Detroit Tigers Schedule: Previewing the Rest of May

Detroit Tigers players have turned things around. After a sluggish stretch in which the team lost 11 of 12 games, the team has won four games in a row. Here’s a look at what the schedule holds for May.

Detroit Tigers fans were probably relieved when the team swept the Minnesota Twins. The sweep put the Tigers back on track where the season is concerned. What’s more, it also confirmed that Detroit can win games against inferior teams.

The Tigers are now 6-0 against the Twins on the season, but they’ll need to improve against quality competition as the year progresses.

During the aforementioned losing streak, Detroit was swept by Cleveland (unfortunately for the second time this season) and the Texas Rangers. The stretch also saw the Tigers drop two of three games against both the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles.

Luckily, the rest of the month of May will provide Detroit with chances to prove the team’s worth against some teams that aren’t cellar dwellers like the Twins.

During the final days of May, the Tigers will play the Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies at home before hitting the road for a six-game road trip out west to take on the Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Here’s a preview.

Tampa Bay Rays

Friday’s opener against the Tampa Bay Rays brings a different challenge for the Tigers after sweeping the Twins. While Tampa is sitting at .500, the Rays are always a tough draw.

The American League East club, as per usual, features a solid pitching staff. Jake Odorizzi and former Tiger Drew Smyly both sport ERAs under 4.00, while Chris Archer and Matt Moore are much better than their relatively high ERAs (4.38 and 5.09 respectively) would indicate.

The quality pitching also carries over to the bullpen, where closer Alex Colome (1.77 FIP and 24 strikeouts in 17.1 IP) headline a solid group. In addition to Colome, swingman Erasmo Ramirez has also been excellent. The former Mariner owns a 1.89 ERA in 33.1 innings pitched. So far this season, the righty has finished four games and started one in 17 appearances.

Also available to pitch out of the bullpen are Enny Romero (2.93 ERA), Steve Geltz (4.30 ERA), Xavier Cedeno (3.86 ERA) and Ryan Webb (3.75 ERA).

If Detroit can put some runs up against the manager Kevin Cash’s pitching staff, the Tigers could be in a position to extend the team’s four-game winning streak.

Tampa Bay fields one of the league’s worst offenses. The Rays have quality players like Evan Longoria, Corey Dickerson and Steve Pearce, it’s just that the team hasn’t been able to put it all together.

Of the team’s regulars, four are hitting under .200, and only one player has an on-base percentage over .320—currently injured second baseman Logan Forsythe. By comparison, Detroit has five players with on-base percentages over .340. That number could be six if Cameron Maybin had been healthy from Opening Day onwards.

Detroit will face Matt Andriese, Drew Smyly and Chris Archer. Anibal Sanchez, Michael Fulmer and Jordan Zimmermann will start for the Tigers.

Philadelphia Phillies

At 24-17 the Philadelphia Phillies may the biggest surprise in all of Major League Baseball.

After continuing the rebuilding process in the offseason by dealing reliever Ken Giles to Houston for a haul of prospects, it was expected that the young Phillies would finish towards the bottom of the standings. That obviously hasn’t been the case so far, but it’s hard to imagine Philadelphia staying in the playoff race all season.

As it stands, the team has an unsustainable -28 run differential. Additionally, the team has scored the second fewest runs in the league—and that isn’t likely to improve any time soon. Cleanup hitter and potential offensive catalyst Ryan Howard has a paltry .236 on-base percentage this season.

Despite the poor offense, the Phillies do have some solid pitching. Aaron Nola and Vincent Velasquez are building blocks for the future, while Jeremy Hellickson has intriguing potential as an innings eater. The bullpen is solid as well, with Jeanmar Gomez, Hector Neris and David Hernandez spearheading an effective group.

As with the series against the Rays, if Detroit can score runs, they’ll be successful.

Mike Pelfrey will oppose Velasquez in the first game of the series on Monday the 23^rd. Justin Verlander takes on Hellickson in game two while Anibal Sanchez take the bump for the finale against Nola.

Oakland Athletics

Unlike the Rays and Phillies, the Oakland Athletics are a known commodity to the Tigers this season. Detroit took three of four from the A’s in a home series in late April.

The Tigers will now make the return trip to the Bay Area, and hopefully achieve a similar result.

As it stands, the A’s are currently 19-23 and five games back of first place in the American League West. While Oakland has a similar record to the Tigers, the Athletics’ run differential suggests a different story. Only the Twins at -68 have a worse run differential in the American League than the A’s -42.

As the run differential would suggest, Oakland has trouble putting runs on offense.  The A’s are ranked towards the middle of the pack in both runs scored and runs per game, but they have the fifth-worst team on-base percentage in the league. In other words, if Tigers pitching is up to task, Detroit can have some success.

Michael Fulmer is slated to start the first game of the series against fellow highly-touted youngster Sean Manaea. Following that, Jordan Zimmermann will take the mound and face Jesse Hahn, while Mike Pelfrey will wrap up the series against Rich Hill. Pelfrey lost to Hill in the only game that Oakland won in the first series between the two teams.