Cleveland @ Detroit preview
Comerica Park
Last Meeting ( Jul 18, 2010 ) Detroit 2, Cleveland 7
The last time Armando Galarraga faced the Cleveland Indians, he turned in the best start of his career. With the season swiftly slipping away from his team, a similar effort this time would at least give the fans something to cheer about.
Galarraga will be trying to help the Detroit Tigers snap a three-game slide when they open up a three-game set against the Indians on Friday.
With one out left for a perfect game on June 2, Galarraga gave up a ground ball to the right side that first baseman Miguel Cabrera went after instead of letting the second baseman make the play. With Cabrera ranging to the right, Galarraga had to rush to cover first, barely beating Jason Donald to the bag for the apparent final out.
Only umpire Jim Joyce didn’t see it that way, calling Donald safe on the close play and ruining Galarraga’s perfect game. To his credit, Galarraga gathered himself and retired the next batter to complete the shutout and secure the win.
But that was undoubtedly the high point of his season, as the Venezuelan right-hander has managed to win just once in 12 starts since, going 1-4 with a 5.12 ERA while yielding a .293 opponent batting average.
Things have gotten so bad for Galarraga that he even got into a screaming match with catcher Alex Avila in the dugout during his start last Sunday against the Chicago White Sox.
The two needed to be separated. Galarraga ended up with a no-decision in that start, allowing four runs - three earned - on seven hits while walking two and striking out five in five innings.
The Tigers as a team have suffered the same fate as their pitcher, watching a season with much promise somehow go off the rails. Detroit was in first place in the American League Central as recently as July 10 but has gone 10-26 since to fall 12 games behind the Minnesota Twins in the division and five games under .500.
They allowed 26 runs in losing the final three games of a four-game series against the New York Yankees this week, including an 11-5 loss on Thursday.
The one constant all season has been Cabrera, who has kept his name in the AL MVP discussion with a .340 batting average. He hit his 31st homer of the season and drove in two runs on Thursday, giving him 100 RBIs.
Trying to stop Cabrera for the Indians tonight will be right-hander Justin Masterson. The 25-year-old has mixed fantastic starts with absolute duds this season, allowing four or more earned runs 10 different times while surrendering two or less 10 times.
One of his best starts came on Sunday against the Seattle Mariners, when Masterson allowed just one hit in six scoreless frames. He faced Detroit once earlier this season, allowing three runs and five hits in six innings on May 8.