Detroit Tigers defeat the Cleveland Guardians, 4-2: Game thread replay
Ryan FordGame 40: Detroit Tigers (13-26) vs. Cleveland Guardians (17-19)
When: 1:40 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Progressive Field in Cleveland.
TV: Bally Sports Detroit.
Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1) (Tigers radio affiliates).
Starting pitchers: Tigers RHP Alex Faedo (0-1, 2.87) vs. Guardians RHP Shane Bieber (1-2, 3.72).
INJURY WOES:Tigers still figuring out Eduardo Rodriguez injury issue
JEFF SEIDEL:Enough with Tigers injuries. Would someone please put Tarik Skubal in bubble wrap?
Tigers lineup:
RF Robbie Grossman
LF Willi Castro
DH Miguel Cabrera
SS Javier Báez
3B Jeimer Candelario
1B Spencer Torkelson
2B Jonathan Schoop
C Tucker Barnhart
CF Daz Cameron
P Alex Faedo
[ Tigers starter Eduardo Rodriguez lands on 15-day injured list with ribcage sprain ]
Game notes: The Tigers’ beleaguered rotation — which, we’ll remind you, has five pitchers on the 10-day IL (Tyler Alexander, Matt Manning, Casey Mize, Michael Pineda and, as of Sunday morning, Eduardo Rodriguez), another who left Friday’s start with a left shin contusion (Tarik Skubal) and one on the 60-day IL from last season (Spencer Turnbull) — got a slight break with Saturday’s rainout, which bumped Alex Faedo’s start back a day and negated the Tigers’ need for an additional starter. (They’ll still need someone to start Tuesday in Minneapolis, as Manning won’t be ready following his latest abbreviated rehab start, but that’s Tuesday’s problem, not Sunday’s.)
Faedo, the Tigers’ first-round pick in 2017 out of Florida, is coming off the third start of his big-league career, and arguably the best: He held the Rays to one run on four hits and a walk with four strikeouts over 5⅔ innings on Monday. He ended up with a no-decision, but it was still encouraging, with all three starts lasting at least five innings with two runs allowed or fewer.
Of course, the Guardians also bumped their starter, Shane Bieber, back a day. Bieber won the AL Cy Young Award in 2020, but injuries limited him to just 96⅔ innings, over which he still posted a 3.17 ERA with 134 strikeouts and just 33 walks. He hasn’t been quite as effective this season, with 36 strikeouts and 12 walks in 38⅔ innings, but he should have more than enough to deal with the Tigers’ woeful offense, which is last in the majors at 2.7 runs per game.
No one on the Tigers roster is sorrier to see Bieber than Jeimer Candelario; the third baseman is 3-for-21 in his career against Bieber, with 11 strikeouts. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Jonathan Schoop is only 5-for-18 vs. Bieber, but that includes two doubles, a homer and only four strikeouts.
After the series wraps up (likely 30 minutes later than a normal Sunday, thanks to the later start time necessitated by the exclusive broadcast window NBC/Peacock has to shoe Cards/Bucs this morning), the Tigers will head west to take on the Twins in a three-game series from Monday-Wednesday. The last time the Tigers visited the Twins, they were swept in embarrassing fashion. Maybe this time they can win at least one game. The Guardians, meanwhile, have a three-game visit to Houston from Monday-Wednesday before heading to Detroit for a four-game rematch (barring mor of this weekend’s series.
[ Why Tigers' hopes for 2022 grew even dimmer in their first game in Cleveland ]
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Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @theford. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.