DETROIT TIGERS NOTES:

TIGERS-PHILLIES POSTPONED ON WEDNESDAY: The Tigers-Phillies game on Wednesday night was postponed due to poor air quality. The game will be made up tonight. Last night marked the fifth postponement of the season for the Tigers.

MOVIN’ ON UP: Miguel Cabrera was on base twice on Tuesday, finishing the game 1×2 with a double and a RBI. Cabrera’s hit was the 3,108th of his Major League career, moving him two shy of tying Dave Winfield (3,110) for 22nd on the all-time hits list. The double was the 1,136th extra-base hit of his career. He is now two extra-base hits away from tying Ty Cobb (1,138) for 15th in big league history.

BULLPEN BITS: José Cisnero worked a scoreless inning with one strikeout on Tuesday. Dating back to April 24, Cisnero has not allowed an earned run in 14-of-17 appearances, posting a 1.80 ERA (15.0IP/3ER)…Will Vest pitched 2.0 perfect innings on Tuesday, striking out three. Vest has excelled in multi-inning relief outings in his career, compiling a 5-0 record with a 1.71 ERA (47.1IP/9ER) and 41 strikeouts in 28 games.

TIGERS AND PHILLIES: The Tigers and Phillies conclude their only series of the season tonight. The all-time series between the two teams is tied at 12 wins apiece. The Tigers and Phillies have split 10 meetings in Philadelphia.

INTERLEAGUE ACTION: The Tigers continue their interleague schedule tonight against the Phillies. Detroit is 11-7 against National League foes this season, including a 4-4 record against NL East teams. The Tigers have finished with a winning record against NL opponents in each of the last two seasons.

ON THE ROAD: The Tigers are 0-5 on their current six-game road trip, which includes three games at Chicago (AL) (0-3) and three games at Philadelphia (0-2). Detroit is 12-20 on the road this season. As a team, the Tigers are hitting .211/.285/.326 away from Comerica Park, while
the pitching staff has a 4.39 ERA (277.0IP/135ER).

ON DECK: The Tigers begin a six-game homestand tomorrow as they open a three-game series against the Diamondbacks. The two teams met last season in Arizona with the Tigers winning two-of-three games. Detroit trails the all-time series against the Diamondbacks, 20-17.

INJURY REHAB UPDATES: Beau Brieske began an injury rehab assignment with Single A West Michigan last night, starting and throwing a perfect inning with two strikeouts…Kerry Carpenter continued an injury rehab assignment with Triple A Toledo last night, starting in right
field and going 1×4 with a RBI.

TIGERS ON THE IL:

• RHP Beau Brieske (right upper arm discomfort, 60-day IL on March 30, retroactive to March 27)
• OF Kerry Carpenter (right shoulder sprain, 10-day IL on April 29, retroactive to April 28)
• RHP Alex Faedo (right middle finger discomfort, 15-day IL on June 3, retroactive to May 31)
• OF Riley Greene (left fibula stress reaction, 10-day IL on May 31)
• RHP Matt Manning (right foot fracture, 60-day IL on April 12)
• OF Austin Meadows (anxiety, 60-day IL on April 8, retroactive to April 7)
• RHP Casey Mize (right elbow sprain, 60-day IL on February 17)
• RHP Freddy Pacheco (right elbow sprain, 60-day IL on March 27)
• LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (left index finger pulley rupture, 15-day IL on May 30, retroactive to May 29)
• LHP Tarik Skubal (left elbow strain, 60-day IL on March 14)
• RHP Spencer Turnbull (neck discomfort, 15-day IL on May 12, retroactive to May 7)
• OF Matt Vierling (low back soreness, 10-day IL on May 30, retroactive to May 29)
• RHP Trey Wingenter (right biceps tendinitis, 60-day IL on April 22, retroactive to April 19)

