Tigers at Indians
The Detroit Tigers are in position to win their third straight series and two-time American League MVP Miguel Cabrera is starting to warm up as they visit the Cleveland Indians for the second of a three-game set Saturday. Cabrera homered for the second straight game Friday as the Tigers built a big lead before holding off a furious rally for a 7-6 victory - their seventh in the first 10 games of the season.
Cabrera went 2-for-3 with three RBIs in the latest win to lift his season average to .182 and catcher Alex Avila continued his hot hitting with a homer, improving to 5-for-8 on the season. The Indians showed some spark with a late rally that included Lonnie Chisenhall’s grand slam in the ninth, but they lost for the sixth time in seven games after sweeping three from Texas in the season’s first series. Cleveland’s slugger Edwin Encarnacion posted a pair of hits after managing just three in the previous eight games as the Indians scored more than four runs for the first time in seven games. It will be a battle of aces as Cleveland sends Corey Kluber to the mound against Detroit’s Justin Verlander.
TV: 4:10 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1, FSN Detroit, SportsTime Ohio (Cleveland)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Tigers RH Justin Verlander (1-0, 1.35 ERA) vs. Indians RH Corey Kluber (0-1, 5.25)
Verlander picked up where he left off last season by limiting his first two opponents (Boston and the Chicago White Sox) to three runs (two earned) on nine hits over 13 1/3 innings. The 34-year-old former MVP, who owns 174 career wins after going 16-9 in 2016 with a 3.04 ERA, has 14 strikeouts and two walks in the early going. Carlos Santana is just 13-for-66 overall but has seven homers against Verlander, who is 19-21 with a 4.48 ERA in 48 starts versus Cleveland.
Kluber yielded three runs (two earned) on six hits in six innings to take the loss last Sunday at Arizona after keeping his team in the game on Opening Day before it rallied to win. The 31-year-old Alabama native, who finished 18-9 with a 3.14 ERA in 2016, is two outs from reaching 900 innings in his career and boasts 946 strikeouts. Cabrera is 20-for-47 with five homers and Victor Martinez 12-for-36 with two blasts versus Kluber, who went 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA in four starts against Detroit in 2016.
WALK-OFFS
1. Cleveland SS Francisco Lindor has been the team’s best hitter in the early going with four homers, eight RBIs and a .316 batting average.
2. Detroit 3B Nick Castellanos is only batting .220, but leads the team in hits (nine) and total bases (20).
3. Indians Cs Roberto Perez and Yan Gomes are a combined 3-for-35 in the first 10 games of the season.