The Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Guardians wrap up their three-game series in Cleveland on Wednesday afternoon. The Guardians, last year's AL Central Division champions, are surprisingly battling it out with the Tigers for second place behind the front-running Minnesota Twins. The pitching matchup for Wednesday's finale will be Tigers' lefty Eduardo Rodriguez (3-2, 1.81) taking on Guardians' righty Peyton Battenfield (0-3, 4.07). The first pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PM EST.
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The Detroit Tigers have quietly been playing sound baseball and now find themselves right in the thick of things in the AL Central Division standings. The Tigers vaulted ahead of the Guardians on Monday night thanks to a 6-2 win over Cleveland. Andy Ibanez homered and scored three times in the victory. On Tuesday night, the Tigers had nine hits, eight of them singles, and left 12 men on base in a 2-0 loss. The loss drops the Tigers back into third place in the AL Central Division.
Andy Ibanez wastes no time! pic.twitter.com/FltusyknRs
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) May 8, 2023
The Tigers will hand the ball off to lefty Eduardo Rodriguez on Wednesday afternoon. Overall, Rodriguez is 3-2 with an ERA of 1.81 in seven starts with four quality starts among them. He has allowed 27 hits in 44.2 innings pitched and has a K/9 ratio of 7.9 thus far. On the road, Rodriguez is 0-2 in four starts with two quality starts among his four starts. He has given up 17 hits in 23 innings, including three home runs. His K/9 rate drops to just 5.9 on the road. Rodriguez' 27.6 hard-hit percentage is his best since 2019. He has also cut his career walk percentage in half this season, down to 4%.
Key Injuries: DH Kerry Carpenter is out.