Tigers at White Sox
Miguel Cabrera has hardly has resembled the player whose Hall-of-Fame resume includes 466 home runs, 2,704 hits and a .316 career batting average, but he might be on the verge of being himself. Cabrera hopes to build off his best game of 2019 when the Detroit Tigers visit the Chicago White Sox on Saturday - weather permitting - for the middle contest of their three-game series.
Cabrera homered for the first time since April 28, 2018 in Friday's 12-11 loss to Chicago as the 36-year-old Venezuelan recorded a season-high four hits while increasing his RBI total from seven to 10. Cabrera didn't hit a home run in his final 58 plate appearances last year before sustaining a season-ending left biceps tear, and continued the longest drought of his career without out one for the first 103 plate appearances of 2019. The White Sox's Tim Anderson resumed his torrid start by belting a walk-off home run in the ninth inning on Friday, completing a 4-for-6 performance that raised his average to .402. Chicago's Reynaldo Lopez takes the ball Saturday after producing quality starts in his last two outings - including a loss to Detroit - and opposes Ryan Carpenter, who will make his season debut.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, FS Detroit, WGN (Chicago)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Tigers LH Ryan Carpenter (2018: 1-2, 7.25 ERA) vs. White Sox RH Reynaldo Lopez (1-3, 7.46)
Detroit placed Jordan Zimmermann on the 10-day injured list Friday with an elbow injury, so Saturday could be an audition for Carpenter. If the game is postponed, the Tigers won't need a fifth starter until May 11, but Zimmermann is expected to miss at least a month. Carpenter was 0-3 with a 6.30 ERA in four starts with Triple-A Toledo this season after spending most of 2018 in the minors.
Lopez yielded three runs - two earned - and seven hits with eight strikeouts in six innings of a 4-3 loss at Detroit on Sunday after limiting Kansas City to a run in six frames of a 5-1 victory on April 16. The 25-year-old Dominican is in a form reversal after allowing 18 runs over 13 1/3 innings in his first three starts of the season. The Tigers' Nicholas Castellano has homered in each of the last two games - his first blasts of the season - and is 9-for-24 with five doubles and two RBIs versus Lopez, who is 1-2 with a 3.20 ERA in eight starts against Detroit.
WALK-OFFS
1. Chicago 1B Jose Abreu on Friday matched a career high with four hits and drove in five runs for the second time in four games, but he had a home run taken away when he passed Anderson on the base path. Abreu is 10-for-18 with two HRs and 14 RBIs during his six-game hitting streak.
2. White Sox rookie LF Eloy Jimenez left Friday's game - his first since bereavement leave - in the third inning after suffering a sprained ankle when he jumped into the wall trying to catch Grayson Greiner's home run. X-rays were negative and he'll have an MRI on Saturday.
3. Saturday's forecast calls for snow to start at 2 p.m. and continue into the night with a game-time temperature of 35 degrees.