Detroit's bullpen leads the major leagues in ERA and is instilling confidence in Jim Leyland's starting rotation. Back Jeremy Bonderman and the Tigers tonight in Cleveland.
Jeremy Bonderman already notched a victory against Cleveland once this season and he goes for number two tonight. Bonderman has been solid against the Tribe in his career. The Tigers have won six of his last seven starts against them. In his 2010 debut he pitched five solid innings of one-hit, one-run ball on April 10 against Cleveland.
After a rough outing against Seattle on April 16 Bonderman has started to settle in during his last three starts, two of which were quality outings. He has a 4.08 ERA and 1.25 WHIP and a 12/3 strikeout to walk ratio over the duration of his last three appearances.
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It makes you wonder if Bonderman is starting to fall back into his 2006-07 form. At the least it seems he is starting to regain his confidence after injury-riddled 2008 and 2009 campaigns. It had to be tough for him to come out of the bullpen as a reliever last season but he is slowly proving that he is still a quality front-to-mid rotation starter.
Bonderman has not pitched in Cleveland since 2007, but he has good memories of Progressive Field. In two 2007 starts at Progressive Field, he pitched a combined 13 2/3 innings and scattered eight hits and just four earned runs. Bonderman should be able to keep the Indians bats in check Friday evening and go for his fifth win in his last six attempts visiting the Indians.
David Huff gets the nod for the Indians tonight, and after a great close to the 2009 season and a red-hot start to 2010, things have started to fizzle out for him lately. The lefty has been pelted for 22 hits and nine earned runs in his last 10 1/3 innings of work. The struggling southpaw will have a tough task at hand against Detroit, who happens to lead the Majors in team batting average and hits.
Huff has a lot of promise but his confidence has to be in question after a few rough starts consecutively.
I love backing teams with solid bullpens because how many times have you watched a potential winning ticket get burnt by bad relievers in the closing innings of a game? Detroit leads the majors with a 2.03 ERA from their bullpen, so as long as Bonderman leaves the game with a lead, I have full trust in the Tigers pen to close this out for us.
For all of you trends guys, Detroit has won 17 of the last 21 meetings overall and the Indians are a paltry 3-12 in their last 15 games as a home underdog. This is a reasonable number to lay with the Tigers tonight for our investment.
Free Pick: Tigers -110