Athletics at Tigers
The Detroit Tigers have a lineup capable of inflicting damage on opposing pitching staffs but have had a hard time pushing runs across the plate lately. The Tigers will try to snap a four-game slide and get back to .500 when they host the opener of a four-game series against the Oakland Athletics on Monday.
Detroit managed a total of five runs in the last four games and sat slumping sluggers Miguel Cabrera and Justin Upton at the start of Sunday’s 6-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians. Both appeared as pinch hitters and both failed to reach base, dropping Cabrera to 0-for-11 in the last four games and a .206 batting average while Upton fell to .214. The Tigers could bust out of their collective slump against the Athletics pitching staff, which surrendered a total of 15 runs in losses to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday and Sunday. Oakland had allowed a total of 17 runs during a six-game winning streak prior to the two losses and will try to turn things around behind Kendall Graveman on Monday.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, CSN California (Oakland), FSN Detroit
PITCHING MATCHUP: Athletics RH Kendall Graveman (1-1, 2.04 ERA) vs. Tigers RH Jordan Zimmermann (3-0, 0.00)
Graveman was impressive enough in 21 starts last season to lock up a rotation spot in 2016 and has only improved over the course of three starts. The 25-year-old struck out eight and scattered three hits and three walks over 6 1/3 innings while allowing one run in a win at the New York Yankees on Wednesday. Graveman started at Detroit on June 2 last season and allowed three runs on eight hits in six innings to pick up the win.
While Upton is having some early trouble living up to the contract he signed with the Tigers in the offseason, Zimmermann is having no such issues. The former Washington National signed a five-year, $110 million deal in the offseason and has yet to allow a run in three starts for his new team. Zimmermann struck out a season-high eight in 6 1/3 innings at Kansas City on Wednesday and won his lone interleague start against Oakland with seven scoreless innings.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Tigers placed RHP Francisco Rodriguez on the family medical emergency list.
2. Oakland 1B Mark Canha went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts on Sunday and recorded at least one strikeout in each of the eight games he has played.
3. Detroit INF/OF Mike Aviles is 1-for-12.