The Indians take another crack at the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night in the second-to-last game of the Tribe’s season as Cleveland sends Jeanmar Gomez in search of his sixth win in a row against Detroi’t Max Scherzer.
The Tigers now know that if they do not finish with the second-best record in the American League, they will have to face the New York Yankees in the first round. Since Boston and Tampa Bay are the final two contenders for the AL Wild Card and neither can play New York in the first round (since they are in the same division with the Yankees and the Yankees will finish with the best record in the AL, New York will play the third-best division winner), Detroit will either open in New York this weekend, or host the Wild Card winner, should they finish ahead of the Rangers.
Gomez has not lost since July 17, and has won every start he has made since his last recall from Columbus. In his five-game winning streak, Jeanmar has worked 30 innings and has allowed only six earned runs. That translates to a nifty 1.80 ERA over that span.
Gomez is 1-1 vs. Detroit in his career with a 4.60 ERA in 15.2 innings of work. He faced the Tigers on April 29, but was not involved in the decision in a 9-5 Tribe win. In that one, Gomez gave up ten hits but only three earned runs in 5.2 frames.
Scherzer (14-9, 4.37 ERA) is 3-3 lifetime in seven starts vs. The Good Guys, with a 4.79 ERA in 41.1 innings. Scherzer got the win in his last outing against Cleveland on August 19, going seven innings and surrendering just one run on five hits in a 4-1 Detroit win.
Tomorrow night at 7:05 the season wraps up for the Indians, when Zach McAllister (0-1) goes for the Tribe against Rick Porcello (like Scherzer, 14-9).