The Detroit Tigers will play three games in two days against the Pittsburgh Pirates after snow postponed Tuesday night’s game at Comerica Park. The teams are slated to play a pair of seven-inning games at 2:10 p.m. and 6:40 p.m. Wednesday.
The series finale between the Tigers and Pirates is remains scheduled for 1:10 p.m. Thursday. The Tigers (6-10) aim to get back on track after losing seven games during a 10-game road trip that took them to Cleveland, Houston and Oakland.
Snowfall entered Detroit in the early afternoon Tuesday — at that point, the team felt there was a 50-50 chance of playing. The snow is expected to continue throughout the night and into the early hours of Wednesday. Because the inclement weather didn’t let up ahead of the scheduled 6:40 p.m. first pitch, the game was postponed.
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“We’re hopeful that clearer minds prevail tonight and we’re not out there with 30-degree weather and rain, sleet and snow,” Hinch said Tuesday, before the postponement. “But that brings up the pitching situation for tomorrow and position players and things like that. We’ve got backup plans.”
For the Tigers, not much changes with their pitching plan.
Right-hander Michael Fulmer will start Game 1 of the doubleheader, followed by righty Spencer Turnbull in Game 2. It will be Turnbull’s first start of the season. He tested positive for COVID-19 about two weeks before Opening Day and made two starts in April for the alternate training site team. He went 4⅓ innings in his most recent outing.
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Left-hander Tarik Skubal is the odd man out in a modified six-man rotation, leaving him to split time between the starting rotation and the bullpen. He will pitch in relief at some point during the doubleheader.
Because of the doubleheader, the Tigers can bring up a 27th player to the active roster from the alternate site in Toledo. It’s unclear which player will make the trip.
Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.