A pair of AL Central rivals continue an early week set on the diamond on the shores of Lake Erie. The Detroit Tigers are on the road for the third game of a four-game series with the Cleveland Guardians Tuesday night. Detroit closed out a three-game set on the road against the White Sox and was swept as they fell 5-3 Sunday afternoon in their previous contest. Cleveland won the rubber game of their three-game set on the road with the Blue Jays Sunday afternoon, rolling to a 7-2 triumph. This article was published prior to the conclusion of both games of the doubleheader between the teams Monday at Progressive Field.
Detroit was swept over the weekend by the White Sox to suffer their seventh straight loss and their 10th in the last 11 games by falling Sunday. The Tigers entered Monday last in the AL Central, 19 games behind the Guardians for the top spot in the division. They were 18.5 games behind the Rays for the final wild card spot in the American League. On Sunday, Detroit finished with eight hits with Javier Baez (RBI) the lone player with two in the contest. Harold Castro hit his fifth homer of the season in the loss. Tyler Alexander (2-7) took the loss on the mound as he allowed three runs on six hits with three walks and two strikeouts over five innings.
Garrett Hill is on the hill for his eighth start of the season for the Tigers in this contest. He comes in 2-3 with a 4.66 ERA, a 1.364 WHIP, 16 walks and 18 strikeouts over 36.2 innings of work this season. Hill didn’t factor in the d ecision in his last start, which came against Cleveland Thursday at home. He threw five innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on four hits with two walks and one strikeout in a game the Tigers dropped 4-3 in 10 innings. In his last three starts, Hill is 1-1 with a 3.45 ERA, a 1.47 WHIP, seven walks and eight strikeouts over 15.2 innings of work. Hill makes his third career start against the Guardians in this contest. He comes in 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA, a 0.818 WHIP, three walks and four strikeouts over 11 innings of work against them. Hill, in his eighth career major league start, pitches at Progressive Field for the first time in this contest.