Tigers vs Guardians Series Preview: Plenty of 20-Something Pitchers

Tigers Look to Keep Rolling Against Guardians

The Detroit Tigers just finished with a series against the American League Central Division-leading Minnesota Twins and now it is time for the Tigers vs Guardians series preview.

Both Detroit and Cleveland are turning the roster over the prospects with the Guardians having 13 players on the current roster aged 25 or younger compared to eight of those players for the Tigers.

Detroit has won four of the first six games between the MLB teams this season with five of the six meetings finishing under the total. The Guardians have been favored by the MLB lines in all six games. The Tigers are listed as the favorite in Thursday’s series opener.

When it comes to the MLB schedule, Detroit will play its next six games versus teams with winning records once this series is over while Cleveland has nine games remaining in August against teams with winning records.

Probable Starting Pitchers

• Thursday: Tarik Skubal (Tigers); Xzavion Curry (Guardians)
• Friday: Matt Manning (Tigers); Gavin Williams (Guardians)
• Saturday: Eduardo Rodriguez (Tigers); Tanner Bibee (Guardians)
• Sunday: Alex Faedo (Tigers); Logan Allen (Guardians)

Carpenter Going to Work

Kerry Carpenter isn’t as highly touted as some of the other young position players for the Tigers, but it is hard to overlook what he is doing in recent games.

Heading into Wednesday’s series finale with Minnesota, Carpenter had a .391 batting average, .451 on-base percentage and .717 slugging percentage and that puts him in the top 10 in all three categories.

Carpenter recently had an eight-game stretch with six multi-hit efforts as he raised his batting average from .252 to .281. Keep that in mind when it comes to the Tigers vs Guardians series preview.

Young Pitchers Coming Up Big

With ace Shane Bieber on the injured list and the Guardians making the curious decision to trade away Aaron Civale, there was a lot of pressure on a group of starting pitchers with limited MLB experience.

Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen and Gavin Williams have been up to the challenge as they all have ERAs under 2.00 in the month of August to go with a combined record of 4-1 and 58 strikeouts in 53 innings so the future looks bright in Cleveland.

All three of them are slated to pitch in this series so keep that in mind when it comes to the Tigers vs Guardians series preview.

Who’s Hot

• Logan Allen, Cleveland Guardians P: Allen is 2-1 with a 1.59 ERA in his three starts in August. He allowed 12 hits and struck out 15 in 17 innings in those three games.
• Alex Faedo, Detroit Tigers P: Faedo is 1-0 with a 1.72 ERA in his last three appearances. He has allowed six hits and struck out 13 in 15.2 innings during that span.
• Andres Gimenez, Cleveland Guardians 2B: Gimenez had a recent stretch with four runs, eight hits, a double, a home run and three RBIs in three games.
• Spencer Torkelson, Detroit Tigers 1B: Torkelson hit .333 with five runs, four home runs and five RBIs in a six-game stretch. He hit his 20th home run of the season on Wednesday.

Who’s Not

• Will Brennan, Cleveland Guardians OF: In a recent five-game stretch, Brennan was 2-for-19 with four strikeouts.
• Xzavion Curry, Cleveland Guardians P: Curry has surrendered 10 hits and seven runs over 10 innings in his last two starts.
• Eduardo Rodriguez, Detroit Tigers P: Rodriguez allowed season-highs of 10 hits and six runs in his last start.
• Jake Rogers, Detroit Tigers C: Rogers is 2-for-21 with nine strikeouts in a nine-game stretch.

Tigers vs Guardians Injury Update

Detroit shortstop Javier Baez is on the bereavement list. Pitchers Mason Englert and Spencer Turnbull could come off the injured list later in August.

For Cleveland, infielder Tyler Freeman recently came off the injured list while first baseman David Fry could return later this month.

Tigers vs Guardians Betting Preview

Both teams are under .500 since the MLB All-Star break ended and that has enabled the Minnesota Twins to open up some breathing room in the American League Central Division race. Both have been sinking in the MLB power rankings.

There are plenty of young arms on display in this series as both teams are building around the talented young pitchers.

The teams have almost identical runs scored and runs batted in numbers since the All-Star Game with the Tigers relying more on the home run and the Guardians playing small ball with nearly a stolen base per game average.

Detroit had a recent stretch when five games in a row finished under the total with Cleveland having three out of four games go over the total.

Nearly twice as many of Cleveland’s home games have finished under the total. Both the Tigers and Guardians have winning records when listed as the favorites and are under .500 as underdogs.

For MLB betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.

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