Little was expected of the Detroit Tigers coming into the season, but they are trending in the right direction thanks to a sweep of the Houston Astros and will look to keep things rolling on Saturday against the Oakland Athletics.

The Athletics send Cole Irvin to the mound, who in two starts this season allowed four runs in each of them and has a lifetime 6.87 ERA to go with a 2-4 record and 11.1 hits allowed per nine innings.

He will face Casey Mize, the number one pick of the 2018 MLB Draft who has given up just one run in 11 innings across his two starts this season.

Both teams have suspect bullpens. Each entered Friday in the bottom four of the league in bullpen ERA, with the Athletics bullpen averaging 0.49 fewer strikeouts per nine innings than any other team in the league.

The Tigers had the second-most home runs per at-bat of any team in the league and Oakland had an American League-worst .178 home batting average, so the former top pick should keep Detroit better than expected start going.

The play: Tigers Moneyline

This post first appeared on Nypost.com

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