OAKLAND, Calif. -- The forecast is for 10 days of sunny skies when the Detroit Tigers begin a three-city Western swing Friday night against the Oakland Athletics.
The Tigers will be well rested to start the trip as for the third time this season, they were rained out Thursday in what was supposed to be the wrap-up of what turned out to be a troublesome homestand.
Detroit takes the field Friday night having won three of four. But that stretch followed four losses in five games to start what became a nine-game homestand.
Right-hander Michael Fulmer (2-1), pushed back a day because of Thursday's rainout, seeks his fifth consecutive quality start against an Oakland team whose pitching staff got roughed up on a just-completed trip.
The 24-year-old Fulmer said he expects more of himself after four consecutive starts in which he's allowed two or three runs despite a low hit total (18 in 25 innings).
"I've had games this year where my fastball's been there but the change-up and slider haven't," he critiqued. "Or the change-up's been good but fastball command has been a little iffy. So I'm just trying to put that complete start together."
Actually, what Fulmer is looking for is a repeat of his only previous outing at the Oakland Coliseum. He was brilliant in his sixth career start last May against the A's, shutting them out on three hits over 7 2/3 innings in a 4-1 victory.
It's the only time Fulmer has pitched against the A's.
The Tigers are hoping warm weather on a trip that continues to Arizona and Los Angeles is just what the doctor ordered for struggling Ian Kinsler.
The veteran second baseman had to come out of Wednesday's loss to Cleveland with a tight left hamstring, having gone 0-for-3 to run his current skid to 3-for-32.
Hoping to extend Kinsler's misery -- if in fact he's able to play -- will be A's right-hander Andrew Triggs (4-1), who has been Oakland's best starter this season.
He rebounded from his only poor outing of the season at home against Seattle with Oakland's best pitching performance on its 2-7 trip, blanking the Houston Astros on five hits over seven innings in a 2-1 victory.
Not allowing an earned run was nothing new for Triggs, who also didn't give up any in his first three starts of the season.
Despite getting bombed for six runs in 4 2/3 innings by the Mariners, he boasts a 1.84 ERA.
Triggs has faced the Tigers twice in a major league career that, like Fulmer, began last season.
He debuted in Detroit last April with one inning of shutout relief, before surrendering one run on two hits -- a single by Kinsler and triple by J.D. Martinez -- in one inning out of the bullpen a month later in Oakland.
The A's allowed seven or more runs five times on their nine-game trip, then salvaged a getaway win at Minnesota by outslugging the Twins 8-5.
"This was a tough road trip, up and down the lineup -- the pitching staff, you name it," A's catcher Stephen Vogt admitted after Thursday's victory. "This was a very big game for us. Now we fly home and get ready for a big homestand."