Angels Head For Motown With A Three-Game Win Streak As They Meet Tigers For Three

The Los Angeles Angels are taking their bizarro baseball act on the road again, but his latest road trip comes with an unexpected twist. The Angels are currently sporting a three-game winning streak after their first series sweep of the season over the Texas Rangers, so there’s plenty to dig into when it comes to possible moments to come against the Detroit Tigers in this three-game set. 

Start with the fact that both teams have been in freefall recently, with the Angels  having possibly broken out of that dreadful state. 

The Tigers, however, haven’t. They won Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles, but before that they lost six in a row. They did beat the Toronto Blue Jays back on date here, but before that they got swept by both the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox, which is hard to do. 

Clearly, these two teams meeting is a case of a very moveable force against a totally resistible object, so something has to give. The Angels get a slight edge here because of the hurlers they’ll send to the mound, with Jack Kochanowicz, Jose Soriano and Grayson Rodriguez schedule to be the three starters. 

Kochanowicz has been something of a wild card, but Soriano has been an ace, while Rodriguez recently returned from an extended stretch on the injured list to get his first win as an Angel.

Detroit will start Keider Montero and Casey Mize in the first two.Keider has been adequate so far, while Mize has been excellent, and the pitching matchup between Soriano and Mize should be especially fun to watch. Jack Flaherty will go in the third game of the set on getaway day, and he represents a good chance for the Angels to win given his struggles so far. 

The Angels will miss Framber Valdez this time around, which is good news, and of course Tarik Skubal is still trying to come back from floating bodies in his elbow has he heads toward free agency. 

The Tigers offense has had some of the same struggles the Angels have had with inconsistency. They rank in the lower half of the league rankings in nearly offensive category, but occasionally they break out and have a big game. 

One advantage the Angels have is that they’re playing in the worst division in baseball, so they’re nowhere close to being eliminated even though they’ve been horrible. This series won’t matter much in the standings, but it will be interesting to see if the Angels can keep their run going against a team that represents a potential golden opportunity.