2009 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS

Porcello wins lucky 13 to end Tigers' skid
Detroit's offense comes alive after recent struggles

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/13/09 3:49 PM ET
updated: 09/13/09 6:21 PM ET

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DETROIT -- The first meeting between Rick Porcello and Ricky Romero back in April was a historic debut. The second meeting Sunday was a milepost that ended up being historic.

Right now, Porcello looks like a different pitcher, not only compared with Romero, but compared with himself.

"In some ways, I think he's pretty sharp. I think he's pretty smart," manager Jim Leyland said of his 20-year-old starter after his six quality innings helped the Tigers end a five-game losing streak with a 7-2 win over the Blue Jays on Sunday at Comerica Park.

"I think he's sharp," Leyland said. "And I think he's trying to tell us, 'Stop the babying. I'm OK.' In his own way, I think he's telling us."

"His own way" Sunday amounted to a fastball that topped out at 96 mph, a slider that has supplanted his curveball as his breaking pitch of choice, and eight straight Blue Jays retired to start the game. On a day when Porcello allowed more fly balls than ground balls, usually a quick demise for a sinkerball pitcher, the American League Rookie of the Year Award candidate did much more than get by.

After looking like a kid running out of gas six weeks ago, Porcello (13-8) has become a power pitcher. With three wins in his past four starts, he also became the first Major League pitcher since Dwight Gooden in 1985 to win 13 games in a season before turning 21.

That won't stop the Tigers from keeping a close eye on Porcello, but the fact that Leyland let him pitch past the 100-pitch mark in mid-September says quite a bit. The club believes he's growing up.

"He's got that swagger going," catcher Gerald Laird said. "He knows he belongs now. He's had success. He just tries to get better with every outing."

To describe how different a pitcher Porcello is now from the kid who took the mound at Rogers Centre five months ago, requires more than just a look at one game. Everything from curveballs that hung in the strike zone for home runs, to sinkers that batters sat on for base hits, to that well-noted fracas at Fenway Park last month, all have had an impact on him.

In many ways, he's still the same quiet kid from New Jersey who sometimes tries to be seen more than heard. But his pitching presence is hard to ignore. Now, so is his power fastball.

That progression shows in the stats. Since the start of August, Porcello is 4-1 with a 3.40 ERA in nine starts, scattering 39 hits over 50 1/3 innings. His past two outings have seen more fly balls than ground balls, usually a sure sign of trouble for a sinkerball pitcher, but now a sign that hitters are struggling to adjust to his new look.

The Blue Jays hit six home runs over the first two games of this series, but managed only one extra-base hit off Porcello, an Edwin Encarnacion RBI double for Toronto's first run of the game in the fifth.

"There's been a lot of ups and downs this year, a lot of stuff that I've learned," Porcello said. "There's been some setbacks, too. I think the biggest thing is I've been trying to use my four-seamer more. At times, I think I can overpower guys with my four-seamer. Earlier in the year, I felt like all I had was the sinker. That's a big advantage for me.

"Whether it's overpowering or not, it gives them a different look to get them off my sinker, so that I can go back to it when I needed to. There were a couple at-bats today where I knew guys were definitely trying to sit on my sinker. I was trying to pound them away with four-seamers, and we were able to get a couple of pretty big hitters out. I think that's one of the bigger improvements I've made throughout the year."

Part of the credit comes from sharing observations with Laird, who has caught him for 20 of his 27 starts.

"This game's about adjustments," Laird said, "and Ricky's making adjustments. It's on me to see what guys are looking for. Up there, they were just taking four-seamers all game, looking for that sinker. I think it was one of those things that they hadn't seen him all year, except for that first time. I'm sure the scouting reports say sinker, and he's really developed that four-seamer."

That first meeting pitted Porcello against Romero in the first meeting of two former first-round Draft picks making their Major League debuts on the mound. Porcello lost that matchup with a go-ahead homer from Adam Lind on a hanging offspeed pitch.

Detroit's offense had been limited by left-handers Brian Tallet and Lenny DiNardo earlier in the week, but the Tigers' bats awakened to pound out 10 hits in six innings against Romero (12-8). Two of those were RBI singles from Laird in the second and third. Two more came from Miguel Cabrera and Brandon Inge, driving in two more runs in the third. Three runs in the eighth off Josh Roenicke put the game away.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers force extras, walk off on error
Huff hits pinch-hit homer in ninth; Inge scores on 'E' in 10th

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/14/09 10:18 PM ET
updated: 09/14/09 11:32 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Aubrey Huff is still getting used to the idea of stepping off the bench and up to the plate as a pinch-hitter in key situations. For that matter, he's still getting used to the feeling of key situations in September.

