Detroit Tigers Shuffle Starting Pitching Rotation After Rainout

The Detroit Tigers are adjusting their pitching rotation in the wake of Wednesday’s rainout against the Chicago White Sox.

The Detroit Tigers are shuffling their pitching rotation after Wednesday’s schedule game against the Chicago White Sox was postponed due to near-freezing temperatures and rain in the forecast.

Jordan Zimmermann was scheduled to pitch on Wednesday, but he (and Daniel Norris) are being pushed back to the weekend series versus the Boston Red Sox. Evan Woodbery of MLive has the report on Twitter.

The Tigers originally had Zimmermann and Norris slated to pitch on Wednesday and Thursday respectively with Michael Fulmer scheduled to pitch Friday’s home opener and Matt Boyd scheduled to make his first start on Saturday.

That whole script has been flipped now, with Boyd pitching the series finale in Chicago (if it happens, rain remains a possibility on Thursday). That would leave Fulmer, Zimmermann, Norris, and Justin Verlander to pitch the four-game wraparound series against the Boston Red Sox.

Fulmer will remain the starter for Friday’s home opener — his reward for an excellent Rookie-of-the-Year season in 2016.

It’s not entirely clear why Boyd is being brought all the way up to pitch on Thursday rather than sticking with Norris (if they wanted to push Zimmermann back). Perhaps they felt the cold temperatures and the possibility of rain delays would not be ideal for Norris, who dealt with a “dead arm” late in spring training.

The Tigers could be facing weather issues in Detroit this weekend as well. Friday’s forecast includes temperatures in the 30s with a chance of snow but we could see the temperature reach 40 degrees with precipitation clearing by game time.

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The White Sox had already announced that they’re pushing back James Shields from Wednesday to Thursday after the postponement.