Tigers at Nationals
Bryce Harper is getting the Barry Bonds treatment lately and his frustration is beginning to boil over. Harper hopes to get a chance to put the bat on the ball when the Washington Nationals host the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday in the second of a three-game interleague series.
Harper walked 15 times in the last five games and was ejected for arguing balls and strikes from the dugout in the ninth inning of Monday’s 5-4 win. The All-Star slugger became the first player in history to make seven plate appearances without recording an official at-bat on Sunday against the Chicago Cubs and went 0-for-2 with a pair of walks on Monday, including an intentional free pass with a runner in scoring position in the seventh inning with the game knotted at 4. The loss was the seventh straight for the Tigers, who have allowed an average of 6.9 runs during that span. The bright spot for Detroit continues to be third baseman Nick Castellanos, who blasted a two-run homer on Monday and finished 2-for-4 for his eighth multi-hit games in the last 11 contests.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FSN Detroit, MASN (Washington)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Tigers RH Michael Fulmer (1-1, 6.30 ERA) vs. Nationals RH Joe Ross (3-1, 1.23)
Fulmer is making his third major league start and has yet to record an out in the sixth inning. The 23-year-old picked up the win in his debut against the Minnesota Twins but was ripped for five runs on 10 hits – two homers – and a pair of walks in five innings to suffer a loss at Cleveland on Thursday. Fulmer, who came to the organization last summer in the trade that sent Yoenis Cespedes to the New York Mets, has 10 strikeouts in as many innings.
Ross suffered his first loss at the Chicago Cubs on Thursday despite a season-high nine strikeouts, yielding two runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings. The California native allowed a total of four runs in his five starts and is pitching off the home mound on Tuesday for the first time since April 10, when he allowed one run in seven innings against Miami. Ross has never faced Detroit and made just one relief appearance in interleague play during his 2015 rookie campaign.
WALK-OFFS
1. Tigers LF Justin Upton is 0-for-12 with nine strikeouts in the last four games.
2. The Nationals reportedly agreed on a seven-year, $175 million contract extension with RHP Stephen Strasburg.
3. Washington 1B Ryan Zimmerman, who hits behind Harper in the lineup, is 2-for-23 in the last five games.