Twins at Tigers
The Detroit Tigers had a chance to push one team on the brink of contention this week out of the race but ended up dropping three of four to the National League Central-hopeful Pittsburgh Pirates. The Tigers get another chance to throw a wrench into the race - this time in their own division - when they host the Minnesota Twins for the opener of a three-game series on Friday.
Detroit, which dropped five of its last six games, at least started hitting the ball at home this week while earning a 10-0 win on Wednesday before a 7-5 loss on Thursday as Nick Castellanos broke out of a slump. The third baseman went 2-for-25 in seven games before breaking out for a combined 5-for-9 with seven RBIs in the last two contests. Castellanos is just 3-for-25 with one RBI in his career against Twins right-hander Kyle Gibson, who takes the mound on Friday opposite Tigers veteran Anibal Sanchez. Minnesota is doing some strong work with the bats of late as well and scored at least six runs in three of the last five games - all wins - while jumping back above .500 (57-56) and crawling within 3 1/2 games of the first-place Cleveland Indians in the American League Central.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, FSN North (Minnesota), FSN Detroit
PITCHING MATCHUP: Twins RH Kyle Gibson (6-9, 6.03 ERA) vs. Tigers RH Anibal Sanchez (3-2, 6.62)
Gibson earned a demotion in July but made his return on Saturday and suffered a loss while yielding three runs and seven hits over 5 1/3 innings against Texas. The Missouri product is allowing opponents a .307 batting average while surrendering 17 home runs in 100 innings. Gibson's last win came against Detroit on July 22, when he allowed three runs on five hits and three walks across 7 1/3 innings.
Sanchez traded wins and losses in his last four starts and was ripped for eight runs on 10 hits over three innings to suffer a loss at Baltimore on Sunday. The Venezuela native held the New York Yankees to two runs over 6 2/3 innings on Aug. 1, but could not complete four innings against Kansas City on July 26. Sanchez earned the win at Minnesota on July 21, when he limited the Twins to three runs on six hits in 5 2/3 frames.
WALK-OFFS
1. Tigers SS Jose Iglesias (wrist) is 0-for-6 with a pair of strikeouts in two games since coming back from a three-game absence.
2. Minnesota SS Jorge Polanco is 14-for-28 during an eight-game hitting streak - 10-for-15 in the last four.
3. Detroit OF Mikie Mahtook recorded multiple hits in each of his last three games and five of his last six.