The Detroit Tigers’ home doubleheader against the Cleveland Guardians on Monday will be special for one of their players.
That’s right-hander Garrett Hill, whose contract was selected from Triple-A Toledo. He will be making his major league debut in the first game. Also called up from Toledo to start Game 2 was righty Alex Faedo, who will serve as the 27th man after being optioned to the Mud Hens on Friday.
Hill, 26, is 2-2 in eight starts at Toledo with a 4.06 ERA. He also made seven starts at Double-A Erie (2-0, 2.25 ERA).
He found out about the promotion from Toledo manager Lloyd McClendon on Saturday.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Hill said. “Time stopped. I just looked at him, holding back the emotions. It’s something you’ve wanted since you were a little kid, to actually be going to the big leagues. It’s the fulfillment of a dream. Now the goal is to stay here. But I was overwhelmed for a couple of minutes.”
He’ll be the 14th starting pitcher for the injury-ravaged Tigers this season. His fastball tops out in the low 90s, but he finds other ways to get strikeouts.
“You have to dig a little deeper in evaluating him and analyzing him because he can spin the ball,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “His fastball performs better than the numbers. He’s not a radar-gun guy. But the swing-and-miss, he’s handled that. In Double-A, he crushed left-handed hitters. If you look at his overall body of work, it warrants him being challenged coming up here.”
Faedo (1-4, 4.84 ERA) will be making his 11th start of the season. He gave up three runs and three hits in four innings at Arizona on June 25 in his most recent start.
He faced the Guardians on May 28 and took the loss despite limiting them to two runs and five hits in six innings. He also recorded his first career victory over Cleveland on May 22 when he gave up two runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings of a 4-2 win.
Zach Plesac (2-5, 3.86) will start the opener for the Guardians. He has been stingy against the Tigers in seven career starts, posting a 4-1 record and 1.91 ERA.
Plesac has gone six innings in each of his past six starts and given up no more than three earned runs. In his most recent outing on Tuesday, he held Minnesota to no runs, three hits and struck out seven.
A lack of run support has affected his record. He’s given up just two total runs in his past three starts but didn’t get a decision in any of them.
The Guardians haven’t listed a starter for the nightcap. They are coming off a 2-0 victory over the New York Yankees after getting swept in a doubleheader on Saturday. Triston McKenzie held the Yankees to one hit in the first seven innings, and the bullpen closed it out.
“That was really impressive,” manager Terry Francona said. “We saw the first two days, if you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile.”
Franmil Reyes drove in both runs with a solo homer and RBI single.
“For me, more important than the home run, at the end of the game I got insurance for the team and we needed that,” Reyes said.
Detroit leads the season series 3-2.
–Field Level Media
