The Detroit Tigers head into Texas riding the momentum of a sweep in the Bronx, and now they get a new test: a three-game set against the Rangers, starting Thursday night at Globe Life Field.
Detroit wrapped up its second straight month with a 6-2 win over the New York Yankees on Wednesday afternoon. Troy Melton set the tone with 6 1/3 innings of two-hit ball, and even though the bullpen gave up another save, the Tigers still broke things open with a four-run 11th to finish the job.
Now AJ Hinch’s club stays on the road and opens the series against a Rangers team tied for first in the AL West. Detroit will send left-hander Framber Valdez to the mound in the opener.
The 32-year-old turned in a solid June across five starts, posting a 3.21 ERA and 4.14 FIP. Three of those outings were one-run efforts, while the other two saw him give up four runs apiece.
Texas counters with Nathan Eovaldi, who is coming off his best start of the month. The right-hander threw seven shutout innings last time out, allowing five hits and a walk while striking out nine.
Before that, though, June had been a tougher stretch for the 36-year-old, who carried a 5.11 ERA and 4.04 FIP across his other four starts of the month. In that 24 1/3-inning span, he gave up four home runs and struck out 25.
On paper, the matchup in Thursday night’s opener features two pitchers with similar underlying numbers, even if their recent paths have looked different. Valdez enters Game 88 at 4-5 with a 4.05 ERA, while Eovaldi comes in at 8-7 with a 3.95 ERA.
Valdez has 95.2 innings, an 18.5 percent strikeout rate, an 8.2 percent walk rate, a 52.2 percent ground-ball rate, a 4.17 FIP and 1.0 fWAR. Eovaldi has logged 100.1 innings, with a 24.4 percent strikeout rate, a 5.6 percent walk rate, a 50.2 percent ground-ball rate, a 4.16 FIP and 1.3 fWAR.
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Now, though, the conversation around Skubal is drifting far beyond his next outing. With the 2026 trade deadline still ahead, his name has surfaced in chatter among multiple clubs, a familiar kind of noise for an ace of his stature but one Tigers fans would rather not hear attached to a pitcher who has already proved how valuable he can be. [Read more 🡒]
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What makes the buildup matter is not just the radar-gun reading, but what it says about the shape of Jobes recovery. He has already cleared bullpen work, and if the rest of the rehab keeps moving cleanly, Detroit can start imagining him as part of the 2026 rotation picture. For a club that has been waiting to see whether one of its top arms could come back on schedule, that kind of progress is enough to keep the conversation alive all summer. [Read more 🡒]