The Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians will resume their AL Central rivalry on Thursday at Progressive Field. First pitch is at 7:15 p.m. ET.
Detroit (53-66 SU and 61-58 RL) is starting left-hander Tarik Skubal. The 26-year-old is 2-2 with a 4.18 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP in seven outings this season.
Cleveland (58-62 RL and 62-58 RL) is countering with right-hander Xzavion Curry. The 25-year-old is 3-1 with a 3.39 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP in his 30 appearances (five starts).
The Tigers are -122 moneyline favorites and the game total is 8.5 runs scored.
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Detroit wrapped up its series with Minnesota on Wednesday. Michigan's club is nine games out of first place in the AL Central and 13 games under the .500 mark.
The Tigers average 3.94 runs (29th) and hit .234 (27th) with a .674 OPS (29th). They've launched 115 long balls (28th) and stolen 50 bases (28th) in 2023. The Detroit pitching staff sports a 4.46 ERA (19th) and a 1.27 WHIP (12th) with 26 quality starts (29th).
20 Tork Bombs for No. 20! pic.twitter.com/ut1Hor6QSu
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) August 16, 2023
Skubal will start for the visitors on Thursday night. The southpaw lost his last outing, giving up five runs (four earned) in 5.1 innings vs. Boston. He was much better in his previous start, though (one run in 5.1 innings vs. Tampa Bay). In his two appearances versus Cleveland last season, he surrendered three runs with ten strikeouts in 12 combined frames.