The Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Indians meet in an AL Central division matchup in MLB action from Progressive Field on Monday night.
The Detroit Tigers will look to build on a 2-1 win over the Houston Astros last time out. Akil Baddoo and Robbie Grossman accounted for the lone pair of RBIs for the Tigers in the victory while Jeimer Candelario, Daz Cameron and Jake Rogers each had a base hit as the Tigers had just four hits as a team in the losing effort. Tarik Skubal allowed one run on one hit while striking out nine over seven innings of work, not factoring in the decision. Gregory Soto ended up with the win in relief to improve to 4-1 on the year. Matt Manning will start here and is 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA and 4 strikeouts this season. This will be Manning’s first career start against Cleveland.
The Cleveland Indians will try to bounce back after an 8-2 loss to the Twins in their last game. Rene Rivera had a solo home run and Eddie Rosario added an RBI as well to make up the scoring for the Indians in the losing effort. Amed Rosario went 2 for 3 with a double and Jose Ramirez added a double as well while Harold Ramirez added a base hit of his own as the Indians had six hits as a team in the losing effort. Sam Hentges took the loss, falling to 1-2 on the year after allowing six runs on six hits over 3.1 innings of work. Eli Rogers will start here and is 0-2 with a 10.32 ERA and 15 strikeouts this season. This will be Morgan’s first career start against Detroit.
Detroit is 5-2 in their last 7 games overall and 25-51 in their last 76 series-opening games while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games as a road underdog. Cleveland is 4-0 in their last 4 home games and 12-3 in their last 15 games following a loss while the over is 4-0-1 in their last 5 games as a favorite. The under is 3-1-1 in their last 5 meetings between these two teams.
This is going to be an interesting matchup as these are two pitchers with limited experience so it’s all about if the opposing teams can take advantage. I just feel like the two starters could end up struggling here and if they get through, well the bullpens could get beat around a bit as well. Give me the over here.