Rick Porcello, Matt Harrison to go head-to-head in Game 4 of AL Championship Series – MLB Preview
The fourth and pivotal game of the American League Championship Series, being contested between AL Central leaders Detroit Tigers and the seemingly invincible Texas Rangers, will be a real war of pitchers as right-handed Rick Porcello of the Tigers will
land for his second start of the Series to take on the Rangers’ lefty Matt Harrison at the Comerica Park, on Tuesday, October 12.
The contest promises to be a competition between right and left hand pitching.
Young, energetic, little in-experience but accurate Porcello will land at the mound having some strong support of his manager Jim Leyland. 22-year-old, who started his MLB career just two years ago, now has got the biggest chance of his career.
Porcello tossed two perfect innings in Game 1 of the series and it indicates his ability to hold down the Rangers’ dangerous line-up in the critical fourth showdown. Porcello also pitched six solid innings and consumed only one-run to overpower the Rangers
in Texas on June 7. He has a 14-9 record with a high 4.75 ERA, which is one of the negative aspects he will be looking to remove and improve on.
Making just over seven solid innings to assist in the 5-2 win in the third outing, Doug Fister has elevated the expectations of Jim Leyland and the spectators. Leyland was merriment of criticism riddled Fister, displaying a game winning performance in a
pivotal outing. However, Leyland now expects an even better performance from reliable Porcello, who has played a vital role throughout the season.
Cabrera, who capped the assault by smashing a loose pitch off Koji Uehara for a lead increasing homer in the last outing, will be at Porcello’s back. Cabrera has touched a pitch for a hit in each of his first nine outings of the Championship Series. Victor
Martinez and Jhonny Peralta now has the burden of expectations needing to be relieved with another game-winning performance.
Matt Harrison, on the other hand, will be aligned to take the Rangers closer to winning the Championship Series. The club needs only two wins to lift the Championship trophy has high hopes with their trustworthy pitcher.
Left-handed pitcher will enter for his third career post-season appearance, but he has a strong batting line-up will provide him some level of confidence. Harrison, who was left out of the playoff roaster in 2010, now has got another chance to prove his
critics wrong.
Harrison has lot to prove, as he was 0-2 with an expensive 3.60 ERA in 10 innings of his last two starts against the Detroit Tigers. Harrison has brought a 4-3 win for the Rangers, with nine strike-outs in five innings on October 4 in Florida. He has the
same 14-9 record as Porcello, but his ERA is a little better than the opposing pitcher, which provides him some positive points.
Porcello will have Mike Napoli, Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton and the destroyer Nelson Cruz, at his back. The Rangers batting rotation has the ability to display, out of the box performance and they are in dire need of it.
It will be interesting to see which of the two pitchers comes out on top as both teams go all out for an important victory. The Tigers will be looking to put in a good performance and play an aggressive game from the start. The Rangers are loaded with confidence
and will try to carry their winning momentum forward.
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