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Tigers, Indians clash on Sunday Night Baseball
By: Staff Writer - StatFox
Published: 7/6/2017  at  10:05:00 PM
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DETROIT TIGERS

at CLEVELAND INDIANS

First pitch: Sunday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: N/A, Total: N/A

Two of the best pitchers in the American League will be dueling on Sunday Night Baseball, as Michael Fulmer and the Tigers face Corey Kluber and the Indians.

Both the Tigers and the Indians have seriously underperformed this season, but this is the last game before the All-Star break. Both teams will have a fresh start in the second half of the year, and it’s not too late for either of them to really turn things around. The Tigers will need to claw their way back into the Wild Card race, but the Indians are not in that bad of a situation. They are currently a few games above .500 and are fighting for first place in the AL Central with both the Kansas City Royals and the Minnesota Twins. They did, however, make it to the World Series last season, and they probably expected to have one of the better records in the American League at this point. Either way, this is the last game before the All-Star Game for either of these teams. They’ll both want to enter the break on a positive note, which means that both RHP Michael Fulmer (8-6, 3.20 ERA, 83 K) and RHP Corey Kluber (7-3, 2.85 ERA, 115 K) will be counted on to pitch very well for their respective teams. Both guys have incredible stuff, and they can both be unhittable when they’re on their games.

The Tigers will be hoping to earn a big victory before the break, but they’ll need Michael Fulmer to be at his absolute best in this one. The righty is coming off of a good performance against the Giants, as he pitched eight innings of three-run ball on Jul. 4. Fulmer struck out five batters in that game, but he did allow two homers. He’s going to need to do his best to avoid mistakes in this one. The Indians have a much more dangerous lineup than the Giants, so if he is hanging pitches then Cleveland will definitely make him pay. Offensively, expect 1B Miguel Cabrera to make a big difference in this game. Cabrera is off to one of the slowest starts of his career, but he has really hit Corey Kluber hard in the past. Cabrera is 22-for-52 with six homers and 12 RBI against the Cleveland ace. It’d be huge for the Tigers if Miggy can come through at the plate in this one.

The Indians took a while to start playing well, but they are now finally competing for the top spot in their division. They’ll now look to win the last game before the All-Star break, and they should be able to get hot in the second half of the season. The Indians certainly have the right starter on the mound in this one. Corey Kluber will be on the mound, and he has struck out at least 10 batters in each of his past five starts. He has also allowed just two earned runs total over his past four starts. Kluber did, however, allow five earned runs in just three innings of work against Detroit on May 2. He’ll be hoping that his recent form can carry over, and that he does not struggle the way he did there. Offensively, both SS Francisco Lindor and 2B Jason Kipnis will try to spark the Indians in this game. The two of them are a combined 6-for-18 with two doubles and an RBI against Fulmer in their careers. It’d be big for Cleveland if they can find ways to get on base in this one.


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