The Tigers are in Town to Face the Diamondbacks Friday Night

The Arizona Diamondbacks and Detroit Tigers play Friday night at Chase Field. First pitch is 6:40 P.M.

Detroit is 21-22, in fourth place in the AL Central, 5.5 games behind the Cleveland Guardians. They're also 3.0 games out of the Wild Card, 3-7 in their last 10 games, but 6-5 in inter-league play. The Tigers are led by former Diamondbacks and Astros manager A.J. Hinch.

The D-backs are 22-24, tied for 3rd in the NL West with the Padres, 7.0 games back of the Dodgers. Arizona, San Diego, and the Washington Nationals are in a virtual tie for the third NL Wild Card seed. See playoff odds here.

Lineups

Leadoff batter Riley Greene is only hitting .239, which happens to be right around league average. But he has a healthy .353 On Base Percentage and nine home runs, giving him an .824 OPS or 133 OPS+. 23 of his career 25 homers have come against right hand pitching, but he last homered on May 6th. He's 4-31 with 10 strikeouts since that date.

Detroit cleanup hitter Kerry Carpenter is 4-14 with two homers in his last four games. Overall the Tigers are not a good hitting team. They rank 12th in the AL in runs scored and are batting just .225 with a .655 OPS, ranking 13th and 14th respectively.

Torey Lovullo is going with two left-handed bats in the lineup against left-hander Tarik Skubal. Jake McCarthy is in right field and Randal Grichuk will DH. Normally Blaze Alexander would DH against a left-hand starter and Grichuk would be in right. Lovullo said he wanted to prioritize outfield defense today however and felt McCarthy gave him the best chance to do that.

Lovullo also made a late lineup change. Joc Pederson was in the lineup but the manager decided to hold him back against the lefty and drop in him later in the game in a matchup opportunity. There are no health issues for Pederson.

Pitching Matchup

Tarik Skubal, LHP: 5-0, 2.02 ERA, 2.01 FIP in 49 IP. Skubal is one of the leading candidates for the AL Cy Young, behind Seth Lugo of the Royals at the moment. Coming back from Flexor tendon surgery he was terrific upon returning in the second half last year, going 7-3 with a 2.80 ERA in 15 starts.

Fully healthy, Skubal has been near untouchable this year. He has 60 strikeouts against just eight walks and leads the American League with a 0.857 WHIP and 2.01 FIP.

He throws a four-seam and sinker, both averaging over 96 MPH. He features a devastating changeup with a 48% WHIFF rate. He mixes in a hard slider at 88 MPH for good measure. Skubal is the total package and the D-backs will have their hands full.

Ryne Nelson, RHP: 2-2, 5.33 ERA, 4.37 FIP in 25.1 IP. Nelson has made two starts since coming off the disabled list due to an elbow contusion. In those two games he's thrown 9.2 innings and given up 18 hits, including two homers. He's only walked one batter however while striking out six.

Nelson worked to develop a harder slider during spring training, although Statcast is classifying the pitch as a cutter. Whatever it's called, the velocity on the pitch has increased from 85.6 to 91.1, but the results are just not there. Hitters are raking to the tune of a .346 BA and .462 slugging on the cutter.

Injury Updates

Geraldo Perdomo (right knee surgery for torn meniscus) is doing some mechanics, running in place. Perdomo's repair on the knee was not a "complete repair," it was just a small portion of the meniscus that was cleaned up.

Merrill Kelly (Right shoulder strain) is still in the rest stage, but the team has started discussing when he'll get a follow-up MRI, which is a precursor to starting a throwing program.

Eduardo Rodriguez (left shoulder strain) was in the clubhouse today and had a throwing session at Chase Field. Usually he does his rehab work at Salt River Fields, but Lovullo said sometimes it's good for rehabbing players to come to Chase Field to get their work in so they can reconnect with their teammates.

Alek Thomas (left hamstring strain) is feeling better after his PRP injection. The soreness has gone away, according to Lovullo. Thomas may resume some baseball activities in the next couple of days.