Yankees at Tigers
The Detroit Tigers could not find their offense while being swept in a four-game series at Cleveland and will need to produce at the plate to keep up with their next opponent. The Tigers return home on Friday to host the powerful New York Yankees in the opener of a three-game series.
Detroit plated 16 runs in a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox to begin their road trip but watched their offense go ice cold while scoring a total of five times in four games at Cleveland. The Tigers managed two runs in the first three games and was down 9-1 on Thursday before pushing a pair of runs across in the late innings and finishing with a respectable nine hits while falling to 4-8. The Yankees offense boasts three of the biggest sluggers in baseball in Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez, but Stanton and Sanchez are battling through some early-season inconsistency and the team only broke out the bats once in three games this week against the rival Red Sox - a 10-7 win on Wednesday that was sandwiched around a pair of setbacks. Trying to keep that New York offense down on Friday will by Tigers right-hander Mike Fiers, who opposes Yankees lefty Jordan Montgomery.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, YES (New York), FS Detroit
PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees LH Jordan Montgomery (0-0, 4.82 ERA) vs. Tigers RH Mike Fiers (1-0, 0.00)
Montgomery cruised through five innings against Tampa Bay in his season debut on April 3, allowing one run on two hits and four walks, but was not quite as sharp against Baltimore on Sunday. The 25-year-old was ripped for four runs on 10 hits and a pair of walks in 4 1/3 frames but escaped without a decision in a game New York went on to lose 8-7. Montgomery did not face Detroit during his 2017 rookie campaign and is 3-4 with a 4.38 ERA in 14 career road starts.
Fiers made his Tigers debut at Chicago on Sunday and dominated through six scoreless frames, scattering three hits and a walk while striking out six. The Nova Southeastern product surrendered a career-high 32 home runs in 153 1/3 innings last season but kept the ball in the park against the White Sox. Fiers allowed two home runs in as many starts against the Yankees while with the Houston Astros last season and did not earn a decision in either outing.
WALK-OFFS
1. Yankees IF/OF Tyler Austin was suspended five games by Major League Baseball for his role in a benches-clearing brawl on Wednesday, but
is appealing.
2. Tigers RHP Jordan Zimmermann could make his next start despite getting hit in the face by a line drive clocked at 105.6 mph in the first inning on Wednesday.
3. Detroit pitching coach Chris Bosio will miss at least the next two weeks with an undisclosed medical condition.