GDT: 8/27/10 - DET (64-64) AT TOR (66-61) - 7:07 p.m. ET

Power game at play in Tigers-Jays Friday clash

By Evan Drellich / MLB.com

It's hard to turn away from power vs. power, and that's what Justin Verlander and Jose Bautista bring on Friday.

After a rough June and an even rougher April, the last two months have seen Verlander round into shape. He's 2-2 with a 3.27 ERA in five August starts, after going 3-1 with a 2.88 ERA in as many starts in July.

Verlander can be as overpowering as any pitcher in the game when he's on, and he's coming off a one-run, eight-inning, eight-strikeout performance against Cleveland on Sunday.

Bautista, meanwhile, has been on the whole season. In a 7-1 Tigers win on Thursday, Bautista hit a solo homer in the seventh inning off Max Scherzer, his 100th career home run and his Major League-leading 41st of the season. Bautista went 2-for-3 with a walk.

Verlander has done well the few times he's faced Bautista in their careers, allowing him just one hit -- a double -- in seven at-bats. He struck Bautista out twice, too, and has not walked him.

The matchup going the other way isn't too bad either. Miguel Cabrera has 31 home runs, and he hit an RBI double off Blue Jays righty Shaun Marcum in a 3-2 win over Toronto in Detroit on July 24, then later scored the winning run. Cabrera is 3-for-8 off Marcum lifetime, with a pair of doubles and a home run as the only hits. Marcum has never struck out Cabrera, and he's walked him once.

Cabrera has been the American League's best hitter on the road this season, leading in nearly every major offensive category. He notched a milestone of his own Thursday in a 1-for-5 performance: his 40th double of the season, making him the fourth player in franchise history to hit 40 doubles and 30 homers in the same season. Hank Greenberg did it four times, and Rudy York and Bobby Higginson did it once.

Marcum fell to 1-3 in August, but he easily could have won his most recent start, a 5-0 loss to Boston on Sunday. The right-hander let up three runs in seven innings. The start before, against Oakland, Marcum allowed one hit, one walk and one run in a complete game.

Tigers: Valverde feeling for splitter
Struggles with his splitter have led to a disappointing second half for Jose Valverde.

The Tigers' closer posted a dazzling 0.92 ERA with 19 saves in the first half, and is 0-2 with a 7.80 ERA following the break -- including four outings of 25 or more pitches. He blew his second save of the season against the Royals on Wednesday, prompting manager Jim Leyland to revisit the recent ineffectiveness of Valverde's go-to pitch.

"The split is not splitting," said Leyland. "The split early [in the season] was devastating. ... His split is not splitting like it was. I don't really have an explanation for that."

Blue Jays: Snider is odd-man out
Travis Snider was out of the lineup for the third time in the past four games on Thursday. The 22-year-old Snider is considered an important part of the team's future, but Jays manager Cito Gaston hasn't seen his proposed outfield rotation go as planned.

The manager prefers to keep Bautista in right field, where the outfielder boasts one of the best arms in the game. Gaston has also been hesitant to give a day off to center fielder Vernon Wells, knowing DeWayne Wise is the primary backup. That means the daily lineup decision hinges on whether Snider or Fred Lewis will man left field.

"As far as trying to rotate people, it's not easy," Gaston said. "It's not easy with those [Snider and Lewis]. Both of them are probably better left fielders than right fielders, so right now it looks like I'll play one a couple of days and play the other one a couple of days and go from there."

Worth noting
Wells went 1-for-4 on Thursday and is four hits shy of 1,500 for his career. He's second on the Jays' all-time list behind Tony Fernandez, who had 1,583.

... The Tigers are batting .323 over their last eight games.

... Since April 29, the Jays are 29-17 at home and have homered 94 times in those games.



Pitching matchup

TIGERS: RHP Justin Verlander (14-8, 3.65 ERA)
Verlander seems to be rounding into form where he can mix his pitches early, still overpower hitters and last into the late innings. He tossed eight innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts against the Indians last Sunday.

BLUE JAYS: RHP Shaun Marcum (11-7, 3.70 ERA)
After a shaky outing against Boston August 11, Marcum appears to have righted the ship. Over his last two outings Marcum has allowed just five hits, one walk, and four runs over 16 frames.




INJURY UPDATE:
• RHP Zach Miner (right elbow tendinitis, 60-day DL on March 26),
• OF Magglio Ordonez (right ankle fracture, 15-day DL on July 25),
• LHP Bobby Seay (left shoulder strain, 60-day DL on March 26),
• INF Danny Worth (bruised left heel, 15-day DL on August 4)
• RHP Joel Zumaya (non-displaced fracture of the olecranon, 60-day DL on June 29).


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Up next (Probable Pitchers)


• Saturday, August 28,
TIGERS (RHP Jeremy Bonderman (7-9, 5.27 ERA)) AT BLUE JAYS (RHP Brandon Morrow (9-6, 4.39 ERA)), 1:07 p.m. ET (FS-D HD & / AM 1270 & 97.1 FM)

• Sunday, August 29,
TIGERS (RHP Rick Porcello (6-11, 5.43 ERA)) AT BLUE JAYS (LHP Marc Rzepczynski (1-2, 6.31 ERA)), 1:12 p.m. ET (FS-D HD & / AM 1270 & 97.1 FM)

STARTING LINEUPS:

Detroit AVG
Jackson, A, CF .307
Rhymes, 2B .318
Damon, DH .269
Cabrera, M, 1B .340
Boesch, RF .274
Peralta, J, SS .244
Kelly, LF .235
Inge, 3B .257
Avila, C .215
Totals .269

Toronto AVG
Snider, LF .242
Escobar, Y, SS .252
Bautista, J, RF .261
Wells, V, CF .273
Lind, DH .232
Buck, J, C .283
Overbay, 1B .248
Hill, A, 2B .206
Encarnacion, 3B .249
Totals .250