Detroit Tigers starting pitching solid out of the gate
By Travis Gibbs
The Detroit Tigers have started slow out of the gate this season. Their starting pitching has been their bright spot to this point. The bats haven’t backed it up.
Yes, the Detroit Tigers are 1-4 through their first five games of the season. Let’s evaluate starting pitching through their first week.
Zimmermann shows promise on Opening Day
Jordan Zimmermann was the opening day starter for the Tigers. He weaved through six innings on 81 pitches while striking out eight batters with one walk. Yes, he did give up four runs.
The big takeaway is that he got a lot of swings and misses while maintaining good control. He’s struggled to do both of those things over the past couple of seasons.
Numbers might not look all that great on the surface but there were a lot of positives to take from Zimmermann’s first start.
Fulmer starts the season strong
Michael Fulmer looked like an ace on Saturday even though he received a loss. He went eight innings, striking out three batters and walking just two. Fulmer had a good mix of ground-ball and fly-ball outs. He gave up just one run on four hits.
The rest of the Detroit Tigers starting rotation
Francisco Liriano looked much better than originally anticipated. He got the win in a strong start against the Kansas City Royals.
Liriano pitched six and two-thirds innings, struck out three and walked two batters. He gave up just one run in the game.
This isn’t something I expect out of Liriano consistently. It’s a plus if the Tigers can get the occasional quality start from him.
Matt Boyd was the losing pitcher in yesterday’s game against the Royals. This was another game where the bats just didn’t get going.
Boyd pitched six innings and only gave up one run on four hits. He kept hitters off balanced throughout the game.
He didn’t get a lot swings and misses. Boyd got 15 fly-ball outs on the 22 batters he faced. I was very impressed with Boyd’s first start of the season.
We won’t get to see Daniel Norris today because of mother nature once again. Norris has shown signs of being a great pitcher but hasn’t been able to put it all together since getting traded to Detroit.
Next: Simulating Tigers' season in OOTP 19
Furthermore, he might be moved down to Toledo if he doesn’t come out and pitch effectively when he gets the opportunity. Mike Fiers is now active after starting the season on the disabled list. He will be pitching in Chicago this weekend.