Guardians look to close out sweep of division-leading Tigers

Logan Allen's last start was interrupted by rain. The weather, however, should be just fine when the Cleveland Guardians left-hander takes the mound in the finale of a four-game series in Detroit on Sunday.

Cleveland will be looking for a sweep of the series.

Allen pitched three innings against Minnesota on Monday before the bad weather struck. He gave up two runs in his 53-pitch performance.

In his previous outing on May 13, Allen (2-2, 3.86 ERA) tossed six scoreless innings against Milwaukee.

"We're a team of five right there, so we're trying to pick each other up and feed off each other as best as we can," Allen said. "That's our job to go out there and try to save the bullpen as best as we can. So any time we go as deep in the games as we can, that's the goal, for sure."

In two career outings against Detroit, Allen has allowed nine earned runs in 8 1/3 innings. He surrendered seven of those runs in a 2 1/3-inning stint against the Tigers last May, as Andy Ibanez blasted two homers off him.

He'll need to be a lot sharper on Sunday with Tigers ace Tarik Skubal (4-2, 2.87) making his 11th start this season. Detroit has won his last five outings, though Skubal only has been credited with two of those victories.

In his last start on Tuesday, Skubal gave up three runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings at St. Louis.

"I thought it was a good outing," he said. "My stuff was fine, I competed in the zone. You guys (media) are going to chase the results. I'm going to chase process and I've stacked a lot of good days of work in a row. I like where I'm at."

Skubal has been racking up plenty of strikeouts in his last five starts, fanning 50 batters while issuing just two walks. With two types of fastballs -- four-seamers and sinkers -- along with changeups and sliders, Skubal can overpower or generate wild swings.

"With my fastball, they're very different shapes and that helps me a ton," Skubal told the Detroit News. "And to be able to execute them, move them in, move them out, that's a big part of my game. If you put them together (sinkers and four-seamers), like 55 percent of my pitches are fastballs. And within that 55 percent are two different and distinct shapes. I like it a lot."

The Guardians held the Tigers to one run in the first two games of the series. The Tigers scored three runs in the first inning on Saturday but Cleveland forced extra innings and pulled out a 7-5 victory.

The Guardians pushed across four runs in the 10th inning as they moved within three games of Detroit for the American League Central Division lead.

Cleveland's Jose Ramirez extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a pair of singles. Matt Vierling was in the lineup for the first time this season for Detroit and knocked in two runs. Vierling was activated on Friday after recovering from a shoulder injury.

--Field Level Media