The last time the Tigers faced the Cleveland Guardians, Detroit’s unlikely postseason run ended.
Now, the Tigers will get a look — their first of the season — at their American League Central Division rival when the Guardians visit Detroit for four games beginning Thursday night.
The Guardians won their American League Division Series in five games last season, defeating Tigers ace Tarik Skubal in the decisive game. Skubal is scheduled to pitch the finale of this series on Sunday.
Right-hander Jack Flaherty (2-5, 4.44 ERA) will start the opener for the Tigers. Flaherty snapped a personal five-game losing streak Friday in his most recent start, holding Toronto to two runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings in a 5-4 victory.
Flaherty had given up four home runs in a three-inning outing in a 10-3 loss to the Texas Rangers on May 10.
“It was good to go out and execute and make pitches,” Flaherty said after his victory in Toronto. “Especially as the game went on, even in the sixth, I was making some really, really good pitches and got more in sync. The ball started coming out better.”
In seven career starts against Cleveland, Flaherty is 2-2 with a 1.96 ERA.
Rain during their recently completed series against the Minnesota Twins led to changes in the Guardians’ pitching plan. They are expected to start right-hander Tanner Bibee (3-4, 4.06), who struggled his last time out in a 5-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Friday. He allowed five runs (four earned) on 10 hits and a walk, adding four strikeouts in six innings.
In his prior four games, he threw a combined 25 innings and gave up seven runs (six earned) on just 20 hits and five walks. He tossed 105 pitches.
“I thought the first couple innings, Tanner didn’t really have his good stuff,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said after Friday’s game. “It wasn’t sharp, and they got to him, but really locked it in after that and gave us three huge innings after the first three. And that‘s who Tanner is.”
Bibee was happy with the strong finish to the start.
“I think the only way to make that a decent day is what I did,” he said. “Not very happy with it. But for me to go six innings, I feel like that makes it not such a bad day.”
Bibee is 1-3 with an ERA of 5.28 in six starts against Detroit.
The Tigers are riding high. They won another series this week, taking two of three games from St. Louis. After losing the series opener 11-4 on Monday, they bounced back with 5-4 and 5-1 victories.
Detroit has won 12 of its first 16 series this season. The last time the Tigers did that was 1984, the most recent time they won the World Series.
“We’re really good at resetting and getting to the next game,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “The reality is, every day is a new test, and every day you have to come ready to play. And we do.
“After the first game here, the most important game of the year was the next day. We got that one and came in today with a chance to win a series and we do it. We’ve needed a lot of guys to do well the last couple of days.”
Cleveland had a busy day in Minnesota on Wednesday. The Guardians lost 6-5 in the completion of a suspended game, then bounced back with a 5-1 victory in the scheduled contest.
–Field Level Media
