Houston vs. Detroit, 12:08 PM CT
TV: CSN Houston
Radio: KBME 790 AM
Tigers SBNation Blog: Bless You Boys
Pitching Match
LHP Dallas Keuchel (0-1, 4.43 ERA / 1.71 WHIP) vs. RHP Max Sherzer (5-0 / 3.61 ERA / 0.97 WHIP)
Preview
It's time to get back to baseball. The Astros now have three times as many losses as t wins. A historical mark that Houston, I'm certain they don't want to stay at.
Dallas Keuchel aims to change all that, and built upon a strong first start against the Rangers. Keuchel pitched six innings, scattering five hits and allowing two runs. One of those runs came off a Nelson Cruz solo homerun, so all things considered it was a Cy-Young level outing by Astros standards. Two things are working in the Astros favor today, the Tigers as a team has a lower batting average (.279 vs. LHP, .289 vs. RHP) and slugging percentage (.418 vs. LHP, .441 vs. RHP) against left handed pitchers. Small differences, but the Astros will take what they can get - including a 84 point drop in slugging percentage in day games (.396 in Day, .480 at Night). In Scherzer's previous start in Houston, the only Astro with any success was Carlos Corporan. Corporan took Scherzer deep for a solo homerun; he is in the line today at catcher.
Outside of that one blip by Corporan, Max Scherzer dominated the Astros in Houston. Allowing only three hits and striking out eight over eight innings. Sandwiched between his starts against the Astros, Scherzer pitched eight innings and gave up four runs to the Indians. Dallas Keuchel will be a new challenge for the Tigers lineup, but Detriot is (unfortunately) are very well prepared Peralta (.387), Cabrera (.370), Kelly (.364), Fielder (.351), and Infante (.323) - are all batting over .300 against left handed pitching. It's time for daytime baseball in Detroit.