New York Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers: Series Preview

The Yankees looked on the verge of a series win in Tampa Bay on Sunday as they took a lead into the late innings of the rubber game. However, they once again fell apart, allowing five late runs, as the Rays ended up take two out of three. Now, the Yankees will head north as they continue to search for their first series win in ages.

Starting tonight, the Yankees will be in Detroit for a four-game set against the Tigers. Detroit has not been great this season, as they come in at 59-71. However, the Yankees are only a couple games better than that, and the Tigers are several games closer to their division lead than the Yankees are. Detroit are hardly a great team, but as we’ve seen, that hardly means anything against this year’s Yankees.

Before the action kicks off tonight, here’s a look at the expected pitching matchups for the next couple days.

Monday: Luis Severino vs. Reese Olson (6:40 pm ET)

Severino is coming off his best start of the season so far, as he allowed no runs and just one hit in 6.2 innings against the Nationals. Washington’s offense isn’t exactly great, but it was nice to see Severino do something positive. The Tigers’ lineup isn’t exactly dominant either, but we shall see if Severino can continue that success into another outing.

A rookie, Olson hasn’t been sharp in his first season in the big leagues. After spending some time in a swingman/long relief role, Olson has been a regular starter for Detroit since mid-July. In that time, he has a 6.49 ERA in 34.2 innings. On the other hand, we’ve certainly seen the Yankees’ offense struggle in the first time they’ve seen a pitcher, even if said pitcher has been meh.

Tuesday: Michael King vs. Tarik Skubal (6:40 pm ET)

King will get another start as the Yankees give him an extended go as they continue to deal with rotation injuries. He was solid in that role last week against the Nationals, allowing one run on one hit in 2.2 innings.

Skubal missed the first couple months of the season after undergoing flexor tendon surgery last year. He’s been okay so far, putting up a 4.06 ERA, a 110 ERA+, and a 1.91 FIP. He’s been up and down so far this season. In three of his last five starts, he’s allowed four runs reach. However, in the two in between those three, he gave up just one total earned run. In the times the Yankees have faced him before the surgery, they’ve put up a collective .892 OPS against him, but have plated just four runs in nine innings.

Wednesday: Gerrit Cole vs. TBD (6:40 pm ET)

As he continues to chase the AL Cy Young Award, Cole was impressive in his last start last week in Tampa Bay. He allowed just one earned run in 7.2 innings and matched his season high with 11 strikeouts. On paper, this seems like another good opportunity to bolster his Cy Young case.

With the Tigers having a couple pitchers out with injuries, they currently have TBD listed for their pitching slots in both of the final two games of this series. So, it remains to be seen who they’re going to throw out for this game.

Thursday: Clarke Schmidt vs. TBD (1:10 pm ET)

Last week in the Trop, Schmidt gave the Yankees a solid outing, only to not get any run support. After getting crushed by the Braves in Atlanta a couple weeks ago, he’s bounced back with a couple quality efforts. Even including that Atlanta game, he sports a 3.71 ERA since mid-May.

Again, the Tigers do not have anyone officially listed for this game. Matt Manning has been a regular member of their rotation and would be on regular rest for this game, so it could be him. However, we shall see.