This Saturday the (43-70) Detroit Tigers and the (56-56) Chicago White Sox will play game two of this three-game series. The first pitch will be thrown out at 7:10 PM EST inside Guaranteed Rate Field. This will be the fourth series between these two teams this regular season, as they are becoming more and more familiar with one another. The last time these teams matched up, they split a four-game series.
The Detroit Tigers are coming into this one after being swept by the Cleveland Guardians in their last series. The Tigers struggled at the plate, as they couldn't score enough runs to give themselves a chance. Detroit has also lost eight of their last 10 games.
The Chicago White Sox are entering this one after losing their previous series to the Kansas City Royals. Kansas City took three of four games, as the White Sox struggled at the plate. They will have to be better in this series if the y want to continue their quest to the postseason.
This game was written/published before last night's results.
The Detroit Tigers are currently (2-8) in their last 10 games, as they are now 16.5 games out of the last AL Wild Card spot. The Tigers are (43-70) this season, as they have continued to struggle at the plate. Detroit is also in dead last place in the AL Central. They will need to go on a series run if they want to have any chance of making the postseason. At the plate, the Tigers are scoring 3.29 runs per game and they are hitting .226 as a team. This is the least amount of runs scored per game and the third lowest overall team batting avenge. They are struggling to reach base consistently and they have been very unclutch when they have men in scoring position. They have stranded bases runners in scoring position consistently this season, as they are also hitting the least amount of home runs per game. They are only averaging .60 per game, as they have realized that they have very little power inside their batting lineup. They must string together multiple base hits in order to score a run. I also expect the Tigers to stay extremely conservative once they have reached base safely. They have only taken 29 bases this season, which is the second least in the league.
According to MLB.com, the Detroit Tigers will start Matt Manning on the mound. He is currently (0-0) with a 2.25 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP. He did look incredible in his last start, though. He pitched for 7.0 innings and gave up zero earned runs to the Tampa Bay Rays. Manning kept his team in this one for the majority of the game, as he showed that he could sit batters down quickly. He finished that game with seven strikeouts, as well. He will be looking to repeat his last performance on the mound. Luckily, the Tigers also have one of the best bullpens in the MLB. They are allowing 3.20 runs per game, which is the fifth least in the league. It isn't easy to score on the Tigers late in the game, as their relievers and closers have been to p-notch.