Tigers v. Astros Series Preview: Tiger trying to find the win column against the World Champs | Live Stream, TV Info, Time, and more

Okay, well … that's not exactly the start to the season that anyone was hoping for. The Detroit Tigers were beaten and beaten pretty badly against the Tampa Bay Rays, only scoring three total runs for the series. Their -18 run differential is the worst mark in franchise history, one they set last season at -15. And now, things don't get easier in this Tigers v. Astros series.

DETROIT TIGERS (0-3) vs. HOUSTON ASTROS (2-2)

Game 1: Matthew Boyd (2-0, 1.35 ERA in '22) v. Hunter Brown (2-0, 0.89 ERA in '22)

Date: Monday, April 3
Time: 8:10 PM
Broadcast: Bally Sports Detroit
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket

Matthew Boyd is back home and ready to continue building back after his injury in 2021. He appeared in 10 games last season after coming off the Injured List, compiling only 13.1 innings, but was effective in that small sample. His counterpart in this one, Hunter Brown – a Wayne State product – only threw 20 innings in 2022, and was equally as effective as Boyd. This will be a battle of two guys trying to establish, or re-establish in the case of Boyd, with their current club. Brown faced the Tigers once last season, going six innings, allowing two runs, and striking out six. Boyd is 3-1 in his career against the Astros, with a 4.82 ERA, 28 innings pitched, and 21 strikeouts.

Game 2: Matt Manning (4-2, 2.88 ERA in '21) v. Framber Valdez (3-5, 4.04 ERA in '22)

Date: Tuesday, April 4
Time: 8:10 PM
Broadcast: Bally Sports Detroit
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket

Framber Valdez was one of the best pitchers in the entire MLB in 2022. He was top 15 in nearly every category on Fangraph's Leaderboard and led the charge for the Astros World Series Championship. He gets a lot of ground balls, an area where he led the league last season. Manning on the other hand was slotted into the fifth starter spot, which could have been a message to the youngster after a pretty disastrous Spring Training. He threw 14 innings in five games, had a 2.07 WHIP and opponents hit .359 against him. Manning has got to take the next step and show the stuff that once made him a top-end prospect, and it starts on Tuesday night.

Game 3: Eduardo Rodriguez (0-1, 5.06 ERA) v. Christian Javier (0-0, 5.40 ERA)

Date: Wednesday, April 5
Time: 2:10 PM
Broadcast: Bally Sports Detroit
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket

Eduardo Rodriguez was pretty decent in his first start on Opening Day in Tampa. The result wasn't there because the Tigers' offense was very anemic during that series. He struck out five in 5.1 innings, allowed three runs, but only allowed a BABIP of 1.54. Javier for his part wasn't as bad as the five innings pitched and three runs would suggest. Against the White Sox on March 31st, he pitched much better than those numbers would indicate – 1.42 FIP versus a 5.40 ERA. The Tigers are going to have their work cut out for them in this series; good, professional at-bats are a must if they plan to push some runs across the plate and make it tough on the defending champs.

Tigers v. Rays by the numbers

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Find the 2023 Detroit Tigers schedule below

This page will be updated after each game with the result and the Tigers running record.

Go Tigers!