First pitch: Sunday, 8:05 p.m. ET
Line: TBD

Two of baseball’s juggernauts go toe-to-toe on Sunday night as San Francisco travels east to Detroit and faces the Tigers.

The Giants are working their way towards another playoffs and have won seven of their past nine games going into Friday. They did lose their last series in Colorado though, with the two clubs combining to score 49 runs over the three-game set. On Wednesday, San Francisco had 10 hits, but was trounced 9-2 after going only 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. C Buster Posey (.305 BA) has been on a tear of late and is 28-for-58 (.483) with six doubles, 6 HR, 20 RBI and 16 runs in his past 13 contests. Detroit has allowed the Royals to take over the AL Central, as the club sits one game behind K.C. following Thursday’s action. The Tigers are on a 9-4 run entering the weekend, and did very well to start the week; taking 3-of-4 games against the Indians. They scored 25 runs in the four games, even while being shut out in the one loss, and earned a victory on Thursday by a score of 11-4 in 14 innings. DH Victor Martinez (.332 BA) has been the best player on one of the best offensive teams this year, and is 14-for-36 (.389) with three doubles, four homers, 9 RBI and 10 runs in his past 10 games. Looking to help their teams to wins in this contest will be starters RHP Tim Hudson (9-9, 3.08 ERA) of the Giants and LHP Kyle Lobstein (0-0, 3.18 ERA) for the host Tigers. San Francisco has done well on the road, posting a record of 38-31 (.551) in away games while Detroit is 35-30 (.538) in Comerica Park. The Tigers would like to forget the last time these two clubs met up, as the Giants swept Detroit in four games at the 2012 World Series. In the series, the usually potent Tigers' offense scored a meager six runs on 20 hits while San Francisco’s starters earned three wins.

Tim Hudson has defied age, and as a 39-year-old has posted his best ERA since 2010 while having the best control (1.6 BB/9) of his career. In a day where so many of the young pitchers are throwing in the high 90's, Hudson has been successful with a fastball averaging 89.1 MPH and has struck out a mere 5.8 batters per nine innings in 2014. His ability to get batters to hit the ball on the ground has always been a strength for him and his 54% ground-ball rate ranks 12th in the league among starting pitchers (entering Friday). He has had a superb year, but Hudson has allowed five earned runs in two of his past four starts while the Giants have taken a loss in five of his past 10 outings. Over his 16-year career, Hudson has started against Detroit 14 times with solid results, going 9-2 with a 3.07 ERA and 1.17 WHIP, and has tossed three complete games. Both 3B Miguel Cabrera (12-for-28, 3 RBI) and OF Torii Hunter (9-for-31, 1 HR, 6 RBI) have had solid at-bats against the veteran, but OF Rajai Davis (1-for-6, 2 K's) has not done well in his limited time against the righty. The Giants’ bullpen has been phenomenal this season, going 26-14 (.650) with a 2.87 ERA and 1.07 WHIP, and is 40-for-57 (70%) in save opportunities heading into the series. Santiago Casilla (1.79 ERA, 14 saves) has already blown four saves as the closer, and has been lucky with batters hitting .233 BABIP against him.

Kyle Lobstein has pitched well enough to continue getting starts with a Detroit club that is in the middle of a playoff race, and the last time out he allowed two runs on five hits while striking out 10 batters (3 walks) over 5.1 frames against Cleveland. His strikeouts were certainly the most surprising stat in this game as he averaged 7.8 K/9 in 146 Triple-A innings this season before joining the Tigers. One problem that Lobstein has shown is control, as he has already walked eight batters over his first 17 innings at the major-league level (4.2 BB/9). When facing the Giants for the first time, the youngster will need to be weary as he goes against C Buster Posey who leads the team in average (.305), home runs (19) and RBI (78), and has struck out in just 11.4% of his at-bats. On the other hand, SS Brandon Crawford (.228 BA) has really struggled, and has struck out in 24% of his at-bats while failing to get a hit in six of his past 10 games played. Before Friday, Detroit’s bullpen had gone 18-16 (.529) with a 4.30 ERA and 1.48 WHIP, and had successfully converted 34-of-48 (71%) saves. Joe Nathan (5.04 ERA, 29 saves) has six blown saves on the season and has walked a career-high 4.5 batters per nine innings while hitters have batted a high .324 BABIP.