Anyone who saw Manny Machado crossing home plate Tuesday night in the 10th inning won’t be surprised to learn the Padres star will not be playing third base Wednesday in the series finale against the Tigers at Comerica Park. (First pitch is 10:10 a.m. PDT.)
But it’s also no surprise Machado, who appeared to tweak his already ailing ankle while running the bases in Tuesday’s 6-4 win, is the lineup as the designated hitter.
With Machado not in the field and the Tigers starting left-hander Tarik Skubal, manager Bob Melvin is going with Matthew Batten at third base and batting ninth.
Other changes Wednesday: Luke Voit is at first base instead of Eric Hosmer, Austin Nola is catching — as he always does when Yu Darvish pitches — instead of Jorge Alfaro and Esteury Ruiz is in right field over Nomar Mazara.
Darvish is coming off a strong outing Friday in his first start out of the All-Star break, holding the Mets to one run and four hits while striking out nine in a 4-1 victory. This is Darvish’s 19th start of the season and he has gone at least six innings while allowing three runs or fewer in 14 of the previous 18 (including seven of the last eight). Today is the first time Darvish has pitched on four days’ rest since he did it twice in April. For his last 15 starts, he had five days of rest nine times and six days for the other six.
He has not faced the Tigers since May 21, 2017 when he was pitching for Texas. That was also the last time he pitched at Comerica Park, where he is 3-0 lifetime with a 2.45 ERA.
His opponent today, Skubal, is in his third season, all with the Tigers. He got off to a fast start this season, with a 5-2 record and 2.33 ERA through his first 11 starts. In his next seven starts, though, he was rocked for 44 hits and 29 earned runs in 35 innings, losing six times with a 7.46 ERA. But the All-Star break seemed to refresh him: Last Thursday against Oakland he went six innings and allowed just two hits and one unearned run in a 7-2 victory. For the season he is 7-8 with a 3.88 ERA.
Here’s the lineup behind Skubal:
