The Detroit Tigers escaped Southern California this week with one win in three tries against the San Diego Padres, which came Thursday night on a ninth-inning grand slam by Parker Meadows. Otherwise, the Olde English D played their opponents closely, but the Pads are a playoff-bound team.
The pendulum now swings for AJ Hinch and Co. as they head to Northern California to face the lowly Oakland Athletics this weekend. The A’s welcome the Tigers to Oakland Coliseum sitting in fourth place in the American League West 14 games behind the division-leading Houston Astros and well out of postseason contention.
Detroit, on the other hand, is also in fourth place in the AL Central 9.5 games behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians and tied with the Seattle Mariners at five games out of the wild card race. The clock is ticking on the season so if the Tigers are going to make a stab at the playoffs, now is the time to run the board.
Below is a look at the pitching matchups for this weekend, with each team turning in a TBD — as is the late-season tradition.
Detroit Tigers (71-70) at Oakland Athletics (61-80)
Times (ET): Fri: 9:40 p.m.; Sat: 4:07 p.m.; Sun: 4:07 p.m.
Place: Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California
SB Nation Site: Athletics Nation
Media: Bally Sports Detroit, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Game 142 Pitching Matchup
| Player | IP | K% | BB% | FIP | fWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | IP | K% | BB% | FIP | fWAR |
| Skubal | 168.1 | 30.3 | 5.0 | 2.61 | 5.0 |
| Spence | 126.0 | 19.6 | 7.7 | 4.22 | 1.1 |
Game 142: LHP Tarik Skubal (16-4, 2.51 ERA) vs. RHP Mitch Spence (7-9, 4.50 ERA)
Skubal
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Baseball Savant
Spence
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Baseball Savant
Game 143 Pitching Matchup
| Player | IP | K% | BB% | FIP | fWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | IP | K% | BB% | FIP | fWAR |
| Hurter | 27.2 | 23.6 | 2.7 | 3.04 | 0.5 |
| TBD | – | – | – | – | – |
Game 143: LHP Brant Hurter (3-1, 3.25 ERA) vs. TBD
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Baseball Savant
Game 144 Pitching Matchup
| Player | IP | K% | BB% | FIP | fWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | IP | K% | BB% | FIP | fWAR |
| TBD | – | – | – | – | – |
| Ginn | 14.2 | 25.9 | 8.6 | 4.14 | 0.1 |
Game 144: TBD vs. RHP J.T. Ginn (0-0, 4.30 ERA)
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Baseball Savant
Series Outlook: A must-win series… again
These are the series that the Tigers must win if they want to play ball in October. The A’s are coming off a split of a four-game series with the Mariners but are lacking in momentum having lost their last two while Detroit got a boost from Meadows’ grand salami on Thursday night.
Overall, Oakland is tied for 18th in OPS (.704) while 25th in runs scored (575) on offense; the pitching staff ranks 25th in ERA (4.37) and WHIP (1.32) while coming in at 24th in batting average against (.250).
On the other hand, the Motor City Kitties rank 24th in OPS (.684) and 21st in runs scored (591) on offense, while coming in fifth in ERA (3.74), second in WHIP (1.19) and tied for sixth in batting average against (.236) on the mound.