TONIGHT’S TIGERS STARTING PITCHER

87 Tyler Holton • 0-0, 2.32 ERA (31.0IP/8ER)

• Holton will make his 18th appearance of the season and the first start of his Major League career tonight in the series finale at Philadelphia.
• Last pitched on Tuesday against the Phillies, throwing 2.0 scoreless innings with two hits allowed and two strikeouts…of his 17 relief outings this season, 13 have been multi-inning appearances
• Among American League relievers with at least 25.0 innings pitched, he ranks sixth in WHIP (0.94).
• Equaled the longest Major League outing of his career on May 23 at Kansas City, tossing 3.0 scoreless innings with three hits allowed, one
  walk and one strikeout…also threw 3.0 innings on April 15 vs. San Francisco.
• Is in his first season with the Tigers after being claimed off waivers from Arizona on February 17, 2023.

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES NOTES:

GAME #61 RECAP: The Philies defeated the Detroit Tigers, 1-0, at Citizens Bank Park in South Philly … Starter Taijuan Walker (W, 5-3) tossed 7.0 scoreless innings and allowed 2 hits with 3 walks and 8 strikeouts … The game’s only run came on a Kyle Schwarber leadoff home run … Seranthony Dominguez (hold) and Craig Kimbrel (save) made scoreless appearances in relief of Walker and combined to strike out five of the seven hitters they faced.

ABOUT TUESDAY NIGHT: Tuesday night marked only the 10th time in the Modern Era (since 1900) that the Phillies won a game of 9 or more innings despite their leadoff hitter having three plate appearances or fewer … Further, in the Expansion Era (since 1961) it has now happened only three times: 6/6/23 vs DET, 10/5/91 vs NYM and 6/22/78 vs STL … Tuesday night also marked only the third time in the Modern Era the Phillies won a game 1-0 with the only run being a leadoff home run: Schwarber 6/6/23 vs DET, Jimmy Rollins 8/14/12 at MIA and John Briggs, 6/12/69 at LAD – Schwarber is the only one of the three to do so at home in Philadelphia.

JUNE BLOOM: Over the last three seasons (2021-23), the Phillies are 35-22 in the month of June and their .614 winning percentage ranks 5th among all MLB clubs behind only BOS (.672), HOU (.650), ATL (.633) and NYY (.621) … During that same time, the Phillies are 32-50 in the month of May and their .390 winning percentage during May ranks 27th out of 30 MLB clubs … Over the last two seasons (since 2022), the Phillies are 23-10 in June (.697 win %).

TURNING A CORNER: As laid out in the chart below, Trea Turner has seen most offensive metrics/stats improve from month to month this season – he has increased his average exit velocity on balls in play from 86.5 MPH in April to 96.8 MPH in June and he has cut down on his swing and miss rate from 34.4% in April to 21.8% in June … He has also more than doubled his hard hit rate on balls in play from 30.8% in April to 68.4% in June … In the month of June, Turner ranks 4th in hard hit rate and 5th in average exit velocity among all qualified hitters in MLB.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE: Over his last two plus months and 244 plate appearances (since 4/4), Kyle Schwarber has posted a .797 OPS with 16 home runs and 44 walks to 70 strikeouts – in that span, Schwarber is running a .180 BABIP which ranks 123rd out of the 123 MLB players with 200 PA in that stretch … Out of those same 123 players, Schwarber ranks 3rd with an 18.0% walk rate and T-3rd in home runs … Schwarber, who owns a career BABIP of .261, completed the month of May with the lowest BABIP recorded by a player with at least 100 plate appearances in a single month since at least 1901 (.065) – the only other MLB player since at least 1901 with a BABIP under .100 for a single month (min. 100 PA) was Gary Sheffield, who posted a .095 BABIP in September of 1999 for the Dodgers … Per Statcast, among all MLB players this year, Schwarber ranks in the 98th percentile in walk rate (17.1%), 92nd percentile in average exit velocity (92.7 MPH) & barrel rate (15.3%) and 86th percentile in hard hit rate (48.9%).