All he did leading into his game-tying three-run homer Monday night was get loose, rather than overanalyzing the situation with matchups. He took one big swing, went back into the Tigers' clubhouse, then watched on TV as Marco Scutaro's second error of the night sent Brandon Inge home to complete Detroit's comeback in the 10th inning with a 6-5 win over Toronto.

The win reduced the Tigers' magic number to 14. It could've dropped more, but a similar Twins rally against the Indians kept Detroit's lead at 5 1/2 games in the American League Central.

It was a short night for Huff, but a pretty fruitful one. Out of his 203 Major League homers, this one was the biggest.

"I've hit a lot of home runs in my career, and that one felt like that was my first big league home run," Huff said, a twinge of awe in his voice. "Every win means so much. I've never been on a team where every game means so much. It's just a great time.

"Everybody that's been in the postseason has always told me, 'Wait until you get in that stretch run. You'll see how much fun it is.' And man, I get it now."

Huff has never been on a team in a playoff chase like this down the stretch, let alone a team that actually reached the postseason. He had never had a chance to feel that kind of energy as he stepped to the plate with a chance to tie the game, then round the bases with the crowd at Comerica Park roaring through the rain.

But then, the way this game unfolded for 8 1/2 innings, he seemed unlikely to get a chance to feel it on this night, either.

All five Jays runs came in a sixth-inning rally against Tigers starter Justin Verlander, whose quest for his 17th victory suddenly fell apart. Five straight Blue Jays reached base safely before Verlander got his first out of the inning by picking off Vernon Wells at first base. By then, Adam Lind's three-run homer had powered Toronto ahead. Edwin Encarnacion's two-out solo shot added an insurance run.

Verlander, Fu-Te Ni and Jeremy Bonderman combined to retire eight straight Blue Jays to give Detroit a shot. Once Scutaro booted Curtis Granderson's ground ball for a leadoff error in the ninth, and Alex Avila singled through the right side of the infield, Huff got the chance.

He'd been sitting for nearly three hours. Now he had to stand up in a critical situation. Asked how he prepares himself for it, he shrugged.

"I'm learning that myself, man," Huff said. "I've never been in this role."

He made the adjustment Sunday to not prepare quite as early, and he turned out an eighth-inning double. So he tried the same thing the next night, and he was ready to pounce when Jason Frasor left a 2-0 fastball over the middle of the plate.

"I wanted to call it," said Verlander, who was in the clubhouse watching from the video room, "but I didn't want to jinx him."

Considering how rough of a start Huff had upon coming over from Baltimore four weeks ago, he could be excused for taking a moment and watching that ball fly out. Once he started rounding the bases, he said, he didn't remember anything until he got back in the dugout.

He was back in the clubhouse when the game-ending rally unfolded. After Ryan Perry and Bobby Seay (6-3) combined to retire the Blue Jays in the top of the 10th, back-to-back one-out walks from Brian Wolfe (1-2) to Inge and Granderson sent up Avila, who hit a grounder to the right side.

Lyle Overbay fired to second, hoping to start an inning-ending double play, but the ball hit off the tip of Scutaro's glove. Inge, who slowed up at third, took off for the plate and scored without a throw.

Scutaro, who entered the night with eight errors in 138 games this year, committed two in a matter of minutes in his 139th.

"I'm sure the ball was a little wet," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland, trying to provide some reason. "We might've caught a break. We did catch a break."

Never has Huff been in a position where the breaks are so big, whether it's the ones they receive or the ones they make.

"It wasn't pretty tonight," Verlander said, "but it was darn exciting."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Posted: 4:03 p.m. Sept. 15, 2009 | Updated: 10:24 p.m. today
K.C. 11, DETROIT 1
Tigers royally pounded

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The Royals accumulated 10 hits, eight for extra bases, as the Detroit Tigers lost to Kansas City, 11-1, tonight at Comerica Park.

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After recording the first out of the game, Tigers starter Jarrod Washburn (9-9) could only pitch one inning. He gave up a double to Willie Bloomquist and consecutive walks to Billy Butler and Miguel Olivo to load the bases. Bloomquist scored on a passed ball and Alberto Callaspo homered to make it 4-0.

On the other hand, Royals starter Robinson Tejada (3-1) went five innings, giving up a run on two hits and four walks while striking out five.

Washburn (one inning, four earned runs, three hits, two walks, two strikeouts) was relieved by Zach Miner in the second inning. Washburn, who has been hampered by a sore left knee, is 1-3 with a 7.33 ERA in eight starts since being acquired from Seattle on July 31.

Miner pitched two perfect innings and was replaced by Casey Fien in the fourth. With one out in that inning, Jack Buck hit a ground-rule double and Alex Gordon walked, followed by a David DeJesus three-run shot to right.

In the fifth, the Royals added another run with a Olivo triple and Callaspo sacrifice fly to center.

