The Los Angeles Dodgers and host Detroit Tigers have split a pair of 2-1 games in their weekend series.
They’ll play the rubber match on Sunday afternoon as both clubs try to get on a hot streak. Los Angeles has dropped four of its last five games, while Detroit has lost eight of its last 10.
Framber Valdez will start the series finale for Detroit.
Signed to a three-year, $115 million contract as a free agent in early February, the former Houston Astros left-hander has been a major disappointment in his first season with the Tigers.
Valdez carries an 8-9 record and 4.35 ERA into his 27th start of the season. By comparison, he never posted an ERA higher than 3.66 in his previous six seasons. His 1.41 WHIP also is the highest since his first full season in the majors.
Valdez tossed seven shutout innings against Seattle on Aug. 6 but over his last three starts, he’s given up 11 earned runs in 17 1/3 innings. He’s also walked three more batters (11) than he’s struck out (eight) during that span.
In his last outing, he gave up four runs (three earned) and eight hits in six innings against the Tampa Bay Rays. He failed to record a strikeout for just the second start in his career while throwing 84 pitches. The Rays took 41 swings against him and the ball never hit the catcher’s glove.
“Yeah, no strikeouts, but it doesn’t mean I wasn’t effective,” Valdez said through an interpreter. “I just did my best to get them to hit groundballs. They’re very aggressive. They’re very fast. So I do my best to have them hit groundballs as much as they could. Yes, they got their base hits and stuff, but in this situation, I just switched from swing-and-miss to get them to hit groundballs to the infield.”
Valdez is 2-1 with a 4.98 ERA against the Dodgers in four career starts.
There was talk Shohei Ohtani could start on Sunday, but manager Dave Roberts ruled him out after Saturday’s loss. Roberts said Ohtani is not 100 percent overall and that the Dodgers want to avoid risking further injury as he continues his recovery.
Ohtani hasn’t appeared as a pitcher since July 3. He threw a 20-pitch bullpen situation on Friday.
“That’s the hard part right now,” Roberts said, “is trying to figure out if he’s not 100%, overall body, is it worth giving him an inning to build up or not? So I think that that’s kind of where we’re at right now, trying to weigh the positives and negatives.”
Right-hander Tyler Glasnow (3-0, 3.02 ERA) is slated to start the game. He gave up three runs in five innings with seven strikeouts against Atlanta on Tuesday.
That was his first outing since May 6, after which he was sidelined by a back injury.
“It felt like a long time. I think any time you’re out that long, just doing rehab the whole time, it definitely sucks,” Glasnow said after the game. “So it’s exciting to be able to get back, but I’m glad, too, my body’s in a spot where I felt like I was before. So I’m just glad I feel healthy and my stuff is good.”
In his lone career encounter versus the Tigers, Glasnow allowed one hit in two scoreless innings of relief. That occurred on April 1, 2018 when he was pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
–Field Level Media
