The Detroit Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates are playing live on the MLB schedule and it has opening day baseball from Pitt at PNC Park as Anibal Sanchez and Gerrit Cole face off in the pitching matchup and the game starts past 1:35 pm ET and has the Tigers undefeated on the season and leading the AL Central division.
The Tigers have played very well to start the season and they are tied with the Royals in first place with six wins each. This series is a big one for both teams, as the Pirates have started 2-4 and they will be looking to get things going at home. The Tigers have done well to start with two sweeps against division teams, as they won three to start against the Twins before winning three against Cleveland.
Miguel Cabrera hit two home runs as the Tigers improved to 6-0 and according to ESPN.com, the team has not been that good to start the season in three decades. The team now matches up with the Tigers and Detroit will have Anibal Sanchez on the mound and it comes after David Price has had a strong start to the season as well. The team is different now with Justin Verlander on the DL and Max Scherzer now in Washington and that makes Price and Sanchez even more important this season.
Cole is on the mound for the Pirates and he comes in after going 11-6 at home during his career and the team won nine of 11 games he started there last season. Andrew McCutchen will need to be his usual self again for the Pirates to make the playoffs and now they have one of the best teams in baseball coming in for a series to start the week.
Cabrera is heating up and he could be tough to keep down after launching two home runs, as he is hitting over .500 to start the season. Cabrera went 4 for 4 with his first two home runs and he also had a single and a double in the game. Cabrera only missed on three at-bats in the series against the Indians and if he can continue that strong play, it will be tough for the Pirates to get things going.
Sanchez comes in after starting off with a great game to open the season, as he shut down the Twins for six innings and did not allow a run. The two teams get interleague play started early this year and the two teams both had about the same record in NL-AL play, with the Tigers going 12-8 on the season last year and the Bucs going 11-9 last season.
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