Detroit @ Oakland preview
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Last Meeting ( Sep 17, 2011 ) Detroit 3, Oakland 5
THE STORY: Justin Verlander appears to have the American League Cy Young Award well in hand. Next up for the Detroit Tigers’ ace is improving his Most Valuable Player credentials. Verlander has won 11 consecutive starts as he enters Sunday’s outing against the Oakland Athletics and is the rare pitcher who has a shot at top player honors. Verlander leads the American League in victories, ERA, strikeouts (238) and opponents’ batting average (.192) in a truly dominating campaign. Detroit clinched the AL Central division crown on Friday, but has lost two of three games to Oakland in the four-game series. The Athletics defeated Verlander and the Tigers on April 16, one of the hurler's two road losses this season.
TV: 4:05 p.m. ET, FSD (Detroit), CSCA (Oakland).
PITCHING MATCHUP: Tigers RH Justin Verlander (23-5, 2.36 ERA) vs. Athletics RH Guillermo Moscoso (8-8, 3.44 ERA)
Verlander is 13-2 with a 2.59 ERA in 17 road starts. His last road defeat was back on July 5 when he was outdueled by Dan Haren in a 1-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. Verlander pitched seven shutout innings against the Chicago White Sox in his last outing. Verlander is 4-5 with a 3.00 ERA in 10 career starts against Oakland. Hideki Matsui is batting .333 with a homer in 24 career at-bats against Verlander.
Moscoso is 2-0 with 1.77 ERA in three September starts, a stretch that includes 8 2/3 innings of two-hit shutout ball against the Kansas City Royals. Moscoso wasn’t part of the decision in his last outing when he gave up three runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings against the Angels. He got roughed up by the Tigers in mid-July when he took the loss in his only career start against Detroit. Moscoso allowed seven runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings.
ABOUT THE TIGERS (88-64): Saturday’s loss was only Detroit’s sixth in its last 29 games. The Tigers are four games behind the New York Yankees in the race for the AL’s best record. Magglio Ordonez had three hits on Saturday and is batting .464 in September. Victor Martinez had two hits and has four multi-hit performances over his last six games. Ryan Raburn had two hits and is 8-for-13 over his last four games. Austin Jackson was hitless in four at-bats and is 0-for-17 over his last five contests. Detroit has scored just seven runs in the series.
ABOUT THE ATHLETICS (69-83): Oakland has been a poor defensive squad this season, but turned three double plays on Saturday to help Gio Gonzalez win his 14th game. Jemile Weeks went 3-for-5 to raise his average to .301, tops among AL rookies. Weeks has 110 hits in 87 games. Coco Crisp had two hits and two RBIs and stole his 42nd base. Josh Willingham had two hits and is batting .333 in September. Willingham needs eight RBIs for his first 100-RBI season. First baseman Chris Carter and right-handed pitcher Graham Godfrey were recalled after Triple-A Sacramento ended its season on Friday.
FINAL PITCH: Verlander is the first Detroit pitcher with 23 wins since Joe Coleman went 23-15 in 1973. Next up on the list is Mickey Lolich, who was 25-14 in 1971. Denny McLain (1968) holds the franchise record of 31 victories.