Detroit Tigers: Tigers vs. Yankees series preview

After splitting a four game series with the Blue Jays in Toronto to start the season, the Detroit Tigers head to the big apple to take on the Yankees.

The Tigers stay on the road after closing out a 4-3 extra innings victory over the Blue Jays on Sunday traveling to New York to face another AL East foe in the Yankees. Let’s take an inside look at both teams and what to expect heading into the second series of the season.

New York Yankees

UPDATE: Per ESPN, the Yankees have placed OF Giancarlo Stanton on the 10-Day IL with a biceps strain, sidelining him for the entire series against the Tigers.

The Yankees fell to the Orioles 7-5 on Sunday, their second straight loss in a three game series with Baltimore. It’s safe to say nobody really expected the Bronx Bombers to start off 1-2 when opening the season against last year’s worst team in baseball, but the O’s were able to pull it off. Aaron Judge recorded 2 RBIs in the series, both coming on Sunday.

One standout for the Yankees on opening weekend was DH Luke Voit. Voit recorded four RBIs on Opening Day including a three-run bomb to deep center and added another on Saturday for a weekend total of five. New York put faith in Voit placing him in the cleanup spot behind Judge and Stanton, and so far he is yet to disappoint. Once the other Yankee sluggers start really hitting their stride, that could be a very dangerous trifecta.

Domingo German is expected to start the first game of the series for the Yanks on Monday. However, manager Aaron Boone has hinted at the possibility of joining the growing MLB trend of starting a reliever on the mound before putting in German. If German does start, it will be his first start of 2019 after going 2-6 with 5.57 ERA for New York last year.

Detroit Tigers

Detroit earned both of its opening weekend victories in extra innings as the Tigers split the first series of the season with Toronto two games apiece. It’s no secret that the offense, or lack thereof, was a major issue for Detroit in the first four games. In both losses, the Tigers were shutout and even found themselves in a 24 inning scoreless drought at one point in the series.

Hopefully, entering a much more hitter-friendly park in the Bronx will help to turn Detroit’s fortunes at the plate around. Jeimer Candelario played a big part in pulling the Tigers’ offense out of the dumps on Sunday by recording 2 RBIs in his first career five hit game. Nick Castellanos carried Detroit at the plate for much of the weekend, notching the Tigers’ only two hits on Saturday and punching in the game-winning RBI in the eleventh inning on Sunday.

Starting pitching was a high point for the Tigers on opening weekend. Jordan Zimmermann allowed just one hit in seven innings on Opening Day. That was followed up by impressive outings from Matt Boyd, Spencer Turnbull, and Matt Moore through the rest of the weekend.

Tyson Ross is scheduled to make his Tigers debut on Monday night against the Yankees. In 2018, Ross went 8-9 with a 4.15 ERA appearing for both San Diego and St. Louis. First pitch is set for 6:35 pm Monday night from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

What’s one thing you’d like to see the Tigers improve on in the series against the Yankees? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section down below.