The Boston Red Sox will hit the road for the first time this season on Friday for a three-game weekend set against the Detroit Tigers. The Sox are one of the favorites in the American League, but already have some questions brewing in their starting rotation due to injuries. The first of those questions will be answered this weekend as the team will need to use its fifth starter.
This series will be contested from Friday, April 7, 2017 through Sunday, April 9, 2017 at Comerica Park in Detroit. All three games will be shown live on MLB Network.
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Pitching Matchups
With Drew Pomeranz and David Price both on the 10-day disabled list, Steven Wright becomes the team’s No. 4 starter, getting the nod in Friday’s series opener.
It’s easy to forget, but Wright was an All-Star game last season before he got injured. The 32-year old knuckleballer was on the Triple-A shuttle for a few seasons before really putting together a strong season last year. In 24 starts, he went 13-6 with a 3.33 ERA and while he did walk 3.3 per nine innings, batters had a hard time squaring up the knuckler. The opposition hit just .235 against him.
Interestingly, however, while Wright found success against most teams last year, the Tigers were the exception. In his only start against Detroit, he lasted just four and a third, giving up eight runs on nine hits and three walks.
So, with some good and bad signs for the knuckler based on last year’s numbers, he’ll have to out duel last season’s AL Rookie of the Year in Michael Fulmer. With Jordan Zimmermann struggling and getting injured, Fulmer’s success last year was a godsend for the Tigers.
The youngster showed some signs of fatigue late, but still ended up with a 11-7 record, 3.06 ERA and 1.119 WHIP in 26 starts.
After Fulmer, the Tigers will send Zimmermann to the hill on Saturday and wrap up the series with another youngster in Daniel Norris. Norris was another success story last year. In his last 10 starts, he’s pitching to a 3.04 ERA. For Norris, the biggest issue is pitch efficiency. He made strides in that department in the spring.
The last two games for the Red Sox isn’t known. Rick Porcello figures to get the start on normal rest on Saturday. The Cy Young Award winner gave up three runs in six and a third against the Pirates in the season opener.
Sunday’s starter could very well be Pomeranz off the disabled list. While the lefty pitched well in San Diego he’s a bit of a question mark for this year after pitching to a mid-4 ERA after being traded to the Sox at the deadline.
Injury Report
It’s only the second series of the season, but the Tigers are already dealing with serious injury concerns in the outfield.
After Detroit seemed to have closed the hole in centerfield with Jacoby Jones, they’ve since seen two other holes open up with J.D. Martinez going down in Spring Training and Justin Upton hurting his knee in the Tigers’ win over the White Sox’s in Tuesday’s rescheduled Opening Day.
Upton’s status for the series against the Sox is unknown and the expectation is for him to be back soon enough to avoid the DL which would mean he’ll play at least some in the Boston series, but will he be at full strength?
Brad Ausmus is already dealing with a depleted outfield which has experts speculating about the Tigers as a possible fit for Upton’s brother, Melvin Upton Jr., who was recently let go by the Blue Jays.
Even if Upton is healthy, the Tigers will go with a Tyler Collins/Mikie Mahtook platoon in right and a Jones/Austin Romine platoon in center. That doesn’t look particularly strong next to a Red Sox outfield of Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts.
Weather Report
We are definitely not in Florida anymore. The weather was cold for the Tigers’ first game of the season as they beat up on the White Sox, and the cool air will continue at least into the start of the series between the Red Sox and Tigers.
These teams will contend with cold and blustery conditions on Friday which will undoubtedly impact the pitchers’ grip, the break of the ball and how far the ball will travel.
With Comerica being a larger ballpark, don’t look for the ball to fly to well on Friday into Saturday though the weather will begin to warm up for the second half of the weekend and by Sunday, it could be a balmy 69-degrees.
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