Last year during the two times that Darvish faced Detroit in Texas, he posted a 4.61 ERA. And this year in his last 20 innings he's given up 5 HR (1 for every 4 innings). That's not going to be good enough to get it done vs Verlander. And it's no anomaly. Last year Darvish posted a 3.87 home ERA and this year it's 3.60. While those are good ERAs, it doesn't compare to Verlander's road ERA this year: 1.08 while going 3-1. Verlander has only given up 1 HR this year (in 51 innings of work!). He's 3-0 in Arlington, and something tells me that Texas is not taking him deep tonight. Kinsler is batting .120 vs Verlander, Andrus is .188, and Cruz is .133. Those are some big bats that are silenced. Beltre and Murphy have had some success against Verlander (.314 and .294), but two bats in the line-up isn't going to get the job done.
If you look at Detroit's line-up, simply put ...they crush right-handers. And if Brayan Pena is the catcher tonight, look out; he's hitting .400 vs righties. In fact, the entire Detroit team except Martinez is hitting better than .250 vs righties, and 6 are hitting better than .300! Darvish has benefited from a ton of run support (7 runs per game in his home games). But if Verlander shuts down Texas like he always does (8-3 overall), Darvish is going to be left hanging out there alone to get the job done. Unfortunately for him, he is always good for at least 3 runs, and against Detroit go ahead and make that 5.
MONEY STAT: Verlander has not allowed more than 3 earned runs in a regular season game since Sept 8 of last year!
Detroit's bullpen will surrender 1 run, but the Tigers win this game 5-4.
TIGERS
(-105) $200 to win $190
If you look at Detroit's line-up, simply put ...they crush right-handers. And if Brayan Pena is the catcher tonight, look out; he's hitting .400 vs righties. In fact, the entire Detroit team except Martinez is hitting better than .250 vs righties, and 6 are hitting better than .300! Darvish has benefited from a ton of run support (7 runs per game in his home games). But if Verlander shuts down Texas like he always does (8-3 overall), Darvish is going to be left hanging out there alone to get the job done. Unfortunately for him, he is always good for at least 3 runs, and against Detroit go ahead and make that 5.
MONEY STAT: Verlander has not allowed more than 3 earned runs in a regular season game since Sept 8 of last year!
Detroit's bullpen will surrender 1 run, but the Tigers win this game 5-4.
TIGERS
(-105) $200 to win $190
