CINCINNATI, Ohio – The Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds are midway through their only meeting of the season as this four-game home-and-home series shifts to Cincinnati.
Fans at Great American Ballpark will see the best of both pitching staffs Wednesday as aces David Price and Johnny Cueto take the mound.
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For the Tigers, losing to Mike Lorenzen and the Reds at home Tuesday slammed the brakes on a mini two-game winning streak. The loss leaves the Tigers needing two wins on the road to take the series against the Reds.
After dropping eight straight games less than two weeks ago, the Tigers have little room for error in keeping up with the Royals, who lead the American League with a 36-25 record. If they can come away with two wins in Cincy, they'll improve to 8-3 since the losing streak with three series wins (and one split) against their last four opponents.
A loss (or even two) in Cincinnati would definitely be a missed opportunity for a team hoping to rebound from its longest losing streak in a decade. With teams like the Yankees, Pirates and Blue Jays coming up over the next two weeks, Cincinnati is a team the Tigers need to beat.
They've got the right guy on the mound to do it. Price is coming off of back-to-back complete games, allowing just 12 hits and one run in 18 innings. Though Reds batters only have 52 career at-bats against Price, he's dominated that small sample size, holding them to a .192 average and just one home run.
Bryan Price will send out his own workhorse in Cueto, who's gone at least seven innings in 10 of his 12 starts this season. Cueto owns a 2.25 ERA in June and is making his first career start against Detroit.
Here's the Tigers' starting nine against Cueto:
Anthony Gose, CF
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Miguel Cabrera, 1B
Yoenis Cespedes, LF
J.D. Martinez, RF
Nick Castellanos, 3B
James McCann, C
Jose Iglesias, SS
David Price, SP
The Reds are countering with:
Brandon Phillips, 2B
Ivan De Jesus, LF
Todd Frazier, 3B
Jay Bruce, RF
Brayan Pena, C
Chris Dominguez, 1B
Eugenio Suarez, SS
Johnny Cueto, SP
Billy Hamilton, CF
After Wednesday's game, Justin Verlander and Mike Leake will face off Thursday night in the series finale.