To close the first half of the season, the Detroit Tigers won seven of their final nine games. The Texas Rangers, meanwhile, went into the All-Star Break after getting swept by AL-worst Baltimore.
In the six games since the All-Star Break, however, things have changed dramatically. On Wednesday night, when the Tigers host the Rangers, it will be the Tigers who are slumping and the Rangers who are looking like one of the best teams in the AL.
The Rangers come in to this game listed as very slight favorites at -115 in baseball lines while the Tigers are -105. The total is 8.5 runs.
After getting shutout 8-0 Tuesday, the Detroit Tigers (48-44, 32-15 home) have now lost seven games in a row. In that stretch, the Tigers have batted .213 while getting outscored 43-17. They have not lost eight straight since September of 2005.
The Texas Rangers (55-39, 24-20 away), on the other hand, opened the second half of the season by winning five of their six games. All of them have been road games against playoff-contending teams.
Texas took the first of this three-game series after Nelson Cruz’s two-run homer in the 14th inning put them up 8-6. They followed that up by scoring eight runs in game 2, only this time they didn’t allow any runs. Josh Hamilton had three hits to raise his batting average to a major league-leading .357. Texas has not swept Detroit since August of 2004.
Max Scherzer (6-7, 4.74 ERA) will be the pitcher charged with the task of keeping Detroit from being swept at home for the first time since June of 2009. After winning in three of his four starts, the right-hander struggled in his last outing, giving up 4 runs and five walks in five innings in an 8-2 loss to Cleveland on Friday.
Opposite of Scherzer will be Colby Lewis (9-5, 3.42 ERA). Lewis will be looking to match a career high with his 10th win. He is 5-1 in his last seven starts.
