Winner of this game will have a small lead towards home field advantage so it is a very important game so much that Miguel Cabrera is in the line up and he's got monster numbers against Jon Lester as he's 10-16 off the south paw. In fact so does Hunter, Martinez, and Penal who are a combined 22-43. You did not misread that stat. Lester is also coming into this game posting great numbers over his last 5 starts so we are getting plenty of value but a closer look and he's faced teams ranked 16th, 17th, 23rd, 25th, and 20th in OPS vs. LHP. The Tigers are #1 in OPS vs. LHP and Lester has a 5.26 ERA in 6 career starts against them. Lester also comes into this game making his 4th start on 4 days rest and posts 3.72 ERA at home and a 4.45 ERA
Max Scherzer has been handed gifts all season with some great run support there is no denying that, but looking at his raw stats he just is better than Jon Lester and he posts a 2.14 ERA on the road where the Tigers are 13-0 in his starts. His 9.87 K/9 and 2.11 BB/9 back up his record and the Red Sox are hitting just .237 with 3.08 runs per 9 vs. RHP over their last 10 compared to the Tigers 6.14 vs. LHP. Scherzer has struggled vs. David Ortiz, but who hasn't? Scherzer can pitch around Ortiz and dominate the rest of the line up especially without Jacoby Ellsbury in the mix who is out of the line up tonight.
Washington still believes they are in the mix and Gio Gonzalez has dominated the Phillies who are 28th in OPS vs. LHP this year and are throwing a minor league lineup out there. Any time you see guys like Carlos Ruiz in the clean up spot you know this to be true. Ethan Martin makes the start for the Phillies and has good stuff with 11.37 K/9 for a smalls ample, but his 5.68 BB/9 and 21.2% HR/FB ratio and 26% line drive percentage would scare anyone. I think the Nationals get a win here as the Phillies are really content to go into the off season.
