Detroit Tigers vs. Oakland Athletics

The first-place Detroit Tigers finished a perfect home stand when they dispatched the two of the teams who figure to be prominent in the NL Central race when it is all said and done.

The Tigers (42-34) did not make it look easy on their home stand, having to come from behind on many occasions against the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs, but they set out on their latest three-city road trip with plenty of momentum as they faced two teams have lackluster seasons.

First it was the Houston Astros that was one bad pitch away from sweeping Detroit over the weekend and Monday night, it was the lowly Oakland Athletics (32-43) who beat up on the Tigers 7-1.

At home, the Tigers batted .317 and scored 44 runs in their six wins. Since hitting the road last Friday, Detroit has hit .198 with 10 homers and 37 strikeouts and has gone 1-3 on the current trip, and lost seven of the last nine on the road. The Detroit Tigers seem to be a much different team at home (23-11) than on the road (19-23).

The Tigers need to figure out their road woes quickly as their road trip will conclude with a three-game series with the second-place Minnesota Twins, who are currently tied with the Chicago White Sox, four games behind.

The As ended their five-game losing streak and look to win two straight for the first time since June 20 when they face the Tigers in the second game of the series on Tuesday. Oakland was powered by Brett Anderson who struck out seven Tigers in 5 1/3 innings, while Oakland pitching struck out 14 Tigers, a season-high for both teams.

Gio Gonzalez (0-1, 8.03) will hope for the same lack of effort from Detroit when he makes his second start of the season looking to improve from allowing six runs over 3 2/3 innings of a 6-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants last Wednesday.

Armando Galarraga (4-7, 5.65) will seek a much-needed victory for the Tigers and hopes to establish some momentum after winning his first game since April 26. He allowed four runs over six innings but received plenty of run support in the 6-5 win over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday afternoon.

Perhaps Jim Leyland should consider holding Galarraga back and starting him in Wednesday’s matinee series finale. With the win last Thursday, Galarraga improved to 4-0 with a 3.86 ERA in day games, but is winless at 0-7 in night games and has posted a 6.89 ERA under the lights.

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