AL Central foes will close out a three-game series on Wednesday afternoon when the Detroit Tigers visit the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. After the Twins won Monday's series opener 5-3 in 10 innings to cash in as a -133 favorite, the two teams will meet again late on Tuesday after the time of publishing. Detroit is in last place at 41-63, while the Twins are at the opposite end of the standings with a record of 54-48.
Minnesota is currently holding on to a narrow 8-6 head-to-head advantage in the season series.
It was a fairly uneventful trade deadline for the last place Tigers, and they will now play out the string on another lost season as they fell further behind the rest of the AL Central with an extra innings defeat on Monday. Tucker Barnhart provided an RBI groundout and run-scoring single in the first four innings to give Detroit the lead, but Minnesota fought back to tie late and Akil Baddoo's RBI single in the top of the 10th didn't hold up.
Tarik Skubal, who was in some trade rumors but ended up staying put, tossed five scoreless innings allowing three hits and two walks while striking out four. Alex Lange took both a blown save and a loss, allowing three runs (two earned) on two hits while getting just two outs. Victor Reyes recorded a double for Detroit's only extra-base hit of the year.
The Tigers are down a significant amount on the money line for the season while going 47-57 on the run line. Overs are just 39-60-5 for the Tigers, and none of their last six games have gone over the betting total.
It has been a miserable campaign for the Detroit offense, which is dead last in baseball at 3.21 runs per game on a horrendous .620 team OPS. Detroit pitching is also in the bottom five with a 4.86 combined ERA despite an outstanding bullpen posting a mark of 3.03.
Veteran Miguel Cabrera continues to climb the all-time record books, batting .274/.325/.341 with four homers and 36 driven in. Eric Haase has been a solid hitting catcher, posting a .721 OPS with eight homers and 26 RBI.
Tyler Alexander will make his 16th apparence and sixth start of the season, looking to bounce back from Thursday's loss to the Toronto Blue Jays as he allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits and one walk with one strikeout in four innings. The 28-year-old has gone 2-4 with a 4.10 ERA acros s 37.1 total innings this season.
Outfielder Austin Meadows, a key offseason addition for the Tigers, is out with a strained Achillies while catcher Jake Rogers is recovering from Tommy John surgery. The rotation has been beat up all season, with Beau Brieske (forearm soreness), Rony Garcia (shoulder inflammation), Casey Mize (Tommy John surgery), Michael Pineda (triceps tightness) and Spencer Turnbull (Tommy John surgery) currently on the IL. Relievers Kyle Funkhouser (strained shoulder) and Wily Peralta (strained hamstring) are injuried. Starter Eduardo Rodriguez is on the restricted list.