Bullets!
- After last night's win, the Tigers are 70-39 in interleague games at Comerica Park.
- The careful handling of Drew Smyly continues. He will remain on his standard pitch count of approximately 100 pitches.
- There's been a handful of speed bumps, but the Tigers' starting pitching remains a team strength. Going back to April 28th, the starting rotation have 14 quality starts in their last 19 games, posting a 2.99 ERA, 112 strikeouts and a .226 opponent batting average.
- No matter how the game proceeds, Joaquin Benoit will take the mound sometime this afternoon. Why? He hasn't pitched since Tuesday.
- With Austin Jackson out, Don Kelly gets his 3rd straight start in CF
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Ryan Raburn takes a seat, Ramon Santiago gets the start at 2nd.
- How hot is Andy Dirks? Smoking hot. For the month of May, Dirks leads the AL with a .477 OBP, is 2nd with a .404 batting average and 7th in slugging at .632.
- It's Negro League Tribute Day at Comerica Park. The Tigers will be wearing Detroit Stars unis, the Pirates will be decked out in Pittsburgh Crawfords unis.
Over at Bucs Dugout, they tracked the Pirates offensive futility after Justin Verlander's dominance, and it's not pretty.
It may be just one game, but the Pirates have been:
1-hit twice
2-hit once
3-hit once
4-hit three times
5-hit twice
6-hit eight times
Baseball Reference game preview
Detroit Tigers:
Don Kelly - CF (LH)
Andy Dirks - LF (LH)
Miguel Cabrera - 3B (RH)
Prince Fielder - 1B (LH)
Delmon Young - DH (RH)
Alex Avila - C (RH)
Brennan Boesch - RF (LH)
Ramon Santiago 2B (B)
Jhonny Peralta - SS (RH)
Drew Smyly SP (LH)
Pittsburgh Pirates:
Jose Tabata RF (RH)
Josh Harrison 2B (RH)
Andrew McCutchen CF (RH)
Pedro Alvarez 3B (LH)
Neil Walker DH (B)
Rod Barajas C (RH)
Casey McGehee 1B (RH)
Yamaico Navarro LF (RH)
Clint Barmes SS (RH)
AJ Burnett SP (RH)