Looking to reclaim first place in the American League Central after a tough loss to Cleveland on Thursday, the Detroit Tigers continue their nine-game road trip on Friday night with a three-game series against Toronto.
The Tigers will be facing a pitcher in Carlos Villanueva who has a sparkling 2.86 ERA in a utility role out of the Blue Jays' bullpen this year. Villanueva has won each of his past three starts since joining the rotation on June 29, and is striking out better than one batter per inning in that span (23.1 innings, 26 strikeouts).
Opposing him for the Tigers is 23-year-old right-hander Rick Porcello, who is 4-1 over his last seven starts. Now pushed to the absolute back end of manager Jim Leyland's rotation after the team acquired righty Anibal Sanchez, Porcello will hope to keep his string of impressive performances going on Friday night:
Here are the starting lineups for game one:
Tigers
1. Austin Jackson - CF
2. Quintin Berry - LF
3. Miguel Cabrera - 3B
4. Prince Fielder - 1B
5. Delmon Young - DH
6. Brennan Boesch - RF
7. Jhonny Peralta - SS
8. Alex Avila - C
9. Omar Infante - 2B
Rick Porcello - SP
Blue Jays
1. Brett Lawrie - 3B
2. Colby Rasmus - CF
3. Edwin Encarnacion - 1B
4. Adam Lind - DH
5. Yunel Escobar - SS
6. Travis Snider - LF
7. Kelly Johnson - 2B
8. Jeff Mathis - C
9. Anthony Gose - RF
Carlos Villanueva - SP
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