Tigers hope to reverse fortunes against Tribe

Baseball Betting Lines

06/02/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The slumping Detroit Tigers will try to reverse their recent fortunes when the American League Central's last-place team, the Cleveland Indians, invades Comerica Park tonight for the first of three straight meetings between the divisional foes.

Detroit enters this evening's clash having lost seven of its last nine games and began its current seven-game homestand by dropping three of four bouts with AL West-leading Oakland over the Memorial Day weekend. The Tigers have scored four runs or less in each of those seven defeats.

Producing offense shouldn't be much of a problem against a Cleveland club that ranks last in the AL with a 4.89 earned run average and was battered for 37 runs in its just-completed four-game series with the New York Yankees. The Tribe lost three of those contests and 11 of their last 14 overall.

Cleveland did trail 2-1 after 6 1/2 innings of Monday's game, but New York's Alex Rodriguez socked a game-breaking grand slam off reliever Chris Perez during a six-run bottom of the seventh that paved the way for an 11-2 Yankees' victory.

Indians relievers surrendered eight runs in just 1 2/3 innings of work for the game, spoiling a solid performance out of starter Mitch Talbot. The rookie pitched 6 1/3 innings and was charged with three runs on nine hits while not walking a batter.

"I was happy with the overall results," Talbot told the Indians' official site afterward. "I had to battle without my best stuff."

Jhonny Peralta went 2-for-4 with a solo homer for Cleveland, with Shelley Duncan adding a ninth-inning RBI single in a losing cause.

Detroit is coming off a 4-1 setback to the Athletics on Memorial Day, in which Oakland Trevor Cahill combined with three relievers on a seven-hitter. Austin Jackson knocked in the Tigers' only run with a pinch-hit single in the seventh inning.

The A's jumped out to a quick lead by scoring twice off Justin Verlander (5-4) in the top of the first. The Detroit ace regrouped to hold Oakland to just one more run over the remainder of his seven-inning stint, and struck out eight in the tough-luck loss.

"The first inning was a disaster for us, we gave up a couple runs," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland. "We had chances to get back in it and we didn't."

Detroit will be seeking to bounce back against a Cleveland team it's dominated as of late. The Tigers have taken four of the first five matchups in this year's season series and are 18-4 in their last 22 overall games against the Indians. They've also won 10 of their last 11 versus the Tribe in the Motor City and swept a three-game set from Cleveland at Comerica Park between April 9-11.

Jeremy Bonderman gets the ball for Detroit in the opener and attempts to continue an impressive stretch of strong starts. The right-hander has yielded two runs or less in each of his last four assignments, posting an outstanding 1.38 ERA over that span, and he's thrown at least six innings in every one of those games.

Bonderman picked up his second victory of 2010 by firing six innings of one- run ball to best Oakland on May 20, then followed up by limiting Seattle to one unearned run and five hits through seven frames this past Wednesday. He wound up taking a no-decision, however, after the Mariners scored four times against the Detroit bullpen in the eighth.

The former first-round pick has rebounded strongly after a pair of injury- shortened seasons, having recorded a 3.78 ERA over eight starts and one relief appearance and giving up only two homers in 47 2/3 innings pitched.

Bonderman is just 8-9 with a 5.68 ERA in 23 career encounters (21 starts) with Cleveland, but did beat the Indians in his season debut back on April 9 by permitting one run and just a single hit over the first five innings.

Jake Westbrook takes the mound for Cleveland tonight and makes his 11th start following his comeback from Tommy John surgery, a procedure which caused him to miss all of last season and nearly the entire 2008 campaign. The veteran righty is 2-3 with a 4.78 ERA so far this year, with both of his wins taking place on the road.

Westbrook has struggled in each of his past two starts, although both came in his home park. After allowing four runs in a five-inning no-decision versus Cincinnati on May 21, the sinker specialist was tagged for five runs in seven frames in a loss to the White Sox last Wednesday.

The 32-year-old garnered a no-decision as well in an April 11 showdown at Comerica Park, a game in which he was reached for three runs in 5 2/3 innings and struck out seven Tigers. For his career, Westbrook is 4-8 with a 5.99 ERA in 21 games (18 starts) against Detroit.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.


Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.

The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.

MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.

A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.

A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.

Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.

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