Tampa Bay righty Matt Garza tossed a no-hitter the last time he faced Detroit.
(11-6, 3.88 ERA) should be licking his chops Wednesday afternoon when his
Tampa Bay Rays conclude a three-game series in Motown with a mid-week matinee against the tumbling Tigers. Garza twirled the first no-hitter in Tampa history last month when he blanked these same Tigers, 5-0.
The Rays snapped a five-game losing skid Monday in the first game of this series by defeating the Tigers as 160 road favorites, 6-3. Tampa then blanked the Tigers in Tuesday's middle game as a 110 underdog, 8-0.
The pair of wins raised Tampa's road record to Major League-leading 34-21, while the losses lowered Detroit's home mark to 37-23. The Tigers have now dropped 22 of their last 28 overall contests.
Tampa is now 6-0 against the Tigers this season, with the Tigers scoring just 11 runs. The ‘under' is 4-2 during the first six meetings.
Former Tigers outfielder Matt Joyce snapped a 0-for-18 slump in Monday's game by clubbing a monster home run to help the Rays send Detroit to its eighth loss in 10 games.
Detroit infielder Carlos Guillen returned from his injury rehab assignment and was back in the starting lineup for Monday night's game. He went hitless in three at-bats. Guillen has played in just 62 of the Tigers' first 112 games.
The Rays had to shuffle their pitching rotation because of the injury bug. They placed right-hander Jeff Niemann (shoulder strain) on the 15-day disabled list before Monday's game and called up reliever Mike Ekstrom from Triple-A Durham. After the game, they placed fellow right-handed starter Wade Davis on the disabled list with the same injury and called up RHP Jeremy Hellickson, who started Tuesday in place of Davis.
Garza has dropped his last two starts after he no-hit the Tigers, but he didn't pitch poorly in his most recent performance last Friday at Toronto. The 26-year-old right-hander allowed two runs (none earned) on four hits through eight innings spanning 102 pitches. Unfortunately, Garza did not get any run support en route to suffering a 2-1 setback as a 115 road favorite.
The loss dropped Tampa's record to 13-9 in Garza's first 22 starts this season, with the ‘over' going 12-9-1.
The Tigers will counter with Justin Verlander (12-7, 3.81), who is the ace of a very young pitching staff. The 27-year-old right-hander has received three runs of support or less in four of his last five starts, with the Tigers dropping his last three assignments. However, Detroit is still 14-9 in Verlander's first 23 efforts this season, with the ‘under' cashing in each of his last five outings.
Verlander is off last Friday's 4-2 loss against the Angels as a 120 home favorite. The Virginia native allowed four runs on seven hits in seven innings spanning 113 pitches.
Verlander suffered a 3-2 loss as a 130 underdog at Tampa Bay in his lone start against the Rays this season (July 27). He yielded just three runs on five hits in eight innings while walking three batters and fanning six through 113 pitches.
The Rays are a sizzling 44-31 against right-handed starting pitchers, while the Tigers are 36-44. Tampa is outscoring the opposition 561-436, while the Tigers are getting outscored, 523-485.
Mike Everitt is scheduled to be behind the plate in Wednesday's finale. There has been an average of 9.88 runs per game when Everitt dons the mask, helping the ‘over' go 11-10-4. The home team is 13-12 in Everitt's 25 home plate assignments.
The weather forecast for Wednesday's matinee calls for mostly cloudy skies with a high of 89 and a low of 69.