Tigers' Hardy hopes to go long again vs. Angels
Blaine Hardy had never thrown more than 50 pitches in a major league game until this season.
The Detroit Tigers left-hander hadn't thrown more than 100 until last week.
The Tigers will see how Hardy can bounce back from a long outing Wednesday afternoon in the series finale against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium.
Hardy will try to salvage a win after the Angels (57-58) won the first two games to guarantee Detroit (47-67) will remain without a series win in Anaheim since 2009.
Hardy (4-3, 3.25 ERA) carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning in his last outing Friday at the Oakland Athletics. He surrendered an infield single to Jed Lowrie to open the seventh inning, got the next three outs and was removed after allowing two walks and no runs in seven innings.
The offense didn't come through for Hardy, though, and the Tigers eventually lost 1-0 in 13 innings.
Hardy, who made his first career start May 13 after 167 relief appearances over four seasons in the majors, threw a career-high 106 pitches against the A's.
"As soon as that ball was hit by Lowrie, I don't want to say I was happy, but I can't tell you if I would have been able to go another inning," Hardy told the Detroit News afterward. "It was the most pitches this year. I was in the high 80s and now I'm throwing like 105, 106. I haven't thrown over 100 pitches in a long time. It's the pitcher's goal, but it's a lot."
Hardy, a 22nd round draft pick of the Kansas City Royals in 2008, has never started against the Angels, but has made six relief appearances, allowing one run in six innings without a decision.
He has made three relief appearances at Angel Stadium without allowing a run in 3 1/3 innings.
Hardy will face a Los Angeles lineup that has been without center fielder Mike Trout the past six games because of a sore right wrist. The Angels dropped three of their first four without the two-time AL MVP, but rebounded to score 17 runs in their past two wins.
Los Angeles has scored 60 runs in its past seven home games overall.
The top five hitters in the Angels batting order combined to go 1-for-18 with an RBI in a 6-2 victory against the Tigers on Monday night, but bounced back to go 9-for-22 with seven RBI in an 11-5 victory Tuesday.
"We're patient and getting good pitches and those are turning into good at-bats," Angels left fielder Justin Upton told Fox Sports West after going 2-for-5 on Tuesday with a two-run homer.
Angels rookie right-hander Jaime Barria (6-7, 3.84 ERA) is set to make his 17th start of the season Wednesday.
He began the season 5-1 with a 2.48 ERA after seven starts, but went 0-6 over his next seven appearances and his ERA rose to 3.80.
Barria earned a win July 28 against the visiting Seattle Mariners and had a no-decision in his last outing Friday, allowing three runs and six hits in five innings against the Cleveland Indians. Barria left with the Angels trailing 3-2, but they rallied for a 7-4 victory.
