Chicago White Sox vs. Detroit Tigers MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 6/11/2021

The Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers meet in an AL Central division matchup in MLB action from Comerica Park on Friday night.

The Chicago White Sox will try to build on their 5-2 win over Toronto last time out. Jose Abreu and Yasmani Grandal each had two RBIs with Abreu going 2 for 4 with a double while Grandal had a two-run home run. Adam Engel added a solo home run to round out the scoring for the White Sox in the winning effort while Yermin Mercedes went 2 for 4 with a double and Leury Garcia added a base hit as well to finish off the offense for the White Sox in the victory as Chicago had seven hits as a team. Dallas Keuchel got the win to improve to 5-1 on the year after allowing two runs on six hits while striking out eight over six innings of work. Liam Hendriks closed out the 9^th for his 16^th save of the season. Lucas Giolito will start this one and is 5-5 with a 3.88 ERA and 87 strikeouts this season. In his career, Giolito is 5-4 with a 4.45 ERA and 74 strikeouts against Detroit.

The Detroit Tigers will be out to bounce back from a 9-6 loss to the Seattle Mariners last time out. Robbie Grossman led the way, going 2 for 5 with a home run and three RBIs while Jake Rogers had a solo home run and Jonathan Schoop added an RBI as well in the loss. Isaac Paredes added a triple and Akil Baddoo went 2 for 4 with a double while Nomar Mazara and Miguel Cabrera each had a base hit to cap off Detroit’s offense as a team in the loss. Casey Mize allowed three earned runs on four hits while striking out six over six innings of work, not factoring in the decision. Daniel Norris took the loss in relief to fall to 0-2 on the year as a result. Tarik Skubal will start here and is 3-7 with a 4.33 ERA and 68 strikeouts this season. In his career, Skubal is 1-1 with a 6.43 ERA and 12 strikeouts against the White Sox.

Chicago is 5-0 in their last 5 series-opening games and 9-4 in their last 13 games overall while the under is 3-0-1 in their last 4 games as a favorite. Detroit is 40-84 in their last 124 home games and 23-48 in their last 71 series-opening games while the under is 6-0-1 in their last 7 games as a home underdog. The under is 6-2 in the last 8 meetings between these two teams.

I get why the White Sox would be favored on the road, but Giolito just dropped a decision against the Tigers in his last start and Skubal, like him or not, and I certainly haven’t this season, has pitched capably in his last few starts and appears to finally be getting comfortable on the mound and is missing bats at a high rate as well with four straight games with eight or more strikeouts. I think he can miss some bats again and help the Tigers steal game one on Friday so give me Detroit and the plus money here.