Meet the Detroit Tigers' Spencer Turnbull, perhaps MLB's unluckiest starting pitcher

The first game on Thursday's MLB schedule is quite meaningless as the Seattle Mariners visit the Detroit Tigers with a 1:05 p.m. ET first pitch from Comerica Park. The Mariners are last in the AL West and will continue the longest playoff drought in baseball (last in 2001), while the Tigers have the worst record in the majors and could end up historically bad at home.

We are examining this game because of poor Tigers rookie Spencer Turnbull. The 26-year-old is having a nice season (he pitched 16.1 innings in 2018 but kept his rookie status) with a 3.68 ERA and opponents' batting average of .247. However, Turnbull is an ugly 3-10 because the offensively inept Tigers just don't score for him. Overall, the Tigers are 6-15 in his 21 outings.

Detroit has lost the past nine times Turnbull has taken the mound, scored a high of five runs in that stretch, been shut out four times and totaled two runs or fewer in seven of the nine. On the season, he gets just 2.67 runs of support, which is silly. Turnbull has never faced Seattle … or won a home game yet in his career in 12 outings (0-7, 4.74 ERA. That's funny. The Tigers have said they will limit his innings the rest of the season to help protect his health as Turnbull has made two trips to the injured list in 2019.

Seattle is expected to go with an opener on Thursday and then follow with left-hander and pseudo-starter Tommy Milone (1-7, 4.70). The veteran knows all about run support issues, getting just 2.81 per nine innings since July 1. His lone victory came way back on May 27 vs. Texas. Milone took a no-decision against Detroit on July 28, allowing two runs over five innings. Seattle actually won that game, its only victory in the past 10 times Milone has taken the mound. The M's are slight favorites on the MLB odds.