Field Level Media
22 Sep 2023, 13:25 GMT+10
(Photo credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports)
Two teams with an eye on "second place" continue their four-game series on Friday night when the Detroit Tigers go for a second straight win over the host Oakland Athletics.
Having seen that the Cleveland Guardians (73-81) had won earlier Thursday night, the Tigers (72-81) remained a half-game back in their duel for second place in the American League Central by taking care of business on the road in Oakland, winning 7-3 behind seven shutout innings from Tarik Skubal.
The Tigers have finished no higher than third place in the AL Central in every season since Justin Verlander led them to a runner-up finish in 2016, eight games behind Cleveland. Detroit has finished an average of 28.8 games out of first in the last six seasons, landing in last place in the Central on half of those occasions.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch is trying to salvage any positives he can from this season, and the 2.99 ERA his starters have posted since Aug. 15 is certainly one of them.
"When you see how our rotation's pitched in the last month and a half or so -- and we're not even fully healthy yet -- it's a good sign," Hinch said.
"When you get success like this, especially in back-to-back games and in many of the games over the last six weeks, it's encouraging for what's ahead and the group of pitchers that we can put together."
Having won six of its last eight games, Detroit now sends impressive prospect Sawyer Gipson-Long (1-0, 2.70 ERA) to the mound to face an A's team that has lost eight straight.
The right-hander has pitched the Tigers to a pair of wins in his first two major league starts, striking out a total of 16 in 10 innings. He allowed just one run and two hits over five innings, striking out 11, in his most recent start over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.
The 25-year-old has never faced the A's.
The hosts ran into a buzzsaw in the series opener. Skubal was so dominant, A's manager Mark Kotsay hand-delivered a message to his pitchers: Try to be more like the left-hander.
"At one point I went down and talked to our pitchers, especially Waldy (Friday starter Ken Waldichuk)," Kotsay said. "I said, 'Hey, this guy has thrown 18 balls in six innings, and he's really dominating our hitters with that fastball/change-up mix. See how effective that was.'"
Waldichuk (3-8, 5.40) pitched Oakland to a 12-3 win at Detroit as a bulk-innings reliever in July, allowing two runs in 4 1/3 innings. It was his only career head-to-head with the Tigers.
The left-hander has won just once in 13 appearances since, nine of which have been starts.
Oakland's bid for "second place" comes at the bottom of the standings. The losing streak has dropped the A's (46-107) five games behind the Kansas City Royals (51-102) in their fight to escape baseball's cellar.
A playoff team three consecutive seasons as recently as 2018-20, the A's finished with the worst record in the AL last season (60-102) but avoided the distinction of being baseball's losingest. That title fell upon the Washington Nationals, who went 55-107.
Finishing with the worst record used to have a consolation prize in baseball -- that team earned the top pick in the following year's draft. But Major League Baseball took away a tanking incentive when it created a lottery system, one in which the teams with the three worst records have the same odds of picking first.
The A's have already assured themselves of landing in the bottom three.
--Field Level MediaGet a daily dose of Cleveland Star news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Cleveland Star.
More InformationCINCINNATI, Ohio: Facing global economic headwinds and mounting tariff pressures, Procter & Gamble announced plans this week to cut...
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands: Tesla saw a sharp decline in sales across several major European markets in May, marking its fifth consecutive...
BERLIN/FRANKFURT: Some car parts factories in Europe have stopped production, and companies like Mercedes-Benz are making backup plans...
CHICAGO, Illinois: McDonald's is bringing back its much-loved Snack Wrap in the U.S. starting July 10. The wrap, which includes chicken,...
GOODLETTSVILLE, Tennessee: Dollar General reported record sales of US$10.44 billion for the latest quarter and raised its full-year...
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vermont: Beta Technologies has become the first U.S. company to land an all-electric aircraft at an airport in the...
CINCINNATI, Ohio: Facing global economic headwinds and mounting tariff pressures, Procter & Gamble announced plans this week to cut...
DEARBORN, Michigan: Ford is pulling back tens of thousands of its electric pickup trucks over a steering defect that could lead to...
The Biden administration chose not to publicly disclose the true health impact of a 2023 train derailment in Ohio, investigators claim...
ABU DHABI,16th May, 2025 (WAM) - Oracle Health, Cleveland Clinic, and G42 today announced a strategic partnership to develop a groundbreaking...
ABU DHABI, 6th May, 2025 (WAM) -- PureHealth and its subsidiary SEHA have partnered with the number one US children's hospital, Cincinnati...
ABU DHABI, 16th April, 2025 (WAM) -- Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, part of the M42 group, has achieved a historic milestone in global...