Tigers Try To Even Up Series Today

It was bound to happen. The Tigers questionable defense reared it’s ugly head in the 8th inning yesterday, helping put a close game further out of reach in a 5-2 loss against the White Sox yesterday. On a day that good Max Scherzer showed up, the White Sox Jake Peavy was slightly better, and actually looked like a viable starter for the White Sox. Well, at least until he pulls some sort of strange muscle or something.

Up until the 8th inning yesterday, the Tigers defense has largely been a non-factor, which is a good thing. They’ve made most of the plays they have gotten to, which is key for the range limited Tigers.

Cue the circus music…..

Yesterday, a generous official scorer gave White Sox Alejandro De Aza a triple on a fly ball to Tigers LF Delmon Young that turned Young into a pretzel. The ball went off Young’s glove after doing a rather graceless pirouette on the Comiskey Park lawn, generating a two run rally for the White Sox in the 8th. I don’t want to get into a long thing about that rotating DH that Jim Leyland talked about before the season started, but maybe it’s time to get Delmon into that role on occasion, as a perfectly capable glove of Andy Dirks hasn’t had the cobwebs dusted off of it yet.

But that was yesterday, and in baseball, you don’t have time to worry about the past.

The Tigers trot lefty Adam Wilk out on the mound today against righty Gavin Floyd for game 2 of the series. Wilk, in a somewhat surprise move, gets the nod after pitching well in his first assignment in Toledo this season. The Tigers chose Wilk over Duane Below who was already with the club and had contributed to two wins out of the bullpen this season. In his short time with the Tigers (13.1 innings), Wilk has had a little bit of trouble with the home run ball, and he is going to need to keep the ball in the park today against the Sox to have a successful day. That’s easier said than done for a couple reasons. One, the Sox have some power. And two, the Sox boast a right handed heavy lineup.

The White Sox send Gavin Floyd to the mound against the Tigers today, who the last four seasons has been the very definition of a middle of the rotation starter. Floyd usually hangs around the low 4’s in ERA while pushing 200 innings for the Sox on a yearly basis. He has been good against the Tigers over his career. In 17 career starts against the kitties from the Motor City, Floyd has posted a 6-2 record with an ERA of 3.68.