Series Preview: Tigers @ Angels (.500 again?)

Angels 55-58
Tigers 47-65

The Angels have drifted to 3 games below .500 but did win one against the Indians over the weekend but have lost 6 of their last 7. Both teams have been struggling this year but the Angels lost 3 out of 4 against the Tigers in May.

Know your foe:
Tigers - who’s hot (last 7 days):

lol

Weather Forecast

GAME 1

Nick Tropeano (4.94 ERA) v. Matthew Boyd (4.22 ERA)
Monday, August 6th @ 7:07PM

Pitcher vs. Batters

Summary:

The bad news is Nick Tropeano has given up 9 runs in his last 2 starts. The good news is that he gets to face the Tigers who he faired well against back in May. In that game, Tropeano only last 5.1 innings but also only allowed 2 runs (both solo homers).

Pitch Arsenal:

Twenty seven year old lefty Matthew Boyd is in the midst of the best season of his career. He the Angels scoreless over 5 innings on May 28th and has allowed only 3 runs over his last 3 games and 19 innings.

Pitch Arsenal:

Verdict: Boyd is really the better pitcher here in this matchup and he’s already blanked the Angels once this year.

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GAME 2

Andrew Heaney (3.75 ERA) v. TBD
Tuesday, August 7th @ 7:07PM

Pitcher vs. Batters

Summary:

Heaney gave up 5 runs on 8 hits in 5 innings when he faced Detroit on May 31st. He had himself a pretty good July but has stumbled a little in his last two starts with 7 runs allowed over 14 innings.

Pitch Arsenal:

Mike Fiers was supposed to line up against Heaney in this one but he was just traded to the A’s. Detroit hasn’t named a new starter at the time of this writing.

Verdict: Not sure if it matters who Detroit throws at the Angels since Heaney should still have an edge here and I’d guess he’d pitch better against the Tigers this time around.

GAME 3

Jaime Barria (3.84 ERA) v. Blaine Hardy (3.25 ERA)
Wednesday, August 8th @ 1:07PM

Pitcher vs. Batters

Summary:

Jaime Barria will be facing the Tigers for the first time in his career. He is coming off a pair of decent starts agains the Mariners (2 runs, 6 IP), and Indians (3 runs, 5 IP). 5-6 innings and 2-4 runs is pretty much his jam this year. I’d expect more of the same on Wednesday.

Pitch Arsenal:

Harding has been impressive for the Tigers and really has only had 2 bad starts all year. He suffered a no-decision recently against the A’s despite giving up only 1 hit and 0 runs over 7 innings.

Pitch Arsenal:

Verdict: I’m going to go with a toss up in this one.

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Overall Verdict: The Tigers are a much worse team than the Angels this year, so you’d expect at least 2 Halo wins but I’m not sure if they have a sweep in them.

Current Standings