Monday night baseball and we will see the New York Yankees travel to the Motor City to take on the Detroit Tigers in game 1 of their 4 game series. The game is scheduled for an 8:00 (ET) pm start time and it will be televised live on ESPN. Currently the odds have Detroit favored at -172, while New York is dogs of +161. The total for the game sits at 8 runs.
Free Analysis: New York, which took two of three over Seattle during the weekend, begins a seven-game road trip and a stretch of 20 consecutive days without a scheduled day off. The Yankees have claimed two of three in both series this season versus Detroit. Ichiro Suzuki has hit safely in all 12 games since joining AL East-leading New York, which capped a 4-5 homestand in which it lost three one-run games, with Sunday's 6-2 victory over Seattle. Derek Jeter and Ichiro Suzuki have fared well against Verlander with averages of .344 and .333, respectively, but It's been a different story for Nick Swisher (.216 with 18 strikeouts in 51 at-bats), Robinson Cano (.185), Raul Ibanez (.115) and Mark Teixeira (.111). Ivan Nova will will get the ball for NY tonight as he seeks his first win since July 8. The 25-year-old Dominican was shelled for a career-high nine runs on 10 hits in five innings in an 11-5 setback to Baltimore last Monday. Nova was also rocked by Detroit in his last meeting, yielding six runs on 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings. He picked up a no-decision as New York rallied for a 7-6 win. Nova is 0-2 with a 7.54 ERA in his last four outings, but he has really excelled on the road, going 7-1 with a 3.32 ERA. Detroit (58-50) improved to a major league-best 14-1 at home since July 4 and are enjoying their longest run at Comerica Park since a nine-game win streak June 2-18, 2010. They trail Chicago by 1 1/2 games in the AL Central. Tigers OF Austin Jackson went 4-for-6 and had an RBI double to ignite the five-run rally in the 10th inning of Sunday's 10-8 victory over Cleveland, while Miguel Cabrera's two-run homer capped the rally. Cabrera leads the majors with 91 RBI and he has team highs of three homers and seven RBIs against the Yankees this year, though Detroit has lost four of six matchups, while Jackson is 3-for-5 in his career versus Nova. The Tigers hope Verlander can extend their streak while potentially ending his own Monday night. Verlander (11-7, 2.63 ERA) beat New York (63-44) in Game 3 of a division series last year, but he's 0-2 with a 4.91 ERA in his last five outings versus the Yankees in the regular season. Verlander is 5-2 with a 1.68 ERA in nine home starts, and ranks among the majors' leaders with a 0.98 WHIP. He recorded his major league-leading sixth complete game with a five-inning stint Tuesday in his second straight defeat, a rain-shortened 4-1 loss at Boston. The Tigers are 1-6 in Verlander's last 6 starts vs the Yanks.
Free Pick: Gonna take a shot with the Over in this one. The Over is 5-1-1 in Justin's last 7 starts vs the Yanks with an average of 9.3 rpg being scored in those games. I know that Justin has been dominant at home with a 1.68 ERA, but in his lone start here vs the Yanks he did allowed 5 runs (3 ER) on 9 hits in 6.1 innings of work. He will be taking on a Yanks team that has been missing A-Rod, but it hasn't seemed to bother them as they have averaged 5.6 rpg in their last 10 games, including 5.98 rp/ 9 innings off of righties in their last 10 games. Ivan Nova has pitched well on the road with a 3.32 ERA, but he does seem to struggle at night with a 4.49 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP. He has allowed 21 HR's on the year with 15 of those coming at night. Detroit has struggled to score on the road at times, but they have been lighting it up at home of last as they just put up 26 runs in 3 games vs the Tribe, while they have averaged 6.1 rpg in their last 17 in this park. Both offense should be able to tag these starters for some runs as this game hits double digits.
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