Weekend Series Review 6/6-6/8

The Detroit Tigers secured a series victory against the Chicago Cubs this past weekend, winning two of the three games at Comerica Park. Detroit's pitching proved dominant in the rubber match on Sunday, as they shut out the Cubs to clinch the series. 

Friday (Cubs lost, pick won) Cubs 1 - Tigers 3. 

A pitchers duel for much of the game, Friday saw Brown go 7 innings of 2 run, 7 hit ball for the Cubs, and Skubal pitched 7.2 innings of 1 run, 8 hit ball in opposition. With two outs in the bottom of the 5th, however, the Tigers started the damage. Baez and Meadows both singled with two outs to put runners at the corners before another single from Torres scored Javier Baez. The Tigers added runs in the 6th and 8th to put the game away.

Saturday Cubs won, pick won) Cubs 6 - Tigers 1. 

The Cubs struck first and were able to maintain the lead throughout the game. Great baserunning by McKinstry was the entirety of the offense for the Tigers Saturday, and really the only blemish on an outstanding 7 innings of work for Taillon.

Sunday (Cubs lost, pick lost) Cubs 0 - Tigers 4.

Two first inning runs were enough to put the Cubs down on Sunday with the northsiders being held to only 4 hits on the day. A stellar effort by Brasier and Flexen was mostly wasted after 4 runs were allowed in the first 5 innings. Flaherty went 6 innings and struck out 9 while only surrendering 2 hits on the day.

Key stat from the series - First inning runs indeed were the most important stat from this series, with the team scoring in the 1st winning both games in which it occurred. Even Friday, the eventually winning Tigers scored first. Playing with the lead will continue to be a boon to these pitching staffs. The Tigers move to 43-24 and continue to be in sole possession of 1st place in all of baseball, now 7 games up in the AL Central. The Cubs fall to 40-25, still good for 2nd in the NL and 4 games ahead of the Cardinals in the NL Central.

Cubs +145 to win the series: LOSS