6/2 One Game Preview: Detroit Tigers

Today was originally scheduled to be an off-day for the Yankees and Tigers. Instead, the two teams will meet at Comerica Park to play the makeup game of their April 10th rainout. This is the tenth game of what has become another 20 games in 20 days stretch for the Yankees. These two teams split the first two games of what is technically this series last month.

What Have They Done Lately?

Last night the Tigers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 3-0 win over the Angels. Right-hander Michael Fulmer, who went to Detroit with Luis Cessa in last year’s Yoenis Cespedes trade, took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Overall the Tigers are 25-27 with a -16 run differential on the season. Like the Yankees, they are suddenly staring at an unwanted rebuilding phase after years of contention.

Offense & Defense

Scoring runs hasn’t been much of a problem. The Tigers are averaging 4.48 runs per game with a team 103 wRC+, which is the kind of offense the Yankees could only dream about these days. (The Yankees average 3.71 runs per game with a team 82 wRC+. Yuck.) Detroit is completely healthy on the position player side. No one is even day-to-day.

Manager Brad Ausmus has a set lineup and he sticks to it no matter how the team is playing. Bet on the Yankees seeing a starting lineup that looks almost exactly like this tonight:

1. 2B Ian Kinsler (144 wRC+)
2. RF J.D. Martinez (115 wRC+)
3. 1B Miguel Cabrera (147 wRC+)
4. DH Victor Martinez (151 wRC+)
5. 3B Nick Castellanos (148 wRC+)
6. LF Justin Upton (53 wRC+)
7. CF Cameron Maybin (169 wRC+ in only 59 plate appearances)
8. C James McCann (2 wRC+ in 85 plate appearances)
9. SS Jose Iglesias (47 wRC+)

Ausmus may decide to rest one or two players following the West Coast night game last night, but otherwise that’s his set lineup. The Tigers are carrying only three bench players these days: C Jarrod Saltamacchia (105 wRC+), IF Andrew Romine (24 wRC+), and UTIL Mike Aviles (3 wRC+). The Romine brothers will be reunited again today.

Defensively, the Tigers are excellent up the middle with Kinsler, Iglesias, and Maybin. The corners though? Yeesh. Martinez and Upton are liabilities in the outfield corners and Castellanos is a butcher at third. Miggy is not an awful defender, he can scoop throws with the best of ’em, but he doesn’t have a ton of range. McCann is an outstanding thrower. Salty? Not so much. Polar opposites, really.

Pitching Matchup

Thursday (7:40pm ET): RHP Michael Pineda (vs. DET) vs. LHP Matt Boyd (vs. NYY)
The Yankees are catching a break today. This is supposed to be Jordan Zimmermann’s rotation spot, but he’s nursing a groin injury, so Boyd is getting the ball instead. The Tigers picked up the 25-year-old southpaw in the David Price trade last summer. He’s made one relief appearance (4.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K) and one spot start (5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K) for Detroit so far this year. Last season he had a 7.53 ERA (6.59 FIP) in 57.1 big league innings, and this year he has a 2.06 ERA (3.15 FIP) in 48 Triple-A innings. Boyd’s strikeout (20.9%), walk (6.6%), and homer (056 HR/9) rates in the minors this season are all solid-ish. PitchFX indicates Boyd has added a little velocity this season; his four-seamer and sinker are averaging 92.7 mph and 91.6 mph this year, up from 91.9 mph and 89.5 mph last year. Low-80s changeups and mid-80s sliders are his go-to secondary pitches. The Yankees did not see Boyd during the two games earlier this season. In fact, the only player on the roster who has faced him in Aaron Hicks thanks to his time with the Twins last year.

Bullpen Status

The Tigers temporarily have an eight-man bullpen because Zimmermann isn’t actually on the DL. It’s a day-to-day thing, but they still needed to add Boyd to the roster to make the spot start. Here is Detroit’s bullpen:

Closer: RHP Francisco Rodriguez (3.60/3.57)
Setup: LHP Justin Wilson (3.92/1.52) and RHP Alex Wilson (5.49/3.68)
Middle: RHP Mark Lowe (7.79/6.75), LHP Kyle Ryan (3.20/3.48), RHP Bobby Parnell
Long: RHP Buck Farmer (2.61/4.18) and Anibal Sanchez (6.67/6.28)

Ausmus announced yesterday that Sanchez is moving to the bullpen now that Zimmermann is due back this weekend. Anibal just started Tuesday, so he won’t be available tonight. Also, Parnell was called up just yesterday and has yet to get into a game. He had a 3.98 ERA (3.80 FIP) in 20.2 innings at Triple-A.

As for the late innings, the Wilsons handle setup work and Justin is the primary high-leverage guy. Ausmus turns to him in the toughest situations. He knows Wilson can get both lefties and righties out. Justin threw 14 pitches Tuesday and Alex threw 22, so they’ll be good to go tonight. In fact, K-Rod was their only reliever to pitch yesterday. He threw 33 pitches in 1.1 innings. That could affect his availability tonight.

Overall, the Tigers never seem to have a good bullpen, and that is generally the case again this year. K-Rod is good enough in the ninth inning and the Wilsons are a strong setup tandem. The middle innings are sketchy. Getting Boyd’s pitch count up and going to town on the middle relievers is a viable strategy, assuming the offense is up to it. Head on over to our Bullpen Workload page for the status of Joe Girardi’s relievers.