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Tyler Alexander scheduled to start for Tigers in series opener at Rays

Tyler Alexander Tigers Reds Baseball
Posted at 6:09 PM, Sep 16, 2021
and last updated 2021-09-16 18:09:33-04

Detroit Tigers (70-76, third in the AL Central) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (90-56, first in the AL East)
St. Petersburg, Florida; Thursday, 7:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Tigers: Tyler Alexander (2-2, 4.09 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 71 strikeouts) Rays: Louis Head (1-0, 2.67 ERA, .96 WHIP, 27 strikeouts)

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Rays -212, Tigers +178; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: Tampa Bay and Detroit will play on Thursday.

The Rays are 45-26 in home games in 2020. Tampa Bay is hitting a collective batting average of .240 this season, led by Joey Wendle with an average of .274.

The Tigers are 31-40 in road games. Detroit hitters have posted a team on-base percentage of .306 this season, led by Robbie Grossman with a mark of .355.

The Tigers won the last meeting 8-7. Kyle Funkhouser earned his seventh victory and Jeimer Candelario went 2-for-5 with two home runs and three RBIs for Detroit. J.P. Feyereisen took his fourth loss for Tampa Bay.

TOP PERFORMERS: Brandon Lowe leads the Rays with 34 home runs and has 85 RBIs.

Grossman leads the Tigers with 23 home runs and is batting .241.

LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 4-6, .253 batting average, 5.58 ERA, outscored by six runs

Tigers: 6-4, .231 batting average, 3.56 ERA, outscored opponents by six runs

INJURIES: Rays: Matt Wisler: (finger), Ryan Thompson: (shoulder), Jeffrey Springs: (knee), Chaz Roe: (shoulder), Cody Reed: (thumb), Colin Poche: (elbow), Shane McClanahan: (back), DJ Johnson: (shoulder), Tyler Glasnow: (elbow), Oliver Drake: (forearm), Yonny Chirinos: (elbow), Jalen Beeks: (elbow), Chris Archer: (hip), Wander Franco: (hamstring).

Tigers: Spencer Turnbull: (forearm), Julio Teheran: (shoulder), Joe Jimenez: (covid-19), Rony Garcia: (knee), Miguel Del Pozo: (covid-19), Jose Cisnero: (elbow), Matthew Boyd: (elbow), Jake Rogers: (arm).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.