With two outs in the fifth, Adam Everett and Curtis Granderson walked and Carlos Guillen's single scored Everett. Then, Magglio Ordoñez reached on an error by third baseman Alex Gordon to load the bases, but Miguel Cabrera struck out to end the threat.

Jeremy Bonderman came on in relief in the seventh but gave up a triple (Bloomquist), walk (Butler) and a three-run home run to Olivo.

Callaspo finished with four hits and DeJesus and Olivo each had three. No Tiger had more than one.

The last-place Royals have beaten the AL Central-leading Tigers five straight times, four in the last eight days.

Ordoñez triggered his $18 million option for 2010 with a fifth-inning groundout. The at-bat was his 1,080th plate appearance since the start of the 2008 season — the number he needed to automatically activate the sixth year of his contract.

The game drew 20,422 fans, the smallest crowd at Comerica Park since 20,212 saw the Tigers play the White Sox on April 15.

Play was delayed briefly in the top of the seventh when a shirtless fan ran onto the field. He was tackled by security in left-center.

Setback to KC leaves Tigers with issues
Washburn's status adds to Detroit's rotation questions

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/16/09 12:59 AM ET

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DETROIT -- File Jarrod Washburn's rotation spot under TBA -- To Be Announced -- for now.

File the American League Central race back under TBD: To Be Determined.

Games like Tuesday are why Tigers manager Jim Leyland likes to repeat his favorite phrase whenever he's asked about momentum. Sure enough, after the 11-1 loss to the Royals, he said it again.

"There's no momentum in baseball," Leyland said. "It's all about your next day's pitcher."

Right now, simply figuring out the next few days' pitchers is becoming a challenge. After Washburn's latest setback, who'll start Sunday for Detroit is a giant question mark.

Where the Tigers will stand in this division race when they get to Sunday's series finale at Minnesota is another question.

Even as the Tigers managed to maintain their somewhat comfortable lead in recent days despite their struggles, Leyland predicted the race would go down to the wire, possibly the final day. Tuesday's Detroit loss coincided with a Minnesota win over Cleveland, whittling the gap between first and second place back to 4 1/2 games for the first time since Sept. 2.

That gap becomes crucial heading into this weekend's three-game series at the Metrodome against the Twins, who might yet be able to overcome the season-ending loss of slugger Justin Morneau. With AL Cy Young Award candidate Zack Greinke pitching Thursday for the Royals against the Tigers, Wednesday's game becomes all the more important, and Detroit is counting on Eddie Bonine to provide a boost.

Bonine took over for injured lefty Nate Robertson, who took over for injured righty Armando Galarraga. Now Washburn's left knee problems after his four-run first inning Tuesday could force the Tigers to at least consider starting Robertson again in his spot.

Meanwhile, though Zach Miner pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Washburn, Leyland had to hold him back so he could be available for the next couple days rather than keep him going. Four more runs off Casey Fien, three on a David DeJesus homer, essentially put the game out of reach.

"We're dealing with ifs and buts instead of candy and nuts," Leyland said.

Washburn (9-9) was questionable for this start until a couple days ago while he underwent more tests on his knee, which has been bothering him for most of the year and which prompted the Tigers to skip him for a turn through the rotation a couple weeks ago. He took a no-decision to the Royals five days ago at Kansas City, but they hit him hard this time with a three-run homer from Alberto Callaspo.

Callaspo's 10th home run of the year made him the last of four straight Royals to reach base safely. Willie Bloomquist doubled with one out in the inning before back-to-back walks to Billy Butler and Miguel Olivo loaded the bases.

Washburn put Callaspo in an 0-2 count but then threw a fastball well off the outside corner that glanced off Alex Avila's glove and rolled toward the backstop. Avila's throw came too late to nab Bloomquist, whose slide toppled Washburn covering home plate.

Washburn's knee wasn't feeling good before then, and that didn't help.

"Obviously Jarrod wasn't feeling real good," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "It was good to see us jump on him in the first inning and take advantage of him not being able to locate very good."

Washburn fell to 1-3 with a 7.33 ERA in eight starts since joining the Tigers via trade from Seattle on July 31. Depending on his knee, that might be how his Tigers tenure ends.

"Right now, I have no guess," Washburn said when asked if he thought he'd pitch again this season. "I don't know why they'd want me to pitch, pitching the way I have. I know I can pitch to a high level if I'm healthy and the knee doesn't hurt. I guess if a miracle happens and we can get the pain out of the knee, or make it at a significantly lower level, then I know I can pitch and get guys out."

As it was, the Tigers couldn't recover Tuesday. Handed a big lead early, Robinson Tejeda (3-1) cruised to his second victory over Detroit in seven days with five innings of two-hit ball over 102 pitches. Carlos Guillen's fifth-inning RBI single accounted for the Tigers' lone run off him.

