Game 83 Preview: Twins at Tigers

Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers

Time/Place: 1 p.m., Comerica Park

SB Nation Blog: Twinkie Town

Media: Fox Sports Detroit, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network

Pitching: Scott Diamond (7-3, 2.63 ERA) vs. Rick Porcello (6-5, 4.35)

Scott Diamond has only faced a handful of Tigers, and only a handful of times apiece. They have not been kind tothe second-year left-hander. Austin Jackson, Miguel Cabrera, Ryan Raburn, Delmon Young and Alex Avila have all batted .333 or better again him. For his career, he has an extreme reverse-split, with left-handers hitting for a .961 OPS and righties .699.

Current Twins are batting .309 with an .820 OPS against Porcello. Please keep him away from Josh Willingham, who has batted .625 with an OPS of 1.625 in 12 at bats. Fortunately only three Twins (Justin Morneau, Drew Butera and Brian Dozier) have homered -- and just once each. By the way, Porcello has the third-highest BABIP among qualified pitchers, at .339. (Max Scherzer's .359 is highest).

Outlook

On paper, this looks like it favors the Twins, doesn't it? Scott Diamond seems to be putting together a pretty good season for himself. Or he's getting lucky. Actually, a combination of both. He doesn't hurt his own cause -- he's walking just 1.38 per nine innings. He doesn't strike out a lot of batters, either -- he's more of a Porcello in that regard (5.13 K/9 for Diamond). Considering that the Tigers can make a schlub look like an All-Star, hopefully they can make a guy having a pretty good season look like a schlub. ... But can an uneven Porcello with little help from his defense hold up his end of the bargain?

Prediction

Tigers fans have disappointed looks on their faces by the end of the game.