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Tigers-Athletics Preview

Jun 30, 2009 - 6:23 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Detroit (42-33) at Oakland (31-43), 10:05 p.m. EDT

The Detroit Tigers entered this nine-game road trip against mediocre opponents on a seven-game winning streak. It's the first-place Tigers, though, who have looked like an ordinary club through four games.

They'll try to break out Tuesday night when they continue a three-game set against the Oakland Athletics.

Detroit (42-34) began this trip last weekend riding a seven-game tear to match its longest win streak of the season. The Tigers batted .317 and scored 44 runs in that span.

It's been a different story in this stretch as Detroit is hitting .198 with 10 runs scored and 37 strikeouts in losing three of four. The Tigers lost two of three at Houston before falling 7-1 on Monday in the opener of this series, and this trip continues this weekend at Minnesota.

The Tigers struck out a season-high 14 times Monday as Oakland left-hander Brett Anderson had seven over 5 1-3 innings.

"It's puzzling, to be honest," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "We have a good right-handed hitting club, or at least I think we do, and we need to do a better job."

Ryan Sweeney homered and had three hits Monday as the Athletics (32-43) ended a five-game losing streak. Mark Ellis added a two-run homer in his second game back in the A's lineup after a two-month absence due to a strained left calf.

"Certain guys in this lineup, it's our job to get those timely hits," Ellis said. "No matter where we are in (the standings), when we're in a position to win a game, we've got to get those hits, and good things will happen."

Oakland could get a boost Tuesday with the return of Travis Buck, who was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento on Monday. Buck batted .350 with two home runs, six doubles and eight RBIs in 17 games with the River Cats.

The outfielder went on the disabled list May 30 with a strained left oblique muscle after he hit .235 with nine RBIs in 28 games with the A's.

Monday was another rough night for Oakland's Jason Giambi, who scored a run but went 0 for 3 to drop his average to .200. The former MVP is 12 for 76 in June, including a current 2-for-23 slump.

Detroit starter Armando Galarraga (4-7, 5.65 ERA) will try to win his first game under the lights in 2009. He is 0-7 with a 6.89 ERA in night games compared to his 4-0 mark and 3.86 ERA in day outings.

Galarraga won for the first time since April 26 on Thursday when he allowed four runs over six innings in a 6-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs. He ended a career-worst seven-game losing streak.

The right-hander is 1-1 with a 10.45 ERA in three career starts against Oakland - all at home. He failed to get out of the first inning against the A's on May 17, allowing five runs in an 11-7 victory.

Detroit will face another left-hander in Gio Gonzalez (0-1, 8.03), who will make his second start of the year. He gave up six runs over 3 2-3 innings last Wednesday in a 6-3 loss to San Francisco.

Gonzalez is in the rotation because Josh Outman is on the 60-day disabled list due to left elbow surgery. He has faced the Tigers once, surrendering nine runs over 1 2-3 innings in a 14-8 loss on Sept. 8.