Series preview: Guardians vs. Tigers
One last chance to head into the All-Star break riding the good vibes
The Guardians’ exhaustive stretch of baseball is almost at an end. Thirty-one games in the last calendar month, three doubleheaders, and they could still head into the All-Star break with a winning record if they can manage a good four-game series against the Tigers.
This series, naturally, features a makeup of a previous rainout. Today was scheduled as an off-day, but instead will be the opening game as a makeup of a May 21 postponement. The Guardians sit at 43-44 with four games left until the All-Star break and pretty much everything is still in play. The Twins are a mere 4.5 games ahead in the AL Central, and the Wild Card is within three games. To aspire to the playoffs would mean playing much better baseball than they have recently, as they have won just three of their last 10 and have seen their run differential drop from +34 on June 14 to -10 as of this writing.
All could be forgotten about the Guards’ inconsistent first half if they can wipe the Tigers with a good old-fashioned blowout. That didn’t happen the last time these two teams played a little over a week ago, when the Tigers were the sweepers of a four-game set. Cleveland didn’t score more than four runs in any of those losses and they were defeated by a combined score of 28-10.
The Guardians also didn’t have their secret weapon in Nolan Jones that series. Since debuting against the Royals on July 8, Jones has seven hits, four walks, two doubles, and a home run in 24 plate appearances, though he is hitless in his last three attempts.
Team at a glance
- Record: 37-52 (13th in AL)
- Runs Scored: 348
- Run Differential: -97 (13th in AL)
- Last 10: 5-5
- Slash: .230/.288/.336
- wOBA: .277 (14th in AL)
- wRC+: 78 (14th in AL)
- ERA: 4.05 (10th in AL)
- SIERA: 4.13 (13th in AL)
- K-BB%: 12.2% (13th in AL)
Projected starters
Thursday, July 14, 7:10 p.m. ET: RHP Elvin Rodriguez vs. RHP Triston McKenzies
Friday, July 15, 7:10 p.m. ET: RHP Drew Hutchison vs. RHP Zach Plesac
Saturday, July 16, 4:10 p.m. ET: RHP Michael Pineda vs. RHP Cal Quantrill
Sunday, July 17, 1:40 p.m. ET: RHP Beau Brieske vs. RHP Shane Bieber