would be great if they can get Mize and Fulmer out by the 4th inning in the first two games to make their bullpen throw a lot of innings early and be depleted for the last two games.
 
By the way, nosing around the Fangraphs site I noticed the Tigers lead the majors in "clutch" hitting, which is a measure of how well teams hit in high leverage situations, which are defined as situations where the game is "on the line". The Indians rank 25th, which should be no surprise to any Indians fan.
 
Predictions for tonight’s Indians offense...

2 runs, 6 hits, one base running miscue.

can we win with two runs?
 
By the way, nosing around the Fangraphs site I noticed the Tigers lead the majors in "clutch" hitting, which is a measure of how well teams hit in high leverage situations, which are defined as situations where the game is "on the line". The Indians rank 25th, which should be no surprise to any Indians fan.

I'm surprised there are 5 teams worse than our pathetic hitting squad.
 
So far Biebot is doing his thing and Jose is doing his.

3-0 Tribe in the top of the fourth.
 
Somebody tell me again why Luplow isn't playing.
 
Somebody tell me again why Luplow isn't playing.
 
As it is a football Thursday, I harken back to my old HS coaches — “If they don’t score, we cannot lose”...great job Biebs, and company! Time to start turning the ship around...
 
Watching the Browns so I have to ask, why in the hell is Bieber throwing 115+ pitches in a rout? WTF?
 

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Video

Episode 3-13: "Backup Bash Brothers"

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Spotify

Episode 3:11: "Clipping Bucks."
Top