SEATTLE -- The red-hot Detroit Tigers finally cooled off Sunday, but they still come rolling into a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners with chests pushed forward.
Detroit (61-50) has won 10 of 12 games and each of its past four series heading into Seattle.
During the 10-2 run, the Tigers have won six one-run games. They have stormed to within two games of American League Central leader Cleveland and back into the thick of the AL wild-card race.
"We're playing really good baseball and guys know what we're capable of doing," Justin Upton told the Detroit Free Press after Sunday's 3-1 loss to the New York Mets. "We just gotta continue to do that."
Monday's game will feature a pitching rematch of the June 22 game that the Tigers won 5-1 at Comerica Park. Detroit's Michael Fulmer had a rough fifth inning in that game, leading to an early exit, and Seattle starter Hisashi Iwakuma took the loss.
Both Fulmer and Iwakuma are scheduled to be back on the mound Monday at Safeco Field.
Fulmer (9-2) has been a rock on the Tigers' staff this season. He had one four-start streak of starts without allowing a run.
Iwakuma (12-7) hasn't been nearly as dominant but has also had a pretty good stretch of success. He is 11-3 with a 3.77 ERA in his past 14 starts and is coming off one of his best starts of the season.
Iwakuma, a 35-year-old right-hander who signed with the Dodgers in the offseason but failed the team physical, has surprisingly been one of the few constants in the Mariners' rotation this season. Seattle has already used 11 starting pitchers, and the Mariners took another hit Sunday when emerging left-hander James Paxton took a liner off his left elbow. X-rays showed that he suffered nothing more than a bruise, but Paxton's next start could be in jeopardy.
"We're starting to see him emerge before our eyes," Seattle manager Scott Servais said. "That's why I'm really, really hoping that he's OK."
The Mariners (57-53) have been on a pretty good run of their own lately. They're coming off a three-game sweep of the Angels and have moved into second place in the American League West, seven games behind Texas. Once left for dead in the postseason race, Seattle has managed to pull within 3 1/2 games of a wild-card spot.
The Mariners have won five of six games and could make an even bigger push as they're staring at a stretch of 18 consecutive games against non-contenders after the Detroit series.
But first they'll have to get through a Tigers team that's playing its best baseball of the season. Detroit is hitting .288 as a team through the first week of August, second only to Minnesota among AL teams.
All three games in the series will be played at night. It will wrap up a 10-game homestand for the Mariners, who travel to Oakland next weekend.
