After a lackadaisical effort against the Southsiders last week, Detroit welcomes the Northsiders to town.
The Detroit Tigers return home on Friday following a less-than-stellar road trip that saw them prevail in a three-game set at the Kansas City Royals before splitting a four-gamer with the Chicago White Sox this past week.
The Motor City Kitties will spend the next three days within the comfortable confines of Comerica Park, hosting the surging Chicago Cubs before hitting the road again next week. The Windy City boys are a game behind Detroit in the overall Major League Baseball standings while bringing in the best run differential in all of baseball at plus-106 — the only team above the 100 mark.
While the fanbase laments the losses to one of the worst teams in the sport this year, the Tigers are still the only professional franchise with 40 or more wins and still hold a robust six-game lead over the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central.
Statistically , the Olde English D is now 11th in batting average (.251), tied for 10th with the Athletics in on-base percentage (.323) and eighth in slugging (.408), adding up to a ninth-best OPS of .731. On the mound, the pitching staff is tied with the Texas Rangers for the second-best ERA (3.19) in baseball while ranking fourth in WHIP (1.17) and sixth in batting average against (.228).
On Friday night, Detroit’s reigning Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal takes the hill for the home team while Ben Brown climbs the mound for the visitors. Bad news folks, it will be broadcast by AppleTV+.
Detroit Tigers (41-23) vs. Chicago Cubs (39-23)
Time (ET): 7:10 p.m.
Place: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
SB Nation Site: Bleed Cubbie Blue
Media: AppleTV+, Tigers Radio Network
Game 65: LHP Tarik Skubal (5-2, 2.26 ERA) vs. RHP Ben Brown (3-3, 5.72 ERA)
SKUBAL
Baseball Savant
BROWN
Baseball Savant