The Detroit Tigers are heading to Fenway Park to take on the Boston Red Sox in a 3-game series. The Red Sox are coming into this series in 4th place in a highly competitive AL East but are very much in the playoff picture. It may not have looked great at the start of the season but the Sox have picked it up and have quietly been chasing down the top teams. The Tigers may also be 4th in their division (AL Central) but are not on the same path as the Sox. Here is my complete breakdown and prediction for the Detroit Tiger vs Boston Red Sox on 20 June 2022.
Tigers Look to Build on Struggling Offense
The Detroit Tigers have had yet another terrible season. Coming into this game the team finds themselves well below .500 (26-40) and is posting nearly a -100 run differential, in other words they aren’t just losing, they are losing by a lot. The Main reason for this big differential is the teams struggling offense. The team may have scored 14 runs on Saturday but have struggled behind the plate all season long. They are hitting just .224 for the season good for 27th in the league as well as posting a dramatically low 2.8 runs per game, which puts them dead last in the Major Leagues.
The Team did manage to get the series win over Texas including a 7-3 victory. The Tigers have managed to post 21 runs in their last 2 games opposed to 19 runs in their previous 10. We can’t take this to mean the Tigers are now showing up to bat. When you look at who they scored these runs on it makes much more sense. Rangers pitcher Dane Dunning came into the game allowing 5 or more runs 3 times in his last 7 starts. And Taylor Hearn is posting a 6.25 ERA and 1.75 WHIP. So in other words, we expect Tigers offense to come back down to earth here a little bit.
Taking the mound for the Tigers is right-hander Alex Faedo. Faedo has made 8 starts posting overall stats of a 4.28 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 1-3 record over 40 innings of work. He has allowed 44 hits in 40 innings and is striking out 7.4 batters per 9 innings. The Tigers bullpen is nothing to rely on either as they are posting a combined 4.03 ERA and are good for 20th in the league.
Back in Boston
The Red Sox looked completely lost at some points in this season, even finding themselves dead last in the AL East. However, the Red Sox look vastly different now. The bats were struggling and now are some of the best in baseball, just like last year. Third baseman Rafael Devers is having an all-star season again and is a key part of what the Sox are doing. Boston faced their old friends the Cardinals in Fenway park for a 3 game series. The Red Sox ultimately winning the series with a 6-4 win on Sunday. Since their turnaround the Red Sox pitching staff and batters have both made considerable jumps in league rankings. They are all the way up at 3rd for batting average (.257), 7th in runs scored (4.7) and 7th in ERA (3.64).
With injuries to some of their best pitchers including former CY Young Chris Sale, Nathan Eovaldi and Garrett Whitlock the Red Sox have reached deep into their Arm-Barn and have had some decent results. Enter their pitcher for this game, Josh Winckowski. The right-hander has made two starts so far and gone 1-1, posting a 4.50 Era and 1.75 WHIP, not numbers you are drawn too. He did however make light work of another struggling team in the Athletics going 5 innings for 4 hits and no runs.
Winckowski will once again be facing a team that he can dominate. Against Oakland he was able to keep the ball down, forcing 11 ground ball outs. He will look to do the exact same thing against a struggling Tigers team who will most definitely come back down to earth after their last 2 games. Still need convincing? The Tigers are even worse on the road, batting just .205 and scoring 2.3 runs per game! The Red Sox should be able to tee off against Faedo despite his solid numbers. He also has a tendancy to let in home runs and considering the Sox have 45 home runs against right handers this season you can expect to see some big hits at Fenway.
Give me Boston to win the game.
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