{"id":60816,"date":"2023-08-18T10:16:39","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T14:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=60816"},"modified":"2023-08-18T10:16:39","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T14:16:39","slug":"a-battle-of-al-central-rivals-cleveland-guardians-vs-detroit-tigers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/08\/18\/a-battle-of-al-central-rivals-cleveland-guardians-vs-detroit-tigers\/","title":{"rendered":"A Battle of AL Central Rivals: Cleveland Guardians vs Detroit Tigers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/08\/17\/tigers-vs-guardians\/\" target=\"_self\">Cleveland Guardians<\/a> (58-63) will host the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/08\/09\/miguel-cabrera-passes-tony-gwynn-on-all-time-hit-list\/\" target=\"_self\">Detroit Tigers<\/a> (54-66) for an exciting AL Central matchup at Progressive Field in Cleveland. The Guardians are currently sitting in 2nd place in the division, while the Tigers are just behind in 3rd place. Both teams will be looking to gain ground in the highly competitive division race.<\/p>\n<p>[pickup_prop id=&#8221;34450&#8243;]<\/p>\n<h2>A Battle of AL Central Rivals: Cleveland Guardians vs Detroit Tigers<\/h2>\n<p>The starting pitchers for the game will be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/skubata01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tarik Skubal<\/a> (2-2, 4.18 ERA) for the Tigers and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=williga01,willia002gav&amp;search=Gavin+Williams&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gavin Williams<\/a> (1-3, 2.80 ERA) for the Guardians. Skubal is coming off a rough start against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/08\/17\/trevor-storys-return-in-time\/\" target=\"_self\">Boston Red Sox<\/a>, but he has shown great potential with an impressive strikeout-to-walk ratio this season. Williams, a rookie, has been performing well in his recent outings, with a dominant strikeout performance in his last two starts.<\/p>\n<p>The Guardians have a solid batting lineup led by Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez. On the other hand, the Tigers will rely on their young talent, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/torkesp01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spencer Torkelson<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/carpeke01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kerry Carpenter<\/a>, who have been on fire recently.<\/p>\n<p>[metabet_core_game_tile query=&#8221;545601&#8243; size=&#8221;350&#215;300&#8243; site_id=&#8221;lastwordonsports&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p>The game will be played on Friday, August 18th, at 4:10 p.m. Eastern Time. Fans can catch the action on Bally Sports Detroit Fox. Make sure to tune in to witness the clash between these AL Central rivals.<\/p>\n<h3>Key Points to Watch:<\/h3>\n<p>&#8211; The Guardians have struggled against left-handed pitchers, so Tarik Skubal could pose a significant challenge for them.<br \/>\n&#8211; Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez has had success against Skubal in the past, so keep an eye on their matchup.<br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mannima02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matt Manning<\/a>, the Tigers&#8217; game two starter, will look to build on his recent sharp outing and shut down the Guardians&#8217; offense.<br \/>\n&#8211; Gavin Williams, the Guardians&#8217; rookie pitcher, has been impressive in his last two starts and will aim to continue his dominance.<br \/>\n&#8211; Watch out for any other exciting developments or surprises from the young talents on both teams.<\/p>\n<h3>Injuries:<\/h3>\n<p>Cleveland Guardians:<br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/biebesh01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shane Bieber<\/a> (SP, Elbow, D60)<br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/q\/quantca01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cal Quantrill<\/a> (SP, Shoulder, D15)<br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mckentr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Triston McKenzie<\/a> (SP, Elbow, D60)<br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gallaca01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cam Gallagher<\/a> (C, Concussion, D7)<br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/fryda01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David Fry<\/a> (1B, Hamstring, D10)<br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/n\/naylojo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Naylor<\/a> (1B, Side, D10)<\/p>\n<p>Detroit Tigers:<br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mizeca01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Casey Mize<\/a> (SP, Elbow, D60)<br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/e\/englema01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mason Englert<\/a> (RP, Hip, D15)<br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/meadoau01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Austin Meadows<\/a> (LF, Anxiety, D60)<br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=alexaty01,alexan001tyl&amp;search=Tyler+Alexander&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyler Alexander<\/a> (RP, Shoulder, D60)<br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=pachec000fre&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Freddy Pacheco<\/a> (SP, Elbow, D60)<br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/turnbsp01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spencer Turnbull<\/a> (SP, Neck, D60)<br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=boydma01,boyd--002mat&amp;search=Matthew+Boyd&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-08-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matthew Boyd<\/a> (SP, Elbow, D60)<\/p>\n<p>Main photo credits:<\/p>\n<p>Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Cleveland Guardians (58-63) will host the Detroit Tigers (54-66) for an exciting AL Central matchup at Progressive Field in Cleveland. The Guardians are currently sitting in 2nd place in the division, while the Tigers are just behind in 3rd place. Both teams will be looking to gain ground in the highly competitive division race. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4389,"featured_media":60817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,11],"tags":[4095,3736,596,4144,5910,3883,2094,3682,3082,3452],"class_list":["post-60816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guardians","category-tigers","tag-cal-quantrill","tag-gavin-williams","tag-jose-ramirez","tag-josh-naylor","tag-kerry-carpenter","tag-matt-manning","tag-shane-bieber","tag-spencer-torkelson","tag-tarik-skubal","tag-triston-mckenzie"],"modified_by":"Troy Brock","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}