Detroit Tigers Must Win Upcoming Series vs. Cleveland Indians

After finishing a four-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners, the Detroit Tigers now find themselves sitting in third place in the AL Central with a record of 38-35. On Friday, the Tigers will begin a three-game series with the first-place Cleveland Indians. The Indians have already swept the Tigers twice this season.

While the Tigers will not have to face 2014 AL Cy Young award winner Corey Kluber this series, they will still have to face off against some tough Indians pitching. Fortunately for the Tigers, however, they will be running a couple of very good pitchers out there as well.

In the first game of the series, Jordan Zimmermann will be going toe-to-toe with the extremely talented 26-year-old Danny Salazar. After missing a little bit of time with a groin injury, Zimmermann may have gotten off to a little bit of a slow start upon his return, but he certainly appeared to get back on track in his last outing against the Kansas City Royals. On the season, Zimmermann is 9-3 with a 3.24 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP.

On Saturday, Anibal Sanchez will be making his first start since being moved to the bullpen earlier in the month. Sanchez got off to a rough start this season, but he really seemed to get it together after being demoted to a relief role, posting a 1.86 ERA in six outings. It will be interesting to see if Sanchez, the 2013 AL ERA champion, can get back to being the starter he once was, but he will indeed have a tough opponent to face in his first start back in Carlos Carrasco.

In the final game of the series, Justin Verlander will be facing off against Josh Tomlin. Verlander got off to a bit of a slow start this year, but he has been mighty impressive as of late, posting a 2.34 ERA over his last nine starts. Tomlin is currently having a very nice year as well, posting an 8-1 record and a 3.32 ERA.

It certainly won’t be easy for the Tigers, but after going 0-6 against the tribe to begin the year, they absolutely must find a way to win at least two of these games. Detroit should have the talent and ability to be able to do just that.