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The Guardians, losers of 8 of their last 11, move on to Detroit for the first road series against the Tigers. Four games are scheduled, but there is a 50-60% chance of rain tonight and tomorrow night.
The Tigers are 15-28 overall and 9-13 at home. They have lost 5 of their last 7.
The Tigers are by far the worst offensive team in baseball, averaging 2.74 runs per game. The next worst, Pittsburgh, averages 3.40. So the Tigers are scoring 19% fewer runs than the second worst team. Their wRC+ is 76.
Here are their top six hitters ranked by number of at-bats and their batting averages:
Schoop (120 AB’s): .175
Candelario (109): .183
Baez (104): .163
Cabrera (102): .304
Grossman (94): .160
Torkelson (87): .195
After 43 games how can five of your top six hitters be under the Mendoza line?
Austin Meadows, who leads the team in on-base percentage, is out with a vertigo problem.
In May the Tigers are hitting .210 as a team and have averaged 2.35 runs per game. They hit better in April. I can’t imagine how painful it must be to be a Tiger fan right now.
The pitching is much better, as they rank 12th in team ERA. Their bullpen is excellent, ranking 2nd in the majors in ERA and 4th in strand percentage. You need to get a lead on their starter.
LHP Tarik Skubal goes tonight and getting a lead on him could be a problem. Skubal has an ERA of 2.22 and has not allowed an earned run in any of his last three starts, covering 18 innings. His last start was six days ago against the Guardians. He shut them out for five innings before taking a line drive off his lower leg that knocked him out of the game. He’ll be pitching on an extra day of rest.
The Guardians counter with a fill-in start by Konner Pilkington. Aaron Civale is on the 10-day after his glute cramped in his last outing. Pilkington pitched five scoreless innings in relief against the Giants and Yankees before getting his first start against the Blue Jays. He gave up two runs in the first inning with nobody out but then retired 11 of the next 12, allowing just one walk. So other than the first four batters in his start against the Jays, Pilkington has not been scored on.
Pilkington has a 5.02 ERA in Columbus (4 starts) so I’m not getting too excited yet. But he’s looked good up here in his 8.2 innings and he’s going against the worst offense in baseball by far. Still, edge to the Tigers tonight in starting pitching for sure.
If the Guardians don’t get some runs off the Tiger starters this weekend we could see a very low scoring series, similar to the Astros series which ended up 10-10 after three games.
The Guardians have dominated the Tigers the last few years and with the next 20 games against sub-.500 teams the G’s need to win this series and get rolling. The key will be getting hits with RISP and not making errors. I’d really like to see our pitchers figure out how to throw to bases without launching it into the outfield.
The Tigers are 15-28 overall and 9-13 at home. They have lost 5 of their last 7.
The Tigers are by far the worst offensive team in baseball, averaging 2.74 runs per game. The next worst, Pittsburgh, averages 3.40. So the Tigers are scoring 19% fewer runs than the second worst team. Their wRC+ is 76.
Here are their top six hitters ranked by number of at-bats and their batting averages:
Schoop (120 AB’s): .175
Candelario (109): .183
Baez (104): .163
Cabrera (102): .304
Grossman (94): .160
Torkelson (87): .195
After 43 games how can five of your top six hitters be under the Mendoza line?
Austin Meadows, who leads the team in on-base percentage, is out with a vertigo problem.
In May the Tigers are hitting .210 as a team and have averaged 2.35 runs per game. They hit better in April. I can’t imagine how painful it must be to be a Tiger fan right now.
The pitching is much better, as they rank 12th in team ERA. Their bullpen is excellent, ranking 2nd in the majors in ERA and 4th in strand percentage. You need to get a lead on their starter.
LHP Tarik Skubal goes tonight and getting a lead on him could be a problem. Skubal has an ERA of 2.22 and has not allowed an earned run in any of his last three starts, covering 18 innings. His last start was six days ago against the Guardians. He shut them out for five innings before taking a line drive off his lower leg that knocked him out of the game. He’ll be pitching on an extra day of rest.
The Guardians counter with a fill-in start by Konner Pilkington. Aaron Civale is on the 10-day after his glute cramped in his last outing. Pilkington pitched five scoreless innings in relief against the Giants and Yankees before getting his first start against the Blue Jays. He gave up two runs in the first inning with nobody out but then retired 11 of the next 12, allowing just one walk. So other than the first four batters in his start against the Jays, Pilkington has not been scored on.
Pilkington has a 5.02 ERA in Columbus (4 starts) so I’m not getting too excited yet. But he’s looked good up here in his 8.2 innings and he’s going against the worst offense in baseball by far. Still, edge to the Tigers tonight in starting pitching for sure.
If the Guardians don’t get some runs off the Tiger starters this weekend we could see a very low scoring series, similar to the Astros series which ended up 10-10 after three games.
The Guardians have dominated the Tigers the last few years and with the next 20 games against sub-.500 teams the G’s need to win this series and get rolling. The key will be getting hits with RISP and not making errors. I’d really like to see our pitchers figure out how to throw to bases without launching it into the outfield.
