The good news for the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Indians is that one of them will end their current losing streak Friday night. The AL Central division rivals face each other in Cleveland at 7:05 p.m. in a game both teams will definitely need after coming off of sweeps.
The MLB lines list the Tigers as favorites by the slimmest of margins at -115 while the Indians are at -105. The total is 9.5.
The Detroit Tigers (16-13, 7-10 away) are currently in second place in the AL Central but have lost a little ground on division-leading Minnesota after being swept by them earlier in the week. They are trying to avoid their first four-game losing streak of the season.
Detroit has hit the ball very well this season, leading the league with a .280 team batting average. Two major contributors to their strong batting average are first basemen Miguel Cabrera (.372) and centerfielder Austin Jackson (.369), who rank first and second in batting average in the AL. Rookie catcher Alex Avila has stepped up in place of injured starter Gerald Laird, batting .556 over the past four games with two homers on Wednesday.
The Cleveland Indians were swept earlier in the week at home by the Toronto Blue Jays. Combined with a loss in the final game of the previous series, Cleveland has now lost four straight home games. They will try to avoid their second five-game losing streak of the season Friday night.
The Indians offense has struggled to produce hits and power numbers. They are 11th in the AL in batting average and have the second-lowest team OPS. Right fielder Shin-Soo Choo, who has been one of the few productive offensive players for the Indians, has struggled over their most recent losing streak, batting 4-16 over the last four games (bringing his season average down from .318 to .307).
Jeremy Bonderman (1-1, 5.74 ERA) will start for the Tigers. He will look for his first win since his first start of the season against the Indians on April 10. He’s 4-1 with a .371 ERA in his last seven starts against the Indians.
Cleveland counters by starting David Huff (1-4, 4.60 ERA). He will hope for better run support – his run support average of 2.59 is among the lowest in the AL. He started against the Tigers earlier in the season on April 9 and gave up four runs and six hits in a 5-2 loss. Fortunately for left-handed Huff, the Tigers are hitting .242 against lefthanders (well below their league-leading overall average of .280).