It wasn't the same dominant performance Tejeda put on last Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium, but it was pretty close. His five strikeouts included a swing and a miss from Miguel Cabrera with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth, two batters after Guillen's single.

"He's got really good stuff," Leyland said. "I didn't think he was as good tonight as he was [in Kansas City], but he's got really good stuff. I thought we actually put a few good swings. We didn't get much out of it, but we put some better swings on."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers rally for victory on Ernie's night
Win keeps Detroit 4 1/2 games ahead of Twins

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/16/09 10:07 PM ET
UPDATED: 09/17/09 1:34 AM ET

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DETROIT -- Eddie Bonine was willing to wait. Ernie Harwell could take all the time he wanted to thank fans at Comerica Park. The Royals weren't going anywhere.

As the Hall of Fame broadcaster spoke to fans at Comerica Park midway through the third inning, Bonine stood with his teammates outside the dugout and listened. He had listened as Harwell talked to the team before the game, then had to gather himself. It hit particularly close to home.

He wasn't the only one.

"What a tremendous man he is," said shortstop Adam Everett, whose game-tying single set up Placido Polanco's sixth-inning go-ahead single in a 4-3 win over the Royals on Wednesday night at Comerica Park.

"If you can ever say you win one for somebody, you'd like to say you win it for Ernie."

The win kept the Tigers 4 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Twins in the American League Central. They'll have a chance to gain another half-game on the idle Twins on Thursday if they can find a way to beat Cy Young-award candidate Zack Greinke in the series finale, a huge advantage if they can get it heading into a critical weekend clash at Minnesota.

Yet in the midst of a playoff chase, the celebration was at least a little subdued. After a day like this, the Tigers seemed a bit emotionally drained.

That especially went for Bonine.

"It hit me a little bit," he admitted.

Like many of his teammates, Bonine had never met Harwell, didn't know him well. But after hearing manager Jim Leyland talk about him, then to hear Harwell talk before the game, the situation felt familiar.

Bonine lost his mother in June after she was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer last fall. He had the opportunity to bring her from their Arizona home to Seattle to watch him pitch against the Mariners and spend a weekend in Seattle. He went back home at the start of June to be with her in her final days, then had the challenge of getting back to pitching.

So as he heard Harwell's message, it resonated.

"He's just so positive," Bonine said. "He's such a positive guy. Still, you know, the fact is it's incurable."

It brought back some emotions on a night when his mother would've been proud. Here he was in arguably the biggest outing of his Major League career, not to mention two more starts coming up to try to help the Tigers hold onto their division lead.

He missed more than three weeks of the season. He could easily give Harwell a few minutes.

"We could've had an hour-and-a-half delay if that's what he needed to say what he wants," Bonine said.

Bonine's start, even with no decision, was big. One night after the Royals pounced on an injured, ineffective Jarrod Washburn for a four-run first inning, Bonine mixed a knuckleball with breaking pitches and a 90-mph fastball to keep the Royals off-balance. Their third-inning run came without a ball in the air, and their first fly ball of the night was a fourth-inning sacrifice fly to build a 3-0 lead.

For the most part, Bonine kept the ball on the ground and let his defense do the work.

"He hadn't been out there for a while," Leyland said, "and I thought he did a good job. He threw a few knuckleballs that were pretty good."

Leyland had made the decision to put Bonine in the rotation because he knew he was healthy. But he also did it knowing that if Bonine could keep them close, he could turn to his bullpen in the late innings.

"That's what we're hoping for," Leyland said.

Detroit's relievers delivered, including Brandon Lyon to hold the lead after David DeJesus reached third base as the potential tying run with nobody out in the eighth and the middle of Kansas City's order coming up.

Lyon jammed Billy Butler into a comebacker for the first out, but it was his second out to remove the sacrifice fly opportunity that impressed most. He and catcher Gerald Laird set up lefty slugger Mike Jacobs with cutters inside before firing a 95-mph fastball off the outside corner that sent Jacobs flailing.

"What Lyon did," Leyland said, "was unbelievable."

Once Alberto Callaspo fouled out to first base, the Tigers brought their lead to closer Fernando Rodney for his 33rd save.

It was their first win in their last six tries over Kansas City after the Royals swept them at Kauffman Stadium last week and took Tuesday's series opener here. Yet even in this big of a win, it was a more subdued night.

"Obviously, he's an amazing person," Bonine said of Harwell, "and I'm sure it touched every guy in this clubhouse and all the fans that were there."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Loss shrinks Tigers' division lead to four
Jackson struggles early as Greinke K's eight Detroit hitters

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/17/09 4:19 PM ET
updated: 09/17/09 7:25 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Edwin Jackson built his breakout season on the combination of a power fastball and a nasty, biting slider. He rode that duo all the way to the All-Star Game, and he won several low-scoring games doing it. As the 2009 season wraps up, those scores are rising, as maybe are Jackson's sliders.

