The good news for the Detroit Tigers is that the worst of the cold weather should be in the past.
The bad news is that warmer temperatures do not guarantee hotter bats.
The Tigers will try to bounce back from a tepid performance when they face the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night in Minneapolis. The Tigers fell 7-3 on Monday in the opener of the four-game series after mustering just four hits with temperatures in the 30s.
On Tuesday, the forecast calls for highs in the mid-40s.
Twins manager Derek Shelton hopes to see continued progress from his team. Minnesota relied on a two-run homer by Luke Keaschall and a three-RBI performance by Victor Caratini to defeat its American League Central rival on Monday.
Shelton has preached patience throughout the Twins’ slow start (4-6) to the season.
“I was really proud of them,” Shelton said. “We had an opportunity the inning before to break it open and we didn’t, and then we ended up getting some two-out hits, which is good.
“I think, like we said, we’ve got to give this group some time. We’re 30 at-bats in or 30 plate appearances in. I know at times it hasn’t looked pretty, but it’s 30 plate appearances. So I was really proud of them. … Any time we can separate (and add insurance runs), we need to separate.”
It might be hard for the Twins to pull off an encore performance.
Tigers ace left-hander Tarik Skubal (1-1, 0.69 ERA) is set to make his third start of the season. He has shined in his first two starts, allowing one unearned run in six innings against the San Diego Padres and one earned run in seven frames vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks.
In 13 innings, Skubal has scattered nine hits, walked none and struck out nine. He is 5-3 with a 3.23 ERA in 14 career starts against the Twins.
Twins right-hander Taj Bradley (1-0, 0.87 ERA) will try to match Skubal’s skill set. Bradley also is off to a terrific start to the season and has held opponents to one earned run in 10 1/3 innings.
This will be Bradley’s first career start against Detroit.
One player who will try to spoil Bradley’s hot start is the Tigers’ Colt Keith, who is hitting .387 this year with a .424 on-base percentage.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch praised Keith for his approach to start the season.
“He’s very calm in the batter’s box, and he’s in control of everything that he’s doing,” Hinch said. “He’s got a good game plan. He’s hitting the ball hard. He’s not trying to do too much.
“They always say when you’re a good hitter, you’re going to use the whole field. I think that’s a little bit exaggerated for everybody, but for Colt in particular, I think it’s a good sign. He can hit the ball line to line over 100 mph and he can drive the ball, too.
“When he’s as calm in the batter’s box and you see his posture and everything synced up, he’s dangerous. … I love the threat that he is at the top of the order.”
–Field Level Media
