Tigers moving Keider Monteto to bullpen this week

Montero gave up four hits, walked one and struck out three. He fell to 9-8 with the loss. Montero took the mound in the fifth inning with a 1-0 lead, but allowed three runs in the frame. Oneil Cruz hit a two-run home run and Spencer Horwitz had a two-out RBI single. Montero has a 3.30 ERA and has established himself as a long-term cog in the Tigers rotation this season. He’s lined up to face the Rays at home on Monday.

Valdez gave up five hits, walked four and struck out five. He improved to 8-8 on the season. One unearned run scored in the fifth inning on a throwing error by second baseman Hao-Yu Lee. With one on and two outs in the sixth inning, Valdez issued back-to-back walks and a bases-clearing double to Nick Yorke, who also scored after Valdez was removed from the game. Valdez has a 4.35 ERA in what has mostly been a disappointing first season with the Tigers. He’s lined up to face the Royals on the road on Sunday.

He struck out none, and in, fact, only had two whiffs all game on 37 swings. What a magician. Montero allowed seven hard-hit balls, but that’s to be expected with the lack of swing-and-miss in his game. He’s had three good starts (one or fewer runs allowed) and two bad (four and five earned runs allowed) since returning to the rotation. Montero will start against the Pirates early next week.

It felt like Valdez was turning the corner, but he just can’t get right. In this start, the chaos began early. He walked Steven Kwan to start the game after being ahead of him 1-2. Then, Chase DeLauter singled down 0-2 and he hit José Ramírez with a two-strike curveball just after. Two runs wound up coming around to score in the first. It looked like Valdez had settled in a bit after that before Jo Adell took him deep for a two-run shot in the fifth. It’s just never easy for him. He’ll take a 4.26 ERA into his next scheduled start against the Pirates before facing the Royals afterwards in what should be a favorable two-start week.

Montero punched out five batters on the night while issuing three free passes. He served up a two-run homer to Rafael Devers in the opening inning and allowed a two-out, two-run single to Jung Ho Lee in the second before settling in. The other run came on a solo blast from Willy Adames in the fifth. Montero got nine whiffs on 82 pitches on the night, posting a CSW of 34 percent. He’ll look to bounce back as he carries a 3.38 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and an 86/28 K/BB ratio (122 1/3 innings) into Thursday’s showdown against the Guardians.

The 32-year-old southpaw punched out five batters on the afternoon while issuing a pair of walks. The Mariners did have some traffic on the basepaths behind him, but Valdez got three double plays turned behind him that helped him to evade damage. He got just four swings and misses on 95 pitches on the day, registering a strong CSW of 33 percent. He’ll try to replicate this fine effort as he brings a 4.17 ERA, 1.36 WHIP and a 103/45 K/BB ratio (127 1/3 innings) into Thursday’s critical divisional matchup against the Guardians.

This was nice to see after Montero had arguably his worst start of the season last time out against the Orioles. That’s especially the case considering he was pitching in Sacramento. Montero was far from dominant — he had just two strikeouts and didn’t register his first one until the sixth inning — but he threw strikes and did a good job getting ahead in the count. The 26-year-old has been a surprising success story this season with a 3.17 ERA through 18 starts and six relief appearances. He’s a recommended play in his next start against the Giants in San Francisco.

After forging an ugly 7.13 ERA in the month of July, Valdez got August off to a solid start. He did allow nine hits, but he kept the ball in the park — not an easy thing to do on the road against the A’s — and he was able to strike out six. Even with the strong start Valdez still is the owner of a 4.41 ERA, and it’s more than fair to say he’s been a massive disappointment for the Tigers after signing his long-term deal. There’s time to salvage some of the campaign, however, and he’ll get a chance to back this effort up against the Giants in San Francisco on Friday.

Montero has been one of the real bright spots for Detroit this season, but he didn’t have it in this one, giving up nine hits, including a solo homer to Leody Taveras. He notched only one strikeout and issued one walk. The 26-year-old was coming off a stellar performance where he struck out eight and allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings against the Cubs last week. He’ll attempt to rebound when he closes out a two-start week with a challenging road tilt against the Athletics on Sunday.

Valdez gave up four hits, walked three and struck out four. He got off to an inauspicious start in the first inning as he allowed a home run, a single and a hit by pitch to the first three hitters. Tigers fans and fantasy managers were surely having flashbacks to when Valdez allowed six runs in the first inning against the Cubs in his last start. He was able to rebound and make it through five innings, but Valdez hasn’t been at the top of his game for most of the season now. He has a 4.53 ERA. Valdez is lined up to face the Athletics on the road next weekend.