The Detroit Tigers took the first game of a critical home series against the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday night with a narrow 6-4 victory. The good guys got their first win against Tanner Bibee since July 2024 thanks to some well-timed offense, and somehow, Kenley Jansen did not blow the save despite feeding the batters meatballs in the ninth.
Taking the mound for the Motor City Kitties in Game 2 is left-hander Framber Valdez, who is coming off two straight seven-inning quality starts. Across those
14 frames of work, the 32-year-old veteran posted a 1.29 ERA and 2.38 FIP on 14 hits and four walks — good for a 1.29 WHIP — while striking out 11 en route to a pair of wins.
Valdez faced Cleveland once before this season on May 18 in Detroit, and it was not pretty, serving up four runs on five hits and four walks while striking out three over five innings of work to take the L in an 8-2 loss. However, that was during the heinous month of May, so it might not be wise to extrapolate much from those results.
For the visitors, fellow southpaw Foster Griffin will toe the rubber for the second time in a Guardians uniform after being traded from the Washington Nationals, who received four players for the 2026 All-Star. The 31-year-old was shellacked in his first start for Cleveland against the New York Mets, coughing up five runs on seven hits (two home runs) and two walks while striking out six over four frames to earn his fourth loss of the season in a 12-4 final.
Take a peek at how the two match up stats-wise with our data below.
Detroit Tigers (59-60) vs. Cleveland Guardians (58-62)
Time (ET): 6:40 p.m.
Place: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
SB Nation Site: Covering the Corner
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Game 120: LHP Framber Valdez (7-7, 4.17 ERA) vs. LHP Foster Griffin (12-4, 3.31 ERA)
VALDEZ
GRIFFIN
