Arizona @ Detroit preview
Comerica Park
Last Meeting ( Jun 19, 2010 ) Arizona 6, Detroit 5
Both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Detroit Tigers thought they were securing themselves a spot in the playoff race with a big three-team trade in the offseason. It’s only working out for one of them.
Two key pieces to that trade will square off Sunday when the Diamondbacks and Tigers meet in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Arizona, Detroit and the New York Yankees got together over the winter and swapped some pieces around, with the Tigers ending up with Austin Jackson and Phil Coke from the Yankees and Max Scherzer from the Diamondbacks.
Arizona grabbed pitchers Edwin Jackson from Detroit and Ian Kennedy from New York.
While Austin Jackson is batting leadoff for the Tigers, placing himself squarely in the middle of the American League Rookie of the Year discussion, and Coke has become a key member of a strong bullpen, Scherzer had some initial trouble adjusting to the American League.
Scherzer started the season 1-4 with a 7.59 ERA before being sent to Triple-A Toledo to work out his problems.
The 25-year-old right-hander returned 16 days later a new man, striking out 14 in 5 1/3 innings to earn a win against Oakland. A pair of losses followed, but Scherzer looked good again on Wednesday when he struck out nine to pick up a win against Washington.
Scherzer’s continued success will play a huge role in determining if Detroit has enough in the tank to hang with the Minnesota Twins at the top of the AL Central.
His old team could certainly use another arm, as Arizona’s plans for contention stalled from the start due to a pitching staff with the worst ERA in the National League and a lineup that is striking out at a record pace.
The Diamondbacks picked up a rare win on Saturday, however, snapping a franchise-record 14-game road losing streak with a 6-5 victory.
Edwin Jackson tossed 7 1/3 strong innings against his former team to earn the win and Mark Reynolds, who went 0-for-11 with nine strikeouts as Arizona was swept by the Boston Red Sox earlier in the week, hit his 16th homer.
Kennedy will try to make it two straight for the Diamondbacks when he attempts to snap a five-start winless streak today. The right-hander leads the Arizona staff with a 3.57 ERA and has racked up 77 strikeouts in 88 1/3 innings, but he is coming off a start at Boston in which he allowed six runs on nine hits in six innings.
The 25-year-old has never had much success against AL teams, going 1-4 with a 6.03 ERA in parts of three seasons with the Yankees. He faced the Tigers once, allowing four runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings.