MLB Roundup: Tigers Closer to World Series, Giants/Cardinals Ready for Game 3
On Tuesday night, the Detroit Tigers inched closed to the World Series after defeating the New York Yankees 2-1 in Game 3. Will the series come to an end on Wednesday night?
As for the National League race, the series is tied at 1-1. The teams get back to play on Wednesday in the early game.
Fasten your seat belt baseball fans, it’s a good day to catch some baseball.
Tigers defeat Yankees, 2-1
Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander
Showing he is again the team’s MVP pitcher, Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander took the mound on Tuesday and carried a shutout to the ninth inning. This stopped when he allowed a single to Ichiro Suzuki and a leadoff homer to Eduardo Nunez.
For the Tigers, the postseason has been all about their pitching. With Nunez’s homer, Detroit starters has a 30 1/3 inning scoreless streak–a record for a single postseason according to STATS LLC. This passed the previous record set back in October 1974 by Oakland with 29 innings.
After Verlander exited on Tuesday, closer Phil Coke made his entrance in the ninth and allowed two straight singles with two outs. He then struck out  Raul Ibanez, earning a second save from two games.
For the Yankees, their hitting slump continues. Manager Joe Girardi again thought a batting order change would be a good thing for his team but it didn’t go his way. Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher warmed the bench but it didn’t appear to make too much of a difference.
In the series, the Yankees are batting .182 and for the postseason, .200.
Girardi still sounded optimistic after Tuesday’s loss and said, “There were some good at-bats tonight. The ball was not carrying tremendously well tonight, we know that. But I think he ended up with three strikeouts. So our guys put the ball in play and tried to get on base, but, you know, when you face Verlander, you know what you’re up against.”
For Game 4, Tigers Max Scherzer will take the mound against Yankees star CC Sabathia. Scherzer will try to lead his team to its first Yankees postseason sweep in 32 years on the home field.
Can the Yankees get some hot bats in 24 hours? The bettors are -105 for Detroit with a seven over/under.
Giants vs. St. Louis Preview
Giants Marcus Sucarto
For Game 3, Giants righty Matt Cain will go against Cardinals righty Kyle Lohse.
Lohse will try to break the streak of early exits for Cardinals pitchers in Game 3. He is known as an efficient pitcher and in this series, his fellow starting pitchers have made it to the fifth inning without allowing an out.
In his last outing, Lohse went to the seventh inning with 87 pitches and had 11 games in the regular season going to six innings.
He said of his style, “It’s not really a secret: I rely on getting first-pitch strikes, getting ahead of the guys and making them hit my pitch. “That’s my version of pitching to contact. I’m not out there trying to strike guys out. I want them out in three or four pitches and move on.”
As for Cain, he’s been challenged by the Cardinals this season. He has a 1-1 record with a 6.94 ERA and in eight starts, he has a 4.94 overall ERA.
In the postseason, Cain hasn’t gone too far in either of his two starts. He’s allowed six runs from 10 2/3 innings of pitching.
Regarding injured Giants second baseman Marco Sucarto, he is expected to return for Wednesday’s game after Cardinals Matt Holliday plowed into him on Game 2. This is a good thing as the Giants’ July acquisition from the Colorado Rockies has batted .362 with 40 runs and 44 RBIs in 61 regular season games.
In the postseason, he’s at .250 and three RBIs but it keeps getting better: in the NLCS, he’s 4 for 8 and two RBIs.
The Giants will play in front of a tough St. Louis crowd. The bettors give a -122 nod to the home team with a 7 over/under.
