DETROIT – The Detroit Tigers return to action Wednesday night after a walkoff win over the Minnesota Twins in the series opener on Tuesday.
The Tigers are looking to regain the consistency that helped them jump out to an 11-2 start this season. Over the last 11 games, Detroit had three two-game losing streaks and two two-game winnings streaks. As a result, they've fallen behind the first-place Royals in the Central Division by one game.
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The Tigers bounced back from a 2-1 loss in 10 innings Sunday with a 2-1 win in 10 innings Tuesday. Detroit is now 6-1 against the Twins this season.
Perhaps the greatest concern for the Tigers is an offense that manager Brad Ausmus called "anemic" following Tuesday's walkoff victory. In their last three games, the Tigers have managed to score just five runs off of three average starting pitchers (Jeremy Guthrie, Chris Young and Kyle Gibson).
Wednesday's matchup will pit Minnesota's Ricky Nolasco, who hasn't put together a good start yet this season, against the struggling offense.
First Pitch: 7:08 p.m. on FSD
Detroit knocked Nolasco out after three innings in his first start of the year, scoring six runs on six hits and four walks. After a stint on the disabled list, Nolasco has allowed seven earned runs in 10 innings this month.
The Tigers will run Kyle Lobstein out to the mound following the longest two starts of his young career. Lobstein, who has been Detroit's most consistent starter this season, pitched into the 8th inning in back-to-back starts, amassing a total of 15 innings and surrendering just four runs. He's the only Tiger starter not to allow more than four runs in any start this season.
Lobstein faced the Twins twice in 2014, throwing 10.1 innings and allowing nine runs. His worst career start came at home against the Twins, when he allowed six earned runs in just 4.2 innings.
Miguel Cabrera is a big part of Detroit's power outage, as he comes into the game hitless in his last 13 at-bats. He's batting just .176 in 10 games in March.
After Wednesday's game, the Tigers and Twins will cap off this three-game series with an afternoon start on Thursday. Anibal Sanchez will take the mound, as David Price was pushed back to Saturday after suffering a hamstring strain in his last start.