Washington @ Detroit preview
Comerica Park
Last Meeting ( Mar 25, 2010 ) Detroit 8, Washington 2
The bad news for the Detroit Tigers' ticket office is also the good news for the team's hitters.
Rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg will not be pitching in the three-game series that begins on Tuesday. So while the Tigers won't get the attendance boost that will come with the Strasburg experience, their hitters won't have to face the pitching sensation who is sweeping across baseball.
Instead of digging in against Strasburg's 100 mile-per-hour fastball and his knee-buckling curveball, the Tigers will face John Lannan, Livan Hernandez and Luis Atilano. Each will present a challenge, but none will come close to approaching the headline-grabbing attention a Strasburg start would bring.
Strasburg won his second career start on Sunday, allowing one run and two hits in 5 1/3 innings against the Cleveland Indians. His offense supported him with 16 hits in a 9-4 win after managing three runs in losing the first two games of the series.
The Nationals had seven hits against Jake Westbrook and two relievers Friday night and were completely dominated by Fausto Carmona, who gave up only three hits Saturday night.
Even with the designated hitter in their lineup, the Nationals struggled in their first two games in an American League ballpark before breaking out Sunday.
Lannan has two wins all season and one in his last 10 starts. That victory came on May 28 against the San Diego Padres. The soft-throwing lefty has pitched well at times, but hasn't put together any consistency.
He simply allows too many baserunners. Lannan has given up 83 hits in 66 2/3 innings, which translates into a .305 opponents batting average. He has also walked 31 and struck out only 22. It's easy to see why his numbers look like this because of all the balls that are put into play.
Lannan's last start was also shaky as the Pirates pounded him for five runs and 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings.
The Tigers are on a roll going into the series. Detroit swept a three-game series from the Pittsburgh Pirates have has won seven of 10. The Tigers won the final two games by identical 4-3 scores thanks to Carlos Guillen's walk-off homer in the 10th on Saturday night and Miguel Cabrera's three-run homer in the eighth on Sunday.
Right-hander Max Scherzer continues to produce mixed results for the Tigers.
Scherzer's 1-2 in three starts since being recalled from Triple-A Toledo. He held the Chicago White Sox to three runs and five hits in 7 1/3 innings, but got the loss in his last start.