Tigers vs Twins: April 6-9

The Den
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Little early on this one.

On deck: Twins

Series: Four games, Monday-Thursday, Target Field, Minneapolis

First pitch: Monday-Wednesday, 7:40 p.m.; Thursday, 1:40 p.m.

TV/radio: All four games on Detroit SportsNet/97.1

Series probables: Monday – RHP Casey Mize (0-1, 1.50) vs. RHP Joe Ryan (0-1, 4.82); Tuesday – LHP Tarik Skubal (1-1, 0.69) vs. RHP Taj Bradley (1-0, 0.87); Wednesday – LHP Framber Valdez (1-0, 0.75) vs. RHP Bailey Ober (0-0, 6.75); Thursday – RHP Jack Flaherty (0-1, 7.56) vs. RHP Mick Abel (0-2, 11.05)

SCOUTING REPORT

Mize, Tigers: After a befuddling spring, he was absolutely dynamite in his season debut, with nine strikeouts (one of his career high). Six of the strikeouts came on a devastating splitter.

Ryan, Twins: After an impressive season debut (one hit, 5.1 innings), the second start was a clunker for the Twins ace (nine hits, five earned runners, four innings). The Twins have lost eight of his last nine starts, dating to last season.

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Tigers manager AJ Hinch said he believes Justin Verlander could return to the rotation “quickly,” after having to miss Sunday night’s scheduled start because of left hip inflammation.

Verlander, 43, was placed on the 15-day injured list shortly before first pitch Saturday, causing a delay in his long-awaited return to the Comerica Park mound as a Tiger.

It was a tough decision for the Tigers and Verlander, Hinch said before Sunday night’s game.

“This start meant a lot to him,” Hinch said before Sunday’s series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals. "That’s why we waited until minutes before first pitch yesterday. … We wanted to give him every opportunity to bounce back.

“But when you step away from it and take the emotions out of it, I think this is the right answer for him to have the most successful season and not have something nagging him start to start.”

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Did your wife hack the account!? :smiley:

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LOL.
No I have to head out early in the am and just figured to do it now when I found the Det News On Deck section they bury in an article.

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Season 7 Bobby GIF by Parks and Recreation

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John Candy No GIF by Laff

the office stutter GIF

Animated GIF

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Ha Ha. Mize, Skubal, and Valdez in this series. Sucks to be the twins.

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# How Tarik Skubal and Justin Verlander are learning from each other

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This team has more than cohesion. There is a collaboration.

The pitchers will watch each others bullpens. Not for morale support. But to study each other. So they can make subtle suggestions during games.

“That’s a whole part of the game that might go overlooked,” Skubal said. “That’s the whole point of being out there for bullpen, this whole point of watching each other play catch, this whole point of talking about baseball.”

Sometimes, nothing needs to be said.

Skubal has been with Casey Mize his entire career.

And they know each other incredibly well.

So, when Mize was pitching well in Arizona, Skubal didn’t say anything: “Go play, brother, go play. We don’t need to talk about anything. Yeah, I’m gonna give you a slap on the butt. Go play.”

But when somebody is struggling?

They all help each other. Player to player. Coach to player. Verlander to Skubal. One of the best pitchers of his generation to one of the best current pitchers on the planet? It doesn’t matter.

“I’m open to being coached,” Skubal said. “I want to be coached. I want to get better. I’m not satisfied with where I’m at. I’ve won a couple awards, sure. But I haven’t won a World Series. So, that’s kind of where my mentality is.”

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It’s part of the culture now.

“I love that they feed off of one another because how else can you learn and learn from the best?” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “This group of players across this roster continues to amaze me at how they grab something from somebody else, whether it’s pitchers, position players. Rog (Jake Rogers) and Ding (Dillon Dingler). I mean, it’s across the roster, and that’s pretty cool.”

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Win another series

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will ferrell omg GIF

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Good job Dillon, could have used that eye when JT was short…

https://x.com/beckjason/status/2041151005648212317?s=20

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https://x.com/DatabaseHit/status/2041157480672010750?s=20

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“After further review, the play stands as called on the field. First down.”

College Football GIF by Ohio State Athletics

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Yep, like I said…
:slight_smile:

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I just came home for lunch and there was a package on my porch. A couple of days before my grandpa passed away he asked me if I needed anything for baseball. I told him thst I could really use a cheap bat for practice. My friend has a really nice 200 dollar Easton that he will let me use for games. Well apparently he ordered me a new bat before he passed and it definitely isn’t a practice bat. I could cry right now.

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I looked it up because it sure didn’t look like a cheap practice bat.

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https://x.com/i/status/2041174314406305919

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That’s very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Very small sample size but that’s an encouraging statistic.

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# Dillon Dingler putting on an ABS clinic, to the delight of Tigers pitchers
Full article at link.

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They say baseball is a game of failure.

But, so far in 2026, Dillon Dingler is Mr. Perfect — at least when it comes to this new era of challenging questionable calls balls and strikes. Dingler is 7-for-7 in ABS challenges while on defense, and 1-for-1 while on offense. “It’s huge,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. "I mean, the catcher, I’m biased, because I love the position, but we have the best seat in the house. I mean, it’s right there for you. … These are on the margins, and they change counts, they change at-bats, they can change innings. You have to have confidence in the strike zone.

“That’s the biggest thing that we’re preaching, is be confident in the strike zone, whether you’re at bat or if you’re Ding or Rog (Jake Rogers) behind the plate. And we saw tonight where some marginal pitches went our way because we were in a good position to challenge.”

On Sunday, Dingler challenged four pitches that were called balls by plate umpire Mark Wegner, and all four were overturned to strikes, including a third strike on Cardinals batter Ivan Herrera to start the fourth inning.

Through nine games, the Tigers are 8-for-8 in challenging calls on their pitcher’s pitches.

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So far, Dingler has always been right, and so the Tigers are the only remaining team in Major League Baseball that hasn’t incorrectly challenged a call on one of their own pitches. (Tigers hitters are 7-for-12, many of those misses coming late in games, when they have been in use-it-or-lose-it mode.)

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Do you guys tap your head and say ABS during the game… My GF thinks I got Tourette’s now.

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That’s a sweet looking bat!

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Thank you. Im on my way to practice right now. Can’t wait to use it.

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