Detroit Tigers vs Oakland Athletics Game 54: Game Preview, TV, Lineup

Detroit Tigers (28-25) vs Oakland Athletics (21-33) — 7:08 PM ET

Comerica Park – Detroit, MI

TV: FSD

Radio: 97.1 The Ticket (click for affiliates)

Weather: 71 degrees, sunny

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Game Preview 

The Detroit Tigers losing skid hit five games in a gut-wrenching loss on Tuesday night. It will be a tall order for the team’s streak to not hit six with Oakland’s ace Sonny Gray going to the mound against the struggling Detroit offense. In other words, good luck, y’all.

The shaken up lineup that was able to go from two runs to three runs will be used again tonight.

When We Last Met

The Tigers seemed to get an offensive surge–three runs in one inning is a surge for them these days, but they missed countless opportunities to score more. These missed chances came back to haunt them in the seventh inning when Alfredo Simon got into trouble after a good outing, and defensive miscues from Nick Castellanos and Ian Kinsler loaded the bases. A couple batters later, a grand slam gave the A’s a 5-3 lead. The Tigers appeared defeated and mounted no comeback threats and lost again.

Pitching Matchup

The Detroit Tigers really need Anibal Sanchez (3-6, 5.75) to be the Anibal of old, especially squaring off against a good pitcher on Wednesday night. Over his past three starts, Sanchez has lost two, posting an era of 8.82 and a WHIP of 1.65, however he did settle things down some in a 2-0 loss to the Angels on Friday night. He went seven strong innings allowing six hits and two runs, striking out nine and walking two. This is not proof that Sanchez is back, because we’ve seen solid starts washed away the next time through the rotation.

The A’s will throw their best pitcher out Wednesday night when Sonny Gray (6-2, 1.82) takes the mound. He has allowed just two runs over his last two outings, both of which came in a 6-2 win over the New York Yankees on Friday. So dominant has been Gray that he has allowed more than two runs in his 11 starts just twice. He got hit fairly hard by Detroit in his lone start against them last year, earning a no-decision after surrendering four runs on eight hits.

Tigers Lineup

1. Anthony Gose-CF
2. Jose Iglesias-SS
3. Miguel Cabrera-1B
4. Yoenis Cespedes-LF
5. Ian Kinsler-2B
6. J.D. Martinez-RF
7. Tyler Collins-DH
8. Nick Castellanos-3B
9. James McCann-C

Injuries

• Rajai Davis — Paternity Leave
• Kyle Lobstein — 15-day DL
• Victor Martinez — 15-day DL
• Bruce Rondon — 15-day DL
• Alex Avila — 15-day DL
• Justin Verlander — 15-day DL
• Joe Nathan – Out for the Season

Next: 5 Ways to Fix Tigers