Matt Manning has been far better at home than on the road in his brief career.
The Detroit Tigers rookie right-hander will try to continue his success on familiar ground during the third game of a four-game series against the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.
The teams have split the first two games.
Manning is 2-0 with a 3.14 ERA in three home starts and 0-3 with an 8.20 ERA in four road appearances.
His last outing came at Minnesota on Monday, when he gave up four runs on five hits in five-plus innings.
Manning (2-3, 6.00 ERA) added a two-seam fastball to his arsenal in that start. He mixed those with four-seam fastballs, curveballs, changeups and sliders.
“I wanted to get more horizontal movement on (the fastball),” Manning said. “I wanted something I could get in on right-handers and move away from left-handers. Just gives hitters another look.”
Manning, who never faced the Orioles, is open-minded to doing anything that will solidify his spot on the staff.
“He’s going through this league, he’s facing hitters for the first time and he wants to make a good impression,” manager AJ Hinch said. “I know he wants to stay here and be a part of this rotation and continue to develop.”
The Orioles will counter with John Means (4-3, 2.94 ERA), who will be making his third appearance since recovering from a shoulder injury. In his latest outing, he gave up four runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings against the Washington Nationals. He has given up three homers in those two starts but has walked only one batter.
Means is 0-1 with a 4.63 ERA in two career starts against Detroit.
The Orioles ace was viewed as a trade candidate, but Baltimore was quiet at Friday’s deadline except for shipping out infielder Freddy Galvis.
“We were very mindful of the fact that a lot of our best players that were in demand are players that are not pending free agents,” Baltimore general manager Mike Elias said. “They are players that are young and talented and we like, and they’d have future years with this club and project as a part of this club when we hope to be a playoff contender.”
The Tigers made only a minor deal, sending left-handed reliever Daniel Norris to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera, who hit two homers in the series opener on Thursday, came close to adding to his 497 career total on Friday. He doubled to deep right-center in the fourth inning, then just missed an eighth-inning grand slam, settling for a sacrifice fly. The Orioles held on for a 4-3 win.
“At that point, we take the sac fly and hope to continue the inning but very close to being an unbelievable swing,” Hinch said. “He was just disappointed we scored one and not four.”
Pedro Severino hit two of Baltimore’s three homers on Friday before the Orioles staved off the Tigers’ late rally.
“We held on tight,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. “I thought we swung the bat really well early. I’d like to see us add on, but we hit some balls right at them.”
