Cleveland Indians-Detroit Tigers Series Preview

Cleveland Indians-Detroit Tigers Series Preview 7/4-7/6

The Cleveland Indians (49-32) welcome the Detroit Tigers (44-38) to town for three-game series beginning with a sold-out Fourth of July contest. The Indians enter the series having lost two in a row after setting the franchise record with 14 straight wins. Despite the losses, they remain 5.5 games ahead of the Tigers in the division. This is the fourth meeting between the two clubs this season with the Indians winning the first nine games.

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The pitching probables for the series are:

"Monday (7/4): LHP Daniel Norris (1-0, 4.09 ERA) vs RHP Danny Salazar (10-3, 2.22)Tuesday (7/5): RHP Jordan Zimmerman (9-4, 3.95) vs RHP Carlos Carrasco (4-2, 2.56)Wednesday (7/6): RHP Michael Fulmer (8-2, 2.17) vs RHP Josh Tomlin (9-1, 3.21)"

Danny Salazar enters tonight with the lowest earned run average in the American League at 2.22 and looks to cement himself as the favorite to not only be on the All-Star team but start it for the American League. Carrasco looks to continue to strengthen after missing over a month with a hamstring injury. Last time he faced the Tigers he twirled a four-hit shutout. Tomlin will go for his 10th win of the season and continue his surprisingly strong season.

The Tigers will go with young left-hander Daniel Norris in the opener before turning to veteran and big free agent signing Jordan Zimmerman on Tuesday. The Indians got to Zimmerman for seven runs in 3 2/3 innings last time they faced off. Likely Rookie of the Year frontrunner Michael Fulmer will take the hill in the finale and despite losing to the Tribe earlier this year has been one of the best pitchers in the American League in the past several weeks.

The Indians will look for the offense to get back on track after a couple clunkers in Toronto. Juan Uribe will return from his finger injury and is in the starting lineup in the opener versus the left-hander. The Indians will look for their big boppers in the middle, Mike Napoli and Carlos Santana, to continue to power the offense. The two are the first pair of Indians’ to have at least 15 home runs before the All-Star break in a decade.

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This is the final week before the All-Star break and it probably couldn’t come at a better time for the Tribe. Despite winning 14 of their past 16 games the club hasn’t had a day off in over two weeks and won’t be getting another til the next Monday. After the three-game series against the Tigers, the Indians will look to close out the first half on a high note against the New York Yankees who come to town for a four-game series.

The starting lineups for tonight’s Fourth of July opener are: