First pitch: Thursday, 8:10 p.m. ET
Line: Detroit +120, Houston -130, Total: 8.5

The Astros will be looking to secure a series win when they host the Tigers on Thursday.

Houston won the first two games in this series, but Detroit responded with a 6-3 victory on Wednesday night. That was a big win for the Tigers, who had lost three straight and badly needed to get back into the win column. Detroit will now look to split this four-game set by winning on Thursday, and the team will definitely be feeling like it has the edge on the mound. RHP Justin Verlander (4-3, 4.39 ERA, 54 K) is starting for the Tigers, and that is good news for them. It is, however, bad news for Detroit that RHP Mike Fiers (1-2, 5.14 ERA, 36 K) is on the mound for Houston. Fiers is not nearly as good as Verlander, but he is coming off of his best start of the season and will be confident on Thursday. One trend that favors the Tigers in this game is the fact that the team is 10-2 against the money line after having lost four or five of its past six games this season. The Astros, meanwhile, are a ridiculous 25-10 against the money line against right-handed starters this season. Houston is also 29-11 against the money line as a favorite of -110 or higher this season.

Justin Verlander is not off to the start he was hoping for this season, but he should get himself going rather shortly. He was solid in his most recent outing, allowing just three earned runs in seven innings against the Rangers on May 20. Verlander struck out five batters in that game, and he’ll be hoping to miss a bunch of bats here as well. One thing he’ll need to do is avoid the long-ball, which is not going to be easy against Houston. Offensively, the Tigers are going to need to find a way to provide a bunch of runs for Verlander. This could be a high-scoring game, so guys like 3B Miguel Cabrera (.264 BA, 5 HR, 18 RBI) and 2B Ian Kinsler (.240 BA, 4 HR, 11 RBI) must show up. Both have been very disappointing this season, but they are both too good of hitters to let this linger on longer. One guy that hasn’t been struggling is OF J.D. Martinez (.364 BA, 6 HR, 12 RBI). Since returning from injury, Martinez has looked like one of the best hitters in baseball. It’d be big if he can have a big game in this one as well.

The Astros might be coming off of a loss, but this team is still playing very well coming into this one. They’ll look to win this four-game set on Thursday, and that means that Mike Fiers will need to come up big once again here. Fiers is very inconsistent, but he was great in his last trip to the mound. That was against the Indians on May 20, and Fiers gave up just one earned run in six innings of work. He’ll need to do something like that again in order to try to outduel Verlander. Offensively, the Astros will need something from guys like 2B Jose Altuve (.297 BA, 7 HR, 22 RBI) and OF George Springer (.236 BA, 9 HR, 24 RBI). Both guys have a good chance of getting to Verlander in this one, and so do all of the other dangerous Astros hitters.