The Detroit Tigers fell short of a victory against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon, taking the second 5-3 loss in their four-game series north of the border. The visitors actually had the lead at one point despite yet another mismatch on the mound, but after heavy recent usage, the bullpen finally cracked when Derek Law coughed up four unearned in the bottom of the sixth in his team debut to relinquish the lead and ultimately the game.
The Motor City Kitties get one last chance to squeeze a W out of the Jays and split the weekend set, and this one gets off to an early start. The bad news is that the hurler wearing the Olde English D on the bump Sunday still appears very wet behind the ears. The good news is two-fold, as Toronto’s starter is not exactly setting the league on fire either, as well as the fact that the AAAA pitchers AJ Hinch has been rolling out have held their own of late. Here is a quick look at what is on tap for today’s bunch affair.
Detroit Tigers (41-61) at Toronto Blue Jays (56-45)
Time/Place: 12:05 p.m., Rogers Centre
SB Nation site: Blue Jay Banter
Media: Peacock, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: RHP Garrett Hill (1-2, 5.57 ERA) vs. RHP Jose Berríos (7-4, 5.20 ERA)
Game 103 Pitching Matchup
| Player | IP | K% | BB% | FIP | fWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | IP | K% | BB% | FIP | fWAR |
| Hill | 21.0 | 11.2 | 10.1 | 5.45 | 0.0 |
| Berríos | 107.1 | 21.5 | 5.6 | 4.70 | 0.5 |
Garrett Hill
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Baseball Savant
José Berríos
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Baseball Savant
Key Matchup: Garrett Hill vs. the bogs
Detroit’s Sunday starter only has four major league games under his belt — all starts — and has shown that he is not quite ready for prime-time player despite a brilliant debut on the Fourth of July, when he tossed six innings of one-run ball. If you Porcello out that game, however, he is sporting a 7.20 ERA and 5.72 FIP stretching over 15 frames. The talent is there, it is just incumbent upon the 26-year-old to find a groove against big league hitting, though the Blue Jays are not exactly the best team to sharpen your chops on. Nonetheless, as we have seen in the past few games, a solid start can keep the game interesting well into the late innings, which is as much as Tigers fans can ask for at this point.