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Coming off a very successful 5-1 road trip and a sweep of the battered Twins the Guardians come home for a tough matchup against the Los Angeles Angels. The Halos may be 29 games behind Houston and 30-39 on the road, but they are 9-6 in their last 15 games, including six against the Astros where they went 2-4.
The Angels swept a four-game series against the Guardians in April, outscoring them 20-7 in LA. The Guardians scored 0, 1, 5, and 1 run in the four games.
The Angels are a bad matchup for the G’s due to their excellent left-handed starting pitching. The Guardians are hitting .229/.628 against lefties versus .258/.712 against right-handers. The Angels will start three lefties this series with ERA’s of 2.98, 3.67, and 3.77. Runs will most likely be hard to come by.
The Guardians are starting Pilkington, Morris, and TBD, so the Angels will have the edge in starting pitching every game.
As if that weren’t enough, Mike Trout is hitting .375/1.444 in September. He hit .417 against Cleveland in April with 3 doubles, a triple, and a home run.
Taylor Ward is also hot, hitting .321/.858 in September. He was a wrecking crew against the Guardians in April, hitting .438 with three HR’s and 9 RBI’s in four games.
Catcher Matt Thaiss is hitting .385/1.015 in September and 2B Luis Renjfo is hitting .333 this month.
So the Angels are a bad matchup and they’re playing well right now. They’re not scoring a lot, ranking 28th in runs per game since the All-Star break, but their starters are pitching well, ranking 10th in ERA. Their bullpen is not as good, ranking 29th in FIP and xFIP and 25th in home runs per 9 innings since the break.
Reid Detmers, a 23-year-old rookie, starts tonight. Since returning from the minors in July he is 3-2, 2.52 in nine starts. On April 28 he went 5 innings against the Guardians allowing 2 hits and one run in 89 pitches.
Detmers has been a little shaky lately, going just 19 innings in his last four starts - under 5 innings per start. In his last 26 innings he’s allowed 32 hits and 9 walks. Detmers has pitched 114 innings this year after pitching 83 last year so fatigue may be setting in for the youngster. The key is to run up his pitch count and get him out after 4-5 innings.
Konnor Pilkington, 1-2, 3.99, goes for the Guardians. Pilkington has been pretty solid in his last four appearances, allowing six runs in 16 innings for a 3.37 ERA. As a starter opponents are hitting .285/.789 against him and the third time through the batting order they’re hitting .391/.996, so he is strictly a 4-5 inning starter who you hope can get through the order twice without a lot of damage.
Pilkington, 25, has a 5.66 ERA at Columbus this year and 4.75 in his last seven games. Lefties are hitting .323/.804 against him with the Guardians.
The Guardians have some momentum and the bats are starting to make a little noise, scoring 28 runs in the last six games. But until they start hitting better against lefties (and it's awfully late in the season to expect that to change) I don't expect them to score much against the Angels starters and we are starting three minor league pitchers this series. I would be happy if we can steal one game to be honest.
The Angels swept a four-game series against the Guardians in April, outscoring them 20-7 in LA. The Guardians scored 0, 1, 5, and 1 run in the four games.
The Angels are a bad matchup for the G’s due to their excellent left-handed starting pitching. The Guardians are hitting .229/.628 against lefties versus .258/.712 against right-handers. The Angels will start three lefties this series with ERA’s of 2.98, 3.67, and 3.77. Runs will most likely be hard to come by.
The Guardians are starting Pilkington, Morris, and TBD, so the Angels will have the edge in starting pitching every game.
As if that weren’t enough, Mike Trout is hitting .375/1.444 in September. He hit .417 against Cleveland in April with 3 doubles, a triple, and a home run.
Taylor Ward is also hot, hitting .321/.858 in September. He was a wrecking crew against the Guardians in April, hitting .438 with three HR’s and 9 RBI’s in four games.
Catcher Matt Thaiss is hitting .385/1.015 in September and 2B Luis Renjfo is hitting .333 this month.
So the Angels are a bad matchup and they’re playing well right now. They’re not scoring a lot, ranking 28th in runs per game since the All-Star break, but their starters are pitching well, ranking 10th in ERA. Their bullpen is not as good, ranking 29th in FIP and xFIP and 25th in home runs per 9 innings since the break.
Reid Detmers, a 23-year-old rookie, starts tonight. Since returning from the minors in July he is 3-2, 2.52 in nine starts. On April 28 he went 5 innings against the Guardians allowing 2 hits and one run in 89 pitches.
Detmers has been a little shaky lately, going just 19 innings in his last four starts - under 5 innings per start. In his last 26 innings he’s allowed 32 hits and 9 walks. Detmers has pitched 114 innings this year after pitching 83 last year so fatigue may be setting in for the youngster. The key is to run up his pitch count and get him out after 4-5 innings.
Konnor Pilkington, 1-2, 3.99, goes for the Guardians. Pilkington has been pretty solid in his last four appearances, allowing six runs in 16 innings for a 3.37 ERA. As a starter opponents are hitting .285/.789 against him and the third time through the batting order they’re hitting .391/.996, so he is strictly a 4-5 inning starter who you hope can get through the order twice without a lot of damage.
Pilkington, 25, has a 5.66 ERA at Columbus this year and 4.75 in his last seven games. Lefties are hitting .323/.804 against him with the Guardians.
The Guardians have some momentum and the bats are starting to make a little noise, scoring 28 runs in the last six games. But until they start hitting better against lefties (and it's awfully late in the season to expect that to change) I don't expect them to score much against the Angels starters and we are starting three minor league pitchers this series. I would be happy if we can steal one game to be honest.