The Detroit Tigers come home Tuesday with momentum and a problem: they have won seven of their last nine games and scored 66 runs over that stretch, yet they still enter Game 119 tied for second place in the American League Central. Drew Anderson will try to help change that when he makes his fourth start of the season against Tanner Bibee at Comerica Park.
First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. ET in Detroit, where the Tigers and Cleveland Guardians begin a series that carries more weight than a normal midweek opener. Anderson’s recent work has been short and sharp. He threw 3 2/3 shutout innings against the Seattle Mariners in his last outing, allowing three hits and one walk without striking out a batter. It followed a May 20 start against the Cleveland Guardians in which he lasted 4 2/3 scoreless innings, gave up two hits and two walks, and struck out seven, only to leave without a decision when the Tigers lost 3-2 in extra innings.
That is the shape of the Tigers right now: the offense has been loud, the record has surged, but the standing has not yet caught up. Seven wins in nine games should buy more breathing room than a tie for second, which is why this home series feels so useful. A win Tuesday would not settle the division race, but it would at least turn recent scoring into something more tangible against a rival they are trying to pass.
Bibee has already made that path harder. He has faced the Tigers twice this season and delivered a quality start and a victory each time. In his first outing against Detroit in Detroit, he worked eight innings of one-run ball, allowing four hits and one walk while striking out five. In the second, he went seven innings, held the Tigers to two runs on two solo homers, struck out eight and earned his second victory of the 2026 campaign, again in a 3-2 game. He is now chasing his 15th quality start this summer, which gives Tuesday’s matchup a familiar edge: the Tigers are hitting, but Bibee has already shown he can slow them down.
So the opener at Comerica Park is less about one night than about whether the Tigers can turn a hot stretch into a move that changes the board in the American League Central. Anderson has already shown he can miss trouble against Cleveland in brief bursts. The question now is whether Detroit can give him enough support to make the standings look different by the time this series is over.