It wasn't long ago this summer that Jackson was on Zack Greinke's heels among the American League ERA leaders. Their anticipated pitching duel in Thursday's series finale between the Tigers and Royals never quite materialized, but damage to Jackson's pitching line did in a hurry, sending Detroit on its way to a 9-2 loss Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park.

The loss not only sent the Tigers to a series defeat, but it also dropped their lead in the American League Central to four games against the idle Twins, who await the division leaders at the Metrodome for a three-game showdown starting Friday night.

A look beyond the standings, meanwhile, shows Detroit has now allowed as many runs as it has scored this season. No other team with a .500 record or better has a zero run differential. It generally means the Tigers have won a lot of close games and lost more than a few by large margins.

Thursday's game fell into the latter category thanks to Alberto Callaspo's two-run double in the first inning and Miguel Olivo's three-run homer in the third. Both came against Jackson (12-7), who recovered to retire the final eight batters he faced to get through five innings.

Jackson won't pitch this weekend against Minnesota, but he's slated to start Tuesday's series opener at Cleveland. It's likely Detroit will work on his mix of pitches between now and then.

"It seems like he's pitched quite a few games without all his ammunition," Leyland said. "He hasn't had his breaking stuff on any consistent basis for quite a while."

Asked how long he felt Jackson had been pitching like that, Leyland pointed to Jackson's stats since the All-Star break, including a 5-3 record, 4.79 ERA and .357 on-base percentage allowed.

A targeted split, however, might be his past five starts. Jackson has allowed 21 earned runs on 37 hits over 31 1/3 innings in that span, and his ERA has risen a half-run from 2.86 on Aug. 21 to 3.37 now.

Both run-scoring hits off Jackson came on fastballs, but they were the only big hits he allowed all day. Both came with runners on base thanks to smaller plays ahead of them.

Jackson may have had the side retired in the opening frame, but a ground ball he got on a slider to Billy Butler turned into a fielder's choice and no outs, when Ramon Santiago tried to flip to second to force out Willie Bloomquist instead of throwing out Butler at first. Two batters after Bloomquist beat the throw, Callaspo got a 94 mph fastball up and drove it to left-center.

Butler's leadoff single to center on a 95 mph fastball was the catalyst behind the third-inning rally. Jackson fell behind on back-to-back sliders and lost Callaspo to fastballs on a four-pitch walk that put runners at first and second for Olivo, who got a 94 mph fastball over the plate and drove it 422 feet to straightaway center for his 21st home run of the year.

"Some of those hits they got were E.J. missing on some good pitches," catcher Alex Avila said. "Some bloops here, and a walk, and then they were able to get a big hit. It was a frustrating day."

Jackson told reporters afterward that he felt healthy, that he might've been rushing his mechanics and losing command on his sliders. Others wondered whether he was losing confidence in his secondary pitches or simply overthrowing.

"He doesn't have a good feel for it right now, for whatever reason," Leyland said, "so he probably doesn't have the confidence. But for the first half, the slider was devastating. It hasn't been there on a consistent basis the second half for whatever reason. I don't know."

The resulting run support was plenty for Greinke (14-8), who struck out five of the first seven Tigers he faced, three of them on called third strikes, on his way to eight strikeouts from the 19 batters he faced. He scattered three singles and two walks, but Curtis Granderson was the lone Tiger to reach scoring position. That opportunity vanished when Greinke retired Carlos Guillen for an inning-ending groundout.

Once former Tiger Josh Anderson essentially put the game away with a three-run homer off Armando Galarraga in the seventh, the Tigers went to their reserves. From there, they hit the road.

"When you're replacing guys, your regulars, in the sixth or seventh inning in two out of three games, that's usually not a good sign," Leyland said.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Sliding Tigers lose game in standings
Porcello outdueled by Duensing; lead now three games

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/18/09 10:50 PM ET
updated: 09/19/09 12:48 AM ET

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MINNEAPOLIS -- The situation had to feel familiar. There stood Aubrey Huff at the plate in the ninth inning, pinch-hitting as the potential tying run with two on in the midst of a Tigers rally. This time, however, it was against the Twins, and against Joe Nathan.

The result was different than Monday night, but an all-too-familiar fate for the Tigers in the Metrodome. Instead of a game-tying homer, Huff was jammed into a lineout back to Nathan, finishing off a 3-0 shutout loss to Minnesota.

The Twins took advantage of a mistake pitch, a Rick Porcello sinker that didn't sink as Michael Cuddyer drove it to left for a two-run home in the fourth. The Tigers didn't get the hits they needed, whether it was Curtis Granderson's blooper in short left field that Orlando Cabrera caught backpedaling, or Magglio Ordonez's drive just shy of the right-field baggie in the sixth, or Huff's liner for the final out.

