Detroit Tigers

Dirks is batting .302 (19 for 63) with a .556 slugging percentage, one triple, two doubles, two stolen bases, four walks, 10 RBI and 11 runs in his last 16 games. His average has gone from .200 to .252 in that span.

Pena has been on a roll offensively, hitting safely in four straight games and six of seven. He's batting .423 (11 for 26) with one double, two home runs and seven RBI in his last seven games.

Porcello had been on a roll in his last four starts, but the poor outing Thursday raised his ERA to 6.28. It was also the first time in five starts that he struck out fewer than five batters. He next faces the Pirates at home Tuesday.

That said, Tigers skipper Jim Leyland backed the slumping Avila as the team's everyday catcher. They are not yet ready to annoint Brayan Pena into that role. 

"I don't want to indicate that Alex isn't our catcher," said Leyland. "He is our catcher."

Avila hasn't hit higher than .227 all season and his average hasn't been above .200 since April 11 except for one day. He's hitting just .155 since April 11 with two homers and eight RBI over 84 at-bats. Avila is hitting .053 against lefties but just .198 against righties. 

"I did this with Pudge (Rodriguez) toward the end," said Leyland. "I played him, then sat him out, played him, then sat him out. He didn't particularly like it, but it actually worked pretty good. I'm not saying I'm trying that with Alex, but I have to do something. We'll get through it together, but right now you have to go with your gut. There's no magic formula. I've talked to him, but if one nice conversation could solve all the problems, it would have been solved a while back. But I don't have the answer. The kid is struggling — and as the manager, you feel sorry for him. Trust me."

Valverde has thrown a full inning each of the last three days. Joaquin Benoit is expected to be first in line to close Friday.

Although Hunter's season line is still a sharp .313/.360/.412, he has been slumping for a bit over a month. His OPS peaked at 1.048 on April 19, and since then he's hitting just .252/.310/.304. The 37-year-old has had just two days off in that span, so maybe the Tigers hope another will give him a nice reboot heading into the weekend.

Cabrera's .391 batting average and .701 slugging percentage lead all major-league players, and his .467 on-base percentage ranks second to Joey Votto. He's been hitless just twice in his last 34 games. He's the early favorite for 2013 AL MVP.

Soon after the Tigers called up Valverde from his hurried minor-league tuneup in April, manager Jim Leyland said he wouldn't use him three days in a row, but apparently Valverde has received enough work that it won't be a problem.

True, the Tigers have already said Valverde won't pitch Friday, but few closers get to work four days in a row. At least now you don't have to worry about him missing save opportunities that most every other closer would likely get. Pitching for a competitive Tigers team, Valverde is looking more and more like a true No. 2 reliever in Fantasy.

It was Dotel's first session on the mound since being shut down after experiencing a setback last week. He hasn't pitched for the Tigers since April 19.

"I want it right," Tigers manager Jim Leyland told MLive.com. "We talked about that today: 'Get it right.' I don't want him to come back 85 percent and try to play and then do it again. Try to get it as close to 100 percent as you can. You might not get it to 100 percent. Who knows."

Jackson strained his left hamstring nearly two weeks ago and last week seemed to be on track to make it back when first eligible. He has .272/.333/.371 with two home runs and five stolen bases in 16 plate appearances this season.

Sanchez(5-4), struck out 12 in 130 pitches, his most of the year. He'll take a 2.38 ERA and 80:17 K:BB ratio into a start in Pittsburgh against the Pirates Wednesday.