- Joined
- Oct 3, 2019
- Messages
- 10,130
- Reaction score
- 29,030
- Points
- 135
The Guardians return home for a four-game weekend series against the Tigers, who are having a decent season (for them) at 54-66. The Tigers are actually over .500 against all opponents except for the A.L. East, where they are 5-20. Before the break they were 4-2 against the Guardians and outscored them 18-13 over six low-scoring games.
Since the break the Tigers are 15-16. They are better against RHP’s at 45-47 and will face four right-handers this weekend. In the last eight days they won 4 of 6 against the Twins.
Tiger pitchers have dominated the Guardians so far, holding them to an embarrassing 13 runs in six games and a .189 batting average. Jose is hitting .136 against Detroit, Straw is 1-for-20, Josh Naylor .000, and Kwan .158. Amed Rosario hit .455 against the Tigers, but he’s gone. Tyler Freeman is 4-for-8 so maybe they should play him a little.
The good news is that three of the four Tiger starters in this series have not faced the Guardians this year, so they may have better luck against the new faces. Starters they faced in the first half (Lorenzen, Wentz, Turnbull, and Boyd) will not be starting this weekend. Turnbull and Boyd are injured and Lorenzen was traded.
The bad news is that Eduardo Rodriquez, a lefty who has shut the Guardians out for 15 innings over two starts, will be pitching Saturday against Bibee. That will be a heck of a matchup.
The Tigers will also be starting Matt Manning, a 25-year-old rookie who is 4-4, 4.60 ERA and Alex Faedo, 2-4, 5.16 in nine starts. Both are right-handed.
For the season the Tigers rank 19th in ERA, but they’ve had a lot of turnover. Their starters are 24th in ERA.
The Tigers are simply awful offensively, ranking 29th of 30 in runs per game, OBP, and slugging. They’re 27th in batting average and home runs per game. They don’t hit for average, power, or get on base. They scored 18 runs in six games against the Guardians but 10 of those were against Battenfield, Gaddis, and Karinchak, none of whom will be pitching this weekend. Battenfield started two of the six games against them.
I’m expecting a very low scoring series from Detroit. They won’t be hitting against Battenfield and Gaddis this time around; they get Curry, Williams, Bibee, and Allen.
Curry starts the opener against LHP Tarik Skubal. Curry has pitched four innings against the Tigers this year, allowing one run on six hits. His ERA for the season is 3.39. He pitched pretty well for five innings against Tampa in his last start before giving up two runs in the 6th.
Skubal, 26, had a 3.52 ERA last year before going down in August with an elbow problem that kept him out nearly a year. Since coming back he is 2-2, 4.18 in seven starts. If you take away one bad outing where he gave up seven runs in four innings his ERA is 3.17. He’s up to 94 pitches in his last start. His biggest problem has been a .429 BAA with runners in scoring position. But it’s a very small sample.
Skubal is a quality lefty who is working his way back after a serious injury and has pitched well in five of his seven starts. He should be a tough nut to crack. The Guardians are 29th in the majors in batting average, slugging percentage, OBP, and wRC+ against LHP’s, and they get two more of them this series.
I expect most fans will be watching the Browns Thursday night rather than the Guardians/Tigers.
I don’t see the Tigers’ anemic offense scoring many runs this weekend, especially against our three rookie starters who have been on fire lately. But Skubal and Rodriguez are very tough lefties. We are in good shape on paper against Manning and Faedo, who are right-handed and have ERA’s of 4.60 and 5.16. But the games started by their lefties should be very low-scoring on both sides.
I like the matchups of Gavin Williams against Manning on Friday and Logan Allen against Faedo on Sunday. The Bibee/Rodriquez matchup Saturday will be a tossup, but since the Guardians have not managed to score a run off Rodriguez in 15 innings I’m not liking their chances. Detroit has the advantage Friday with Skubal versus Curry.
Since the break the Tigers are 15-16. They are better against RHP’s at 45-47 and will face four right-handers this weekend. In the last eight days they won 4 of 6 against the Twins.
Tiger pitchers have dominated the Guardians so far, holding them to an embarrassing 13 runs in six games and a .189 batting average. Jose is hitting .136 against Detroit, Straw is 1-for-20, Josh Naylor .000, and Kwan .158. Amed Rosario hit .455 against the Tigers, but he’s gone. Tyler Freeman is 4-for-8 so maybe they should play him a little.
The good news is that three of the four Tiger starters in this series have not faced the Guardians this year, so they may have better luck against the new faces. Starters they faced in the first half (Lorenzen, Wentz, Turnbull, and Boyd) will not be starting this weekend. Turnbull and Boyd are injured and Lorenzen was traded.
The bad news is that Eduardo Rodriquez, a lefty who has shut the Guardians out for 15 innings over two starts, will be pitching Saturday against Bibee. That will be a heck of a matchup.
The Tigers will also be starting Matt Manning, a 25-year-old rookie who is 4-4, 4.60 ERA and Alex Faedo, 2-4, 5.16 in nine starts. Both are right-handed.
For the season the Tigers rank 19th in ERA, but they’ve had a lot of turnover. Their starters are 24th in ERA.
The Tigers are simply awful offensively, ranking 29th of 30 in runs per game, OBP, and slugging. They’re 27th in batting average and home runs per game. They don’t hit for average, power, or get on base. They scored 18 runs in six games against the Guardians but 10 of those were against Battenfield, Gaddis, and Karinchak, none of whom will be pitching this weekend. Battenfield started two of the six games against them.
I’m expecting a very low scoring series from Detroit. They won’t be hitting against Battenfield and Gaddis this time around; they get Curry, Williams, Bibee, and Allen.
Curry starts the opener against LHP Tarik Skubal. Curry has pitched four innings against the Tigers this year, allowing one run on six hits. His ERA for the season is 3.39. He pitched pretty well for five innings against Tampa in his last start before giving up two runs in the 6th.
Skubal, 26, had a 3.52 ERA last year before going down in August with an elbow problem that kept him out nearly a year. Since coming back he is 2-2, 4.18 in seven starts. If you take away one bad outing where he gave up seven runs in four innings his ERA is 3.17. He’s up to 94 pitches in his last start. His biggest problem has been a .429 BAA with runners in scoring position. But it’s a very small sample.
Skubal is a quality lefty who is working his way back after a serious injury and has pitched well in five of his seven starts. He should be a tough nut to crack. The Guardians are 29th in the majors in batting average, slugging percentage, OBP, and wRC+ against LHP’s, and they get two more of them this series.
I expect most fans will be watching the Browns Thursday night rather than the Guardians/Tigers.
I don’t see the Tigers’ anemic offense scoring many runs this weekend, especially against our three rookie starters who have been on fire lately. But Skubal and Rodriguez are very tough lefties. We are in good shape on paper against Manning and Faedo, who are right-handed and have ERA’s of 4.60 and 5.16. But the games started by their lefties should be very low-scoring on both sides.
I like the matchups of Gavin Williams against Manning on Friday and Logan Allen against Faedo on Sunday. The Bibee/Rodriquez matchup Saturday will be a tossup, but since the Guardians have not managed to score a run off Rodriguez in 15 innings I’m not liking their chances. Detroit has the advantage Friday with Skubal versus Curry.
