Series preview: Guardian vs. Tigers

You know the drill by now. They’re the Tigers. They are bad. The Guardians usually beat them, earlier this year they didn’t. Now they are again — six times in a row, in fact. This is the baseball.

OK, with that out of the way, Xzavion Curry will make his major-league debut in Game 2 of today’s doubleheader, and that’s pretty cool. Curry is next in the long line of rookies to make their debut with the big-league club this year, and he brings with him a deceptive fastball along with a slider, curveball, and a changeup in the works.

Unlike Hunter Gaddis, who debuted against the Astros to disastrous results, Curry is going to be given a parachute landing into baseball, taking on the worst offense in the league. To emphasize how bad the Detroit offense has been, they are slugging (slugging!) .330 as a team. Andrés Giménez’s batting average is .307.

This series does feature a doubleheader, but it should (thankfully) be their second-to-last of the season. They’ll play two against the Twins on Sept. 17, which could end up being a pivotal matchup in the AL Central race.

Team at a glance

• Record: 43-73 (14th in AL)
• Runs Scored: 368 (15th in AL)
• Run Differential: -141 (15th in AL)
• Last 10: 1-9
• Slash: .225/.282/.330
• wOBA: .271 (15th in AL)
• wRC+: 74 (15th in AL)
• ERA: 4.03 (10th in AL)
• SIERA: 4.25 (14th in AL)
• K-BB%: 11.2% (14th in AL)

Projected starters

Monday, Aug. 15, 3:10 p.m. ET: RHP Drew Hutchison vs. RHP Aaron Civale
Monday, Aug. 15, TBD: RHP Xzavion Curry vs. RHP Bryan Garcia
Tuesday, Aug. 16, 7:10 p.m. ET: RHP Garrett Hill vs. TBD (RHP Zach Plesac*)
Wednesday, Aug. 17, 7:10 p.m. ET: LHP Daniel Norris vs. TBD (RHP Cal Quantrill*)

*projected starters via FanGraphs

Roster

• 40-man roster
• Depth chart