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Tigers search for first win

Apr 5, 2008 - 3:01 PM Chicago White Sox (1-2) at Detroit (0-3) 1:05 pm EDT

DETROIT (Ticker) - There is no way the Detroit Tigers expected their dynamic offseason to lead to such a slow start.

The Tigers - the majors' lone remaining winless team - search for their first win of the season when they begin a three-game set against the Minnesota Twins on Friday.

Buoyed by the offseason trade with Florida for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis, Detroit had hoped to get off to a quick start.

However, leadoff hitter Curtis Granderson started the season on the disabled list with a fractured metacarpal in his right hand and Cabrera sat out Thursday's loss to Kansas City with a quadriceps strain.

Things got worse when designated hitter Gary Sheffield tore a tendon in his left ring finger during Thursday's game.

The Tigers are 0-3 for the first time since 2003, when they lost their first nine games and finished with an American League-record 119 losses.

Detroit will turn to starter Nate Robertson, who finished last season 9-13 with a 4.76 ERA. The lefthander was sidelined for a brief time last season with arm fatigue but signed a three-year, $21.25 million contact extension in the offseason.

The White Sox will counter with Jose Contreras, who battled his own uneven 2007 season.

At one point last season, the 36-year-old righthander had dropped nine straight decisions as a starter, only to bounce back and win four straight decisions as a member of the rotation from August 27-September 19.