The duo of Miguel Cabrera and Jose Valverde has led Detroit to a 34-15 home record.
The Detroit Tigers bring the American League's best home record into Saturday's contest with the Toronto Blue Jays. When the Tigers captured Thursday's first game of this four game set, it raised their record at Comerica Park to a sizzling 34-15.
Detroit won Thursday's opener 5-2 as a 140 home favorite thanks to some fine pitching from Justin Verlander. The combined seven runs barely ducked below the 7 ½-run closing total, leaving the ‘under' to 6-1 in Detroit's last seven games. Friday's game was rained out, so the club's will play the second game of the series Saturday before finishing the set with a Sunday day/night doubleheader.
Jim Leyland's squad is now a sparkling 19-5 at home since June 2.
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Miguel Cabrera has led Detroit's offense through the first half of the season, while 32-year-old right-hander Jose Valverde has anchored the bullpen.
Valverde lowered his season ERA to 1.27 after putting down the Jays in the ninth inning Thursday, allowing only a single. Valverde has allowed just 20 hits, while fanning 41 and walking 18 spanning 42 2/3 innings this season. Since a blown save against the Royals the first week of the season, he has converted 20 consecutive save opportunities.
Cabrera has hit 24 homers and has 85 runs batted in, the most in baseball. The big first sacker is also hitting a whopping .347. Those numbers will keep the Triple Crown chatter going for a while.
Though the Blue Jays have swatted a Major League-leading 143 round trippers, they own the second lowest batting average and second worst on-base percentage in the American League.
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Toronto will start Shaun Marcum (8-4, 3.36), who is coming off a
solid return to the rotation. He had been on the disabled list
with elbow inflammation before allowing one run over five
innings in a 10-1 win over Baltimore on Sunday.
Marcum improved to 5-2 with a 4.14 ERA in 10 road starts.
The right-hander is 1-1 with a 5.28 ERA in five appearances
against the Tigers, making two starts.
Detroit is a nifty 17-9 against southpaw starting hurlers, while Toronto is 40-33 against right-handed starters.
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Rick Porcello (4-7, 5.63 ERA) will try to slow down Toronto after going 0-3 with a 5.72 ERA in his last four outings. Porcello pitched well last Saturday, allowing one run in eight innings in a 2-1, 11-inning loss at Cleveland in his return to the majors after being sent down due to ineffectiveness. The 21-year-old right-hander went 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA in two starts against Toronto last year.
Though the Tigers jumped six games above .500 after Thursday's victory, they have been outscored by six runs (430-424). Conversely, the Blue Jays were right at .500 despite outscoring their opponents by 14 runs (442-428).
Tony Randazzo is scheduled to be the home plate umpire for Saturday's affair. The ‘under' is 9-8-3 in his first 20 appearances behind the dish thanks to an average of eight runs per game. Randazzo averages 14.7 strikeouts and 5.6 walks per contest.
The weather forecast calls for hot and humid conditions at Comerica Park with a thunderstorm likely. The high could touch 92 degrees, with the low around 65.