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AL Central battles heat up weekend
The top spots in the AL
Central division will be on the line this weekend as the contending
clubs square off in a pair of series. The Detroit Tigers will
continue their set in Minnesota against the Twins on Friday (8:10pm
ET), while the Chicago White Sox start a three-game set in Cleveland
against the Indians (7:05pm ET).
The Indians and Tigers have been the 'class' of the AL Central so
far this season, jockeying back and forth between first and second
place in the division standings. Neither team, though, has looked as
good as the top clubs in the other two AL divisions, and there's
little chance that the second-place team will be in contention for
the league's Wild Card slot at the end of the regular season.
The White Sox and Twins, meanwhile, are still within shouting
distance of the division title, thanks largely to the middling play
of everyone else in the division as they're both under .500 heading
into the weekend.
For Minnesota that's not a bad place to be right now considering how
poorly they started the 2011 season. On Friday night they'll send
Brian Duensing (7-7, 4.14 ERA) to the mound to take on Detroit's Max
Scherzer (10-5, 4.53 ERA). Lefthander Duensing, though, was bombed
by the Tigers in his May 31 outing in Detroit, surrendering six runs
on nine hits over 4 2-3 innings of work in that contest.
Righthander Scherzer was Duensing's opponent that day and he wasn't
any better, giving up seven runs on nine hits in just 6 2-3 innings
pitched. Scherzer escaped with a no-decision that day because his
team managed to pull out an 8-7 victory.
Over in the White Sox/Indians series on Friday it'll be Chicago's
Gavin Floyd (7-9, 4.37 ERA) taking on Cleveland's Carlos Carrasco
(8-7, 4.25 ERA). The White Sox are 2-8 in Floyd's last 10 starts;
the Indians are 1-4 in Carrasco's last five outings.
Saturday sees Chicago sending Edwin Jackson (6-7, 3.97 ERA) to the
mound against Cleveland's Fausto Carmona (5-10, 5.63 ERA).
Righthander Jackson dominated an AL Central rival last time out,
blanking the Tigers on nine hits over nine innings of work. Jackson
also started against the Tribe back on April 2, allowing three runs
(two earned) over six innings to get the win in that game.
Righthander Carmona has pitched his team to back-to-back wins after
muddling through a tough May and June. Against the White Sox on May
19, though, Carmona was knocked around for eight runs over five
innings of work in a defeat.
With four teams still in contention to take the AL Central title the
pennant odds of those clubs are bunched up at Oddsmaker heading into
the weekend. Detroit leads the way at +1000 to claim the AL Pennant
this season, with Cleveland and Chicago both at +1500, and Minnesota
currently sitting as the 'longshot' at just +2000.
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