LET THE GOOD VIBES ROLL: Through 26 games at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies are averaging 39,107 in attendance per game which ranks 5th among all clubs in MLB behind only the Dodgers (47,916), Cardinals (39,968), Yankees (39,803) and Padres (39,206) … Of Philadelphia’s first 26 games at home, 13 have been sellouts (50%) and 18 have been over 35,000 (69%) … Among all clubs in MLB, the Phillies have the largest year-to-year increase in attendance per game this season at +11,853 (up from 27,254 per game through 26 home games in 2022) … The Toronto Blue Jays rank 2nd behind the Phillies among all clubs in year-toyear attendance growth at +5,924 and the Pittsburgh Pirates rank 2nd among NL teams at +5,052 … The Phils have welcomed 1,016,792 fans to CBP so far this year – through 26 games last season, the Phillies had 708,608 in attendance (+308,184 in 2023).

THE AMERICAN DREAM: The Phillies have won nine of their last 12 games against the American League (since 4/26/23) and each of their last five (since 5/7/23) – Philadelphia’s current five-game winning streak against the AL ties a franchise record (2x: 9/1/97-6/6/98 and 6/21-29/03).

TONIGHT’S STARTER – ZACK WHEELER  RHP #45
2023: 4-4, 4.33 ERA Career: 78-61, 3.47 ERA

LAST START: 6/2 at WSH (ND, L, 8-7): 3.2 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 7 ER, HR, BB, 3 SO, 20 BF, 90 pitches, 58 strikes … Down 6-0 through two and 7-1 through four, the Phillies mounted a comeback and tied the game at 7-7 going into the eighth inning … Nick Castellanos went 4-for-5 with a 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI and a SB … Kyle Schwarber and Bryson Stott combined to reach base five times atop the lineup … With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Alex Call walked, stole second base and later scored on a single to center.

TONIGHT’S START: 10 years: Wheeler is at 9 years and 169 days of Major League service time today … He is scheduled to hit 10 years of service
on Sunday (6/11)a vs LAD

Luck Be A Ball In Play Tonight: Wheeler has a 2.85 FIP this season which is lower than his mark last year (2.89) when he posted a 2.82 ERA … This season, Wheeler has a 4.33 ERA and his 1.48 difference between ERA and FIP is the 2nd-largest of any pitcher in MLB (most: Graham Ashcraft, 1.61) … Wheeler’s 2.85 FIP ranks 4th among all qualified pitchers in the NL and trails only Zac Gallen (2.23), Spencer Strider (2.60) and Justin Steele (2.85)

Whiffs: Wheeler is running a whiff rate of 30% or greater on three different pitches this year: Sweeper (38.5%), 4-seam fastball (34.2%) and Slider (30.7%)

The Ace Club: Since 2018, Wheeler ranks 4th in MLB (Nola 5th) in fWAR among all pitchers at 24.3 – he trails only Jacob deGrom (27.1), Max Scherzer (26.4) and Gerrit Cole (24.7)

Statcast Rankings: 97th percentile in extension, 86th percentile in walk rate & average exit velocity, 85th percentile in fastball spin, 82nd percentile in fastball velocity and 81st percentile in barrel rate

HOME:
2023: 1-2, 3.53 ERA (14 ER, 35.2 IP) 37 SO, 11 BB in 6 starts

Career: 37-33, 3.37 ERA (241 ER, 643.1 IP) in 104 starts

CBP
Career with Phils: 18-10, 2.38 ERA (75 ER, 283.2 IP) in 44 starts

Career: 21-11, 2.50 ERA (91 ER, 327.2 IP) in 51 starts

2023 SEASON:
Recorded his 18th career double-digit strikeout game and 10th as a Phillie on 5/27 at ATL

Racked up a career-high 23 swings and misses on 4/23 vs COL

Made his 200th career start on 4/23 vs COL

On 4/12 vs MIA extended his streak of home starts without allowing a HR to 4 and his streak of 5 or fewer hits allowed at home to 9