Detroit Tigers (6-4) vs Toronto Blue Jays (6-4)
Rogers Centre @ 1:07pm EST
FSND/AM 1270

Chad Durbin (0-1 11.57 ERA) vs A.J. Burnett (1-1 7.27 ERA)

Today’s match up will be a bit different than yesterdays with the game depending quite a bit on offense and not as much of a pitching duel. The Tigers will look to get off to an aggressive start as they did in their April 4th win against the Blue Jays.

The Tigers took Burnett for six runs over two innings during his first outing. Burnett had a bad day and is a good pitcher so the Tigers cannot depend on such an outing as AJ’s control that day was horrible and he gave up four walks. Burnett’s second outing against the Royals was good giving up only three hits over 6.2 innings but walks were still an issue as he gave up four.

On the other side Chad Durbin looks to improve vastly over his first start in which he lasted only 4.2 innings and gave up six runs against the Baltimore Orioles. Detroit’s offense will likely need to come out of its shell to help out Durbin. A few Blue Jays hitters have had success against Chad: Frank Thomas 4-10 (.400 AVG, .455 OBP) and Gregg Zaun .500 OBP (3-1, .333 AVG). All other’s in last nights lineup have hit below .150. Good thing Magglio is on the Tigers though as he has hit .800 (12-15, 3 HR) against Durbin.

The Tigers have a few hitters who have consistent success against AJ Burnett: Sean Casey is 12-20 (.600 AVG) and Neifi Perez is 9-16 (.563 AVG). Granderson has yet to hit Burnett, who is a righty, in six plate appearances where Ivan Rodriguez is batting .500 with four at bats.