The Detroit Tigers will look to finish a strong push to the All-Star break when they host the Philadelphia Phillies this weekend.
The Tigers have won five straight games to move within 4 1/2 games of first place in the American League Central ahead of their final three contests of the first half of the season starting Friday night.
Manager A.J. Hinch expressed pride in the Tigers’ fight as they completed a sweep of the Athletics with a 4-1 win Thursday night, but he’s wary of the quality of the final team they’ll face before the off week.
“We’re going to need the break, but we can’t look to the break until we deal with some pretty high-end pitching and some pretty high-end offense,” Hinch said of the upcoming series with Philadelphia.
“I like where we are this week compared to where we were last week, but I also know how shallow that can feel if you don’t come out ready to play, and so we’re just going to keep putting one foot in front of the other.”
Thursday was a special night for Detroit catcher Eduardo Valencia, who became the 10th Tigers player in franchise history to homer in his first career at-bat. He’s the first to do so since Akil Baddoo in 2021.
Valencia, 26, dedicated the milestone moment to his family, his home country of Venezuela and the coaches who helped him get to this moment.
“They gave me everything,” Valencia said, through tears, in a postgame interview. ” … I was waiting a lot for this moment. It’s so exciting.”
Right-hander Jack Flaherty (2-8, 4.60 ERA) will start for Detroit in the series opener. He is coming off a win in his last start, striking out five in 5 2/3 shutout innings as the Tigers beat Texas 3-0 on Saturday.
Flaherty is 1-1 with a 2.41 ERA in three career starts against Philadelphia.
His counterpart will be Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola (3-6, 5.87 ERA), who will look to return to his winning ways after dropping his last two starts and going winless in his last seven. He gave up three runs in seven innings as Philadelphia fell 5-2 to Kansas City on Sunday.
Nola has a 3-0 record and a 1.38 ERA in five career starts vs. the Tigers.
The Phillies arrive in Detroit off a series win at the Cincinnati Reds and are tied for the second National League wild-card spot.
Rookie outfielder Justin Crawford provided the only run in Philadelphia’s 1-0 win over the Reds on Thursday night with an eighth-inning RBI single. He is batting .333 over the last 30 games to raise his season average to .263.
Crawford credited the work he’s done with hitting coach Kevin Long after the game-winning hit, telling reporters, “I’m working with Kevin a lot, day by day, so it was good to see some results out of it.”
“He’s made some adjustments, which is good,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said of Crawford’s growth as a hitter. “That’s what you like to see with young guys, that they can continue to evolve.”
As the Phillies get ready to host the All-Star festivities next week, the Home Run Derby got a jolt of hometown excitement when first baseman Bryce Harper announced on social media on Thursday that he’d be taking part in the event for the first time since joining the franchise.
He previously won the 2018 Home Run Derby in Washington when he was with the Nationals, beating now-teammate Kyle Schwarber in the finals.
–Field Level Media
