Detroit is just one game behind the Minnesota Twins in a muddled American League Central as they aim to push for divisional supremacy or a wild card berth. Both of these teams have enough talent to make a postseason push, but there are also concerns.
Texas has been up and down this year but has really put it all together of late and hopes to keep it rolling. The Tigers are a legitimate foe and playing at home, so it would be a big surprise to see the Rangers’ streak last through the entire weekend.
This series will be contested from Friday, May 19 through Sunday, May 21, 2017 at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. Sunday’s game will be nationally televised on ESPN.
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Pitching Matchups
Texas will send Nick Martinez to the hill on Friday. He is 0-2 with a 5.04 ERA on the season, although his WHIP of 1.29 is actually solid. Martinez has given up seven home runs in five starts on the season, and must make sure the powerful Tigers lineup doesn’t go yard multiple times. Detroit is scheduled to start Daniel Norris. He is 2-2 with a 4.34 ERA. Norris doesn’t have great peripheral numbers on the season but he has a career ERA of 3.79 and will look to silence Texas.
On Saturday, the Rangers’ scheduled hurler is A.J. Griffin. He is 4-0 with a 3.15 ERA on the season, striking out 30 batters and walking only nine in 34.1 innings. Griffin has looked solid on the season and the Rangers have won all six of his starts. However, this is a tough matchup as Detroit will send Justin Verlander to the hill. He is 3-3 on the season with only a 4.47 ERA thus far, but is striking out more than a batter per inning and has long been one of the best pitchers in the American League.
In the series finale, Texas will start their best pitcher, Yu Darvish. He is 4-2 with a 2.76 ERA. While Darvish has battled injuries during his career, he is dynamic when healthy and the Rangers will be favored in this one because of his presence. Detroit hopes to get a nice outing from Matthew Boyd, who is 2-3 on the year with a 5.18 ERA after a poor outing last time out against the Orioles.
The Return Of J.D. Martinez
The Tigers have one of the best middle of the orders in baseball, but it was missing a key bat for the first chunk of the season when J.D. Martinez was on the shelf. He has since returned and has gotten off to a hot start.
Martinez has eight hits in his first 16 at-bats, with five homers and 11 RBIs. He has already walked nine times and has immediately become a valuable contributor. Martinez isn’t the only big bopper in the heart of the order. Miguel Cabrera has long been one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball, and while he’s getting older, he is still an elite hitter. Justin Upton and Victor Martinez will also make pitchers pay when they make mistakes.
The addition of J.D. Martinez really makes this lineup more imposing, and the Rangers starters will have their hands full trying to keep them off the bases.
Key Stat
7. That’s how many games under .500 the Rangers were back on May 8 when they dropped a game to the San Diego Padres. They rebounded with three wins over San Diego and have since swept three-game series against the Oakland Athletics and Philadelphia Phillies.
The competition wasn’t great, but nevertheless the Rangers have been impressive in approaching double-digit wins. Texas struggled offensively during its poor start but has been much better during the winning streak.
The Rangers have combined for 17 runs the last two games and will likely need to keep it up since Detroit has a potent offense. Texas has a much steeper competition in this series, but if it can win one of the first two games it will feel good about securing the series with Darvish hitting the mound on Sunday.
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