The Detroit Tigers have returned from their first road trip of the 2018 season. After sweeping the Chicago White Sox on the south side over the weekend, the Detroit offense went silent against the Cleveland Indians. They collected just five runs on 20 hits — nine of which came in the series finale — in four consecutive losses to the Tribe.
Now over their last four games, the Tigers as a team are hitting just .142 (22 for 155) with only eight extra-base knocks and have left 30 men on base.
UP NEXT
Upon their return to Comerica Park, Detroit will welcome in the New York Yankees. It’s hard to pinpoint a team that generated more buzz this past offseason than the Bronx Bombers. With the addition of reigning National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton in a trade with the Miami Marlins, many have jumped on the pinstripes’ bandwagon for 2018.
Stanton has struggled to get off on the right foot this year for a number of reasons but did manage to break out of it somewhat in the Yankees’ most recent series against arch-rival Boston. They’ve also managed to stay afloat offensively thanks to performances from Didi Gregorious and Aaron Judge.
PITCHING MATCHUPS
GAME 1 | Jordan Montgomery (Yankees) vs. Mike Fiers (Tigers)
This is the second full season as a big leaguer for Jordan Montgomery. The 25-year-old southpaw turned in a very solid and under-reported rookie campaign a season ago, posting a 3.88 ERA in 29 starts, finishing 6th in American League rookie voting. Montgomery, in his first two starts this year, has allowed five earned on 12 hits in 9.1 innings of work.
Mike Fiers will make his second start of the season and first home start for the Tigers to open this weekend series. In his first start, after beginning the year on the disabled list, he tossed six scoreless innings and allowed just three hits in a win against the White Sox. Fiers has a 5.52 ERA in three career starts against the Yankees, but it was a 3.72 mark in two starts against them last season.
GAME 2 | TBA (Yankees) vs. Francisco Liriano (Tigers)
The Yankees have not officially listed a Game 2 starter for this series. There is a void in their rotation at the moment after they placed veteran CC Sabathia on the DL with hip soreness. Sabathia’s next scheduled spot was technically for Thursday but they bumped both Sonny Gray and the aforementioned Jordan Montgomery up.
There has been no word yet on who will toe the slab for New York. However, latest reports show it could be Luis Cessa or Domingo German.
Francisco Liriano has been remarkable in his first two starts with the Tigers. Liriano, his last time out, turned in a winning effort against Cleveland (6 IP, 2 ER, 3 H) but took the loss because the Detroit offense could not garner any success against reigning AL Cy Young winner Corey Kluber.
Liriano has a career 3.34 ERA in 12 appearances (10 starts) against the Bombers, including a 1.38 mark over the previous two seasons.
GAME 3 | Luis Severino (Yankees) vs. Matthew Boyd (Tigers)
Luis Severino is the Yankees’ numero uno now and moving forward. The hard-throwing 24-year-old finished 3rd in the Cy Young voting a season ago, in what was his first full season as a big league starter. His 3.50 season ERA after three starts is inflated after allowing five ER in five IP against Boston his last time out, but he carries a 2.70 ERA in three career outings against the Tigers.
Like his fellow lefty colleague in the rotation, Matthew Boyd has gotten off to a nice and encouraging start in 2018. The Oregon State product took advantage of an ice-cold Indians offense his last time out, allowing just a solo homer and three hits total over seven innings. Perhaps a byproduct of cold weather, but Boyd has induced the majority of his outs in the air, 30 of his 47 batters faced have resulted in fly balls.
HITTERS TO WATCH
We had hoped José Iglesias would have gotten going by now, but maybe seeing the vaunted pinstripes will perk his bat up. Iglesias last season, in five games against the Yankees, went 7 for 13, with an OPS north of 1.500 and drove in five runs.
New York catcher Gary Sánchez will return to Detroit for the first time since the brawl at Comerica Park last season. Sánchez has done next to nothing to start this season but he hit a cool .400 (10 for 25) with four homers and 10 RBI vs. the Tigers in 2017.
SERIES INFO
- Game 1 | Fri, April 13 @ 7:10 p.m. ET
- Game 2 | Sat, April 14 @ 1:10 p.m. ET*
- Game 3 | Sun, April 15 @ 1:10 p.m. ET*
All games can be seen on Fox Sports Detroit unless otherwise noted. Be sure to check your local listings for regional radio broadcasts.
*Can be seen on MLB Network (out of market only)
