A pair of American League Central rivals meet on the diamond Thursday when the Detroit Tigers (27-37, 4th AL Central) visit the Minnesota Twins (34-33, 1st AL Central) in the first game of a four game series between the two at Target Field. Detroit was a 6-5 winner over the Atlanta Braves on Monday in the opening game of a three-game series and will play a doubleheader on Wednesday after having their second game postponed on Tuesday. Detroit's victory on Monday snapped a nine-game losing skid. Minnesota defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 7-5 on Tuesday and have won three of the last four to extend their lead in the AL Central to 2 ½ games. Detroit will play without nine pitchers as well as position players Akil Baddoo, Riley Greene and Austin Meadows. Minn esota will play without six pitchers as well as position players Byron Buxton, Gilberto Celestino, Nick Gordon and Jorge Polanco.
The Detroit Tigers are 28th or worse in four major hitting categories. Detroit is 28th in on base percentage at .300 and drops to 29th or next to last in team batting average at .225. The Tigers are 30th or last in slugging percentage with .352 and runs scored with 229 (3.58 rpg).Jake Rogers has hit a team best eight home runs, while Spencer Torkelson and Nick Maton are second with six home runs each. The leaders in RBI are Javier Baez and Spencer Torkelson with 29 apiece. Detroit has hit 100 doubles, 6 triples and only 54 home runs in 64 games.
On the mound, Detroit has a team ERA of 4.48 which is 22nd and a WHIP of 1.25 which is 8th. Detroit's starting rotation has only 14 Quality Starts which is 27th and the pitching staff is allowing opposing hitters to average .244 which is 14th. Eduardo Rodriguez is the leader in strikeouts with 67 and in ERA for starters with 2.13. Detroit will hand the ball to Matthew Boyd on Thursday. This season the left-hander is 3-5 with an ERA 5.55 and 56 strikeouts.
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