MLB series of the week: Mariners at Tigers
By The Prez
Seattle Mariners at Detroit Tigers (-157, 9 – Game 1)
Season series
The Tigers and Mariners met in mid-April in both teams’ fourth series of the season. These clubs have changed quite a bit since then.
After winning that series opener, the M’s had the best record in the AL. But Detroit took two of three in the set at Safeco Field. In the series finale, Tigers rookie Rick Porcello won his first career game, holding Seattle to just one run in seven innings. He starts Game 1 on Tuesday.
Seattle, which is tied for the second-most road wins in the AL, has beaten the Tigers just five times in the past 17 meetings and once in the past seven visits to Motown. Detroit has the fewest home losses (13) in baseball this year and has won 12 of its last 14 at Comerica Park, hitting .295 with 24 homers and outscoring opponents 82-47.
How they enter
The Mariners, who took three of four in Cleveland following the All-Star break, should count their blessing that they won’t have to face Tigers co-aces Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson. Both hurlers pitched in the final two games last weekend against the Yanks.
Those Tigers bats didn’t do much in homer-happy Yankee Stadium, totaling just five runs while hitting .208 overall and going just 1-for-26 with runners in scoring position.
"You see our lineup, a lot of talent, and we haven't produced the way we can," now-platoon player Magglio Ordonez said.
Tigers manager Jim Leyland said the team would take extra batting practice back home to try and shake out the kinks.
Perhaps worse news for Detroit out of the Yankee series was an injury to hard-throwing reliever Joel Zumaya. He felt something pop in his shoulder after allowing a three-run homer to Mark Texieira on Friday night. Zumaya was placed on the 15-day DL but could be out much longer.
The pitchers
Tuesday
Porcello (8-6, 4.14), Tigers versus Garrett Olson (3-3, 4.53), Mariners
Porcello makes his first start since July 5. The team shut him down for a while so he doesn’t wear down in his first big-league season. He had shown some troubling signs, losing his last two starts with an ERA approaching 10. Olson, meanwhile, faced Detroit twice last year, allowing 10 earned runs on 11 hits and seven walks in 7 2-3 innings.
Wednesday
Armando Galarraga (5-8, 5.09). Tigers versus Felix Hernandez (10-3, 2.51), Mariners
Galarraga followed back-to-back games one-run outings by giving up four earned and nine hits in six innings to Cleveland last time out. As for Hernandez, since his last loss on May 19 the King is 6-0 with a 1.30 ERA in 10 starts. He is 9-2 this year following a Seattle loss and has won four in a row against Detroit.
Thursday
Lucas French (1-0, 1.89), Tigers versus Jarrod Washburn (7-6, 2.87), Mariners
French has an ERA under 1.00 at home and opponents are hitting just .176 against him at Comerica Park. This will be just his fourth start. Washburn has allowed just two runs over his last 22 2-3 innings and has gone six innings or more in 10 consecutive starts.
A few numbers
The Mariners’ Russell Branyan was one of baseball’s surprising players through June but is hitting just .180 in July. His slugging and on-base percentages both are way down this month as well. He still leads the M’s in homers with 23, which is nearly double the No. 2 guy on the team and one off Branyan’s career high.
The Tigers have lost three games this year when allowing two runs or fewer. Two of those came in that Yankee series over the weekend.
Look for the under in each game of this series. It’s 8-0 in Seattle’s past eight against the AL Central and 8-1 in Detroit’s past nine against the AL West.