"I think we played pretty good," said Brandon Inge, whose walk started the two-out rally in the ninth. "We didn't give anything away. They scored runs and we didn't."

Against Twins starter Brian Duensing, the Tigers didn't get many hits at all. Their continued struggles with left-handed pitching continued their slide closer to Minnesota in the American League Central.

Detroit's sixth loss in seven games at the Metrodome this year whittled its division lead to three games, the smallest margin since Aug. 23. The Tigers have lost 2 1/2 games off their lead in the past four days, and they've allowed more runs on the season than they've scored, 713-710.

"I don't think we played bad," manager Jim Leyland said. "We didn't hit. We haven't hit a lot this year, really, to be honest with you. But it's time for the stars to shine. That's the way it is, really, down the stretch.

"You expect the guys to step up. It's going to take everybody contributing. It's not going to be one or two guys. And for the most part, you expect your big guys to step it up."

Porcello certainly gave Detroit an opportunity to make one or two big hits count. As a 20-year-old rookie on the big stage of a playoff chase in front of a hostile crowd, he certainly didn't look intimidated by the situation. Nor did he look tired at all by the workload of a full season on a kid who hadn't pitched above Class A ball before this year.

He continues to defy expectations around baseball while fulfilling hopes in Detroit. He defied the expectations of Twins hitters by using more sinkers and fewer four-seam fastballs early, contrary to the pattern that worked so well for him the past few starts.

A Joe Mauer walk and a Delmon Young infield single comprised all the damage Porcello allowed through three innings until Jason Kubel lined a one-out single in the fourth. Up came Cuddyer, whom Porcello tried to bury with a sinker.

"Every sinker we threw down and in tonight, [Cuddyer] swung on top of it," catcher Gerald Laird said. "The one we threw up, he hit. That's basically it. We left the sinker up to him, and he made us pay."

Cuddyer drove it into the left-field seats for his 27th home run of the year. Four of them have come against the Tigers, more than noted Tigers nemeses Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau or Joe Crede. With Morneau out for the season, Cuddyer is batting 9-for-20 with three homers and 10 RBIs since taking over at first base.

That shouldn't have meant the difference against Duensing, but it did.

"Cuddy hit the home run and I think we all got pumped up," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Both guys were throwing the ball well, but you never know. Floodgates can open at any time. They've got a lineup that throws up big numbers all the time. You never know what's going to happen. Those first runs were very important. Like I said, a good performance."

The Tigers managed no big numbers on this night. Duensing (4-1), making his first career start against Detroit, retired 12 of the first 13 hitters he faced, the exception being a third-inning single from Granderson. Not only did Duensing walk only one batter, he reached just two three-ball counts.

Granderson nearly got Duensing again with a blooper to shallow left field in with a runner on third in the fifth, but Cabrera recovered from a misstep to make the catch. Likewise, neither Adam Everett nor Ryan Raburn -- the Tigers' leaders in RBIs against left-handed pitchers -- could drive in a key run with Granderson on second base in the third.

"Duensing's a pitcher," Leyland said. "He moves the ball in and out. He changes speeds. He flops the curve over for strikes. Throws the changeup over for strikes. No, don't take anything away from him. He pitched very, very well.

"I tip my hat to him. [It was] a combination of that and us not swinging very good. He was excellent."

While tipping their hats, the Tigers now have to look over their shoulders a little more.
Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Ball lost in roof helps narrow Tigers' lead
Detroit misses early chances; Twins get within two games

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/19/09 9:59 PM ET

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MINNEAPOLIS -- Sometimes, teams make their own breaks. Other times, they drive in the runs to ensure that bad breaks don't become critical ones.

When Tigers left fielder Don Kelly lost Orlando Cabrera's eighth-inning fly ball, the ensuing five-run rally became another chapter in the story of the Tigers' troubles here, and another reason why Justin Verlander and some others might like to personally help the Twins move to Target Field this winter.

But the gray roof of the Metrodome can't hide the fact that Detroit turned 12 hits into just two runs in its 6-2 loss to Minnesota. The Tigers had almost twice the Twins' hit total heading into that fateful eighth, but a one-run lead held up to that point almost entirely because of Justin Verlander. Eleven hits came off Carl Pavano, who finally didn't beat Detroit but put his team in a position to do so once he left.

"That's just tough to swallow," catcher Gerald Laird said. "Verlander pitched a Verlander-type game."

Sometimes, teams make their own breaks. And sometimes, teams set themselves up for bad ones.

"That happens," manager Jim Leyland said. "But that had nothing to do with the fact that we didn't score more runs. We should've scored a bunch of runs. We didn't do it."

Joe Mauer's first-inning home run was Minnesota's lone tally for the first seven innings off Verlander, who allowed four leadoff singles but ensured none of them scored. Two of them were stranded, while Laird threw out the other two, including pinch-running speedster Carlos Gomez in the seventh.

Like in so many other outings, Verlander's fastball kept picking up speed as the game went on. He used 97-mph heaters to fan Brian Buscher in the second inning and Delmon Young in the fourth, then hit 99 repeatedly to get a groundout from Mauer in the sixth.

In the eighth, with Denard Span on first base, Verlander fell behind on Cabrera, but recovered to bring the count full before Cabrera hit a high fly ball to left. Kelly looked like he had camped under the ball but lost the path. In reality, he never quite had it.

"It went up, it went through the lights and I lost it," said Kelly, who started two games in left field here in July, including a day game.

By the time he found it, it was too late. He made enough of a diving attempt that the ball nicked off his glove.

Cabrera ended up on second base and Span on third. After Verlander (16-9) intentionally walked Mauer, both Cabrera and Span scored when Jason Kubel fought off a 100-mph fastball on Verlander's 127th and final pitch for a broken-bat blooper just out of Kelly's reach in shallow left field.

Michael Cuddyer greeted Brandon Lyon with a drive to left-center for his 28th homer of 2009 and his second in as many games this series.

Add one key hit from the Tigers earlier -- replacing Laird's bases-loaded double play to end the fifth inning, or Curtis Granderson's fly out with two runners in scoring position in the second, or Carlos Guillen's strikeout to strand runners at the corners in the fourth -- and Cabrera's ball puts the potential tying run at bat instead of the winning run on second.

That, as much as Kelly's miss of the Cabrera drive, is what haunted Detroit afterward. Of all the Tigers' struggles against Pavano this year, this might've been the most frustrating.

"I had 11 baserunners in the first five innings," Pavano pointed out. "Bases loaded, double play [in the fifth]. I mean, I don't think I've been particularly dominant against them. I've just made pitches when I needed to, and that's the name of our job as a starting pitcher."

None of the 11 hits against Pavano went for extra bases. Placido Polanco and Miguel Cabrera had six of them, with Polanco scoring both Detroit runs.

"I'm not sure exactly what it is," Granderson said. "He's pitched well. He throws strikes. When he gets himself into jams, he gets himself out of [them]."

Pavano's no-decision leaves former Twins pitcher Joe Mays as the last hurler to pick up five wins against Detroit in a season, and one of just three starters to do so since 1954, according to baseball-reference.com. Still, Pavano -- 4-0 with a 1.91 ERA against the Tigers this year -- will likely have one chance to join that company. He's on track to face them again when Minnesota visit Comerica Park in the final week of the regular season.

The Tigers won't have to deal with a roof there, but they'll still have to produce some runs. Sometimes, teams make their own breaks.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers push lead back to three
Robertson delivers five solid innings in series finale

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/20/09 5:25 PM ET
UPDATED: 09/20/09 7:45 PM ET

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MINNEAPOLIS -- Tigers left-hander Nate Robertson wanted a ball from this one. He wanted a ball with the Metrodome stamp on it.

"I hate the place," Robertson said Sunday. "It's nice to get that last win here."

Considering all he has experienced in the Metrodome over the years, it was hard to blame him. Add in all he has experienced this season overall, from Spring Training to this point, and he could use something from Sunday's 6-2 Detroit win over Minnesota. The Tigers certainly took a lot out of it.

If this is the Tigers' final game at the Metrodome -- and they're really hoping they win the American League Central without coming back for a one-game playoff in a couple weeks -- they couldn't have asked for much more from a single game. A day after the ballpark came into play in a Twins rally, Robertson took the dome and its crowd out of it three different times over five solid innings.

Three Minnesota innings ended with Robertson strikeouts, all three times stranding runners on base. The last of them, a called third strike on Jason Kubel with Michael Cuddyer looming on deck, allowed Robertson to walk off the field one last time in line for a victory.

He has walked off this mound in mid-inning in rough outings. To walk off this way was rewarding.

"The Twins, when they sniff a sweep, they typically get it here," Robertson said. "It's a tough environment against a team that's right behind you, and you win it. You grind it. I mean, I didn't get deep into the game, but I fought my tail off, and that's what I'm most happy with. I went out and competed."

Proving manager Jim Leyland's belief that momentum is only as good as the next day's starting pitcher, Robertson was Detroit's momentum. His solid start and Placido Polanco's three RBIs helped restore the Tigers' lead over the second-place Twins in the American League Central to three games, just one less than when they started the three-game series.

It wasn't as much as Detroit would've liked, but it wasn't the worst-case scenario. As much as every Tigers player and staffer from Leyland on down declares every game big down the stretch, they weren't mixing this in with all the others.

"This is a big win," said reliever Zach Miner, who followed Robertson with two scoreless innings while Detroit pulled away. "We couldn't come in here and get swept. If that happened, that would've been really bad."

That would've left the Tigers' lead at one game. Instead, with three games up and 13 games left to play, they still have command. Four of those games are against Minnesota again, but they'll be at Comerica Park, where Detroit doesn't have to worry about the ballpark.

"If we don't take care of business," Miner said, "they're going to get another opportunity to catch us. We have to go out and win some games."

Earlier in the week, Leyland had joked about the strange ways in which the baseball gods work, putting Robertson back in the rotation in a key spot after being knocked out with injury a week earlier. Proving his stuff in potentially his most important performance since the 2006 postseason, Robertson took out the factors that had worked so well in Minnesota's favor.

Denard Span, who has taken apart Tigers pitching all year, didn't put the ball in play all afternoon. He struck out four times, including half of Robertson's six strikeouts on the day. Cuddyer, who hit three-run homers in each of the series' first two games, left runners on base twice.

Robertson (2-2) had his slider biting again after losing it last week, and he took advantage once he got ahead in counts. Cuddyer went down swinging at one to end the opening inning with a runner in scoring position and one run in.

"Robertson's got great stuff," Cuddyer said. "He always has. He had a good sinker, had a good slider, changeup. He didn't miss a lot over the plate too much and hit his spots."

After a single and a walk put two more runners on in the second, Robertson was seemingly in trouble, having fallen behind on a 3-0 count to Span. Robertson got out of it by putting three straight fastballs past him, the final two on the inside corner as Span swung and missed.

"You know what? That was the biggest thing today," catcher Gerald Laird said. "Nate just totally pitched him good today. [Span's] kind of like their pulse."

Said Robertson: "I was surprised to see, even in getting him out, it wasn't the ground ball or putting the bat in ball. Striking him out is not an easy thing to do. That just says that maybe my ball was moving pretty good in there."

Polanco finally gave Robertson a lead with which to work with his two-run single in the fifth before Magglio Ordonez drove him in with his 103rd career hit at the Metrodome to chase Twins starter Scott Baker (13-9).

Once Robertson got ahead, he faced one more conflict in the bottom of the fifth after a one-out walk to Orlando Cabrera put a runner on for the middle of the order. Robertson put Mauer in an 0-2 hole before he flew out to left. Once Robertson put Kubel in a 1-2 count, he spotted a 90-mph fastball on the outside corner.

With that, Robertson let out a yell on his way off the mound. With all his work here, he could be excused for it.

"He rose to the occasion today," Leyland said. "There's no question about it."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Posted: 3:49 p.m. Sept. 22, 2009 | Updated: 10:10 p.m. today
DETROIT 3, CLEVELAND 1
Jackson, Tigers top Tribe; magic number now at 10

FREE PRESS STAFF REPORTS

Edwin Jackson pitched seven scoreless innings and the Tigers got just enough offense to beat the Indians, 3-1, tonight in Cleveland.

SEE THE BOX SCORE HERE.

Detroit's magic number to win the AL Central is now 10.

Leading 1-0 in the eighth, the Tigers tacked on two more. Placido Polanco and Magglio Ordoñez led off the inning with walks, followed by a Miguel Cabrera doubled to left to score Polanco. Clete Thomas, pinch-running for Ordoñez, scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Marcus Thames.

Jackson (13-7) held the Indians scoreless on seven hits and three walks while striking out two.

The Indians scored in the bottom of the eighth against the Tigers bullpen. With Bobby Seay on the mound and one out, Asdrubel Cabrera and Shin Soo Choo singled. Brandon Lyon then entered the game and after getting Jhonny Peralta to fly out, he walked Travis Hafner and pinch-hitter Jamey Carroll to score a run.

In the third inning, after throwing out a runner at home in the previous half inning, Raburn hit a solo home run to right-center with one out.

Aaron Laffey (7-7) went 6 2/3 innings, yielding an earned run on seven hits and three walks. Chris Perez pitched an inning, giving up two earned runs.

Ordoñez had three hits, raising his average to .295. Raburn had two hits.

Pitching probables for next week's Twins series

Monday night: RH Rick Porcello vs. RH Nick Blackburn
Tuesday night: RH Justin Verlander vs. LH Brian Duensing
Wednesday night: LH Nate Robertson vs. RH Carl Pavano
Thursday afternoon: RH Eddie Bonine vs. RH Scott Baker

Tigers' bats preserve Jackson's gem
Detroit leads Twins by 2 1/2 games; Magic number at 10

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/22/09 10:00 PM ET
UPDATED: 09/23/09 12:25 AM ET

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CLEVELAND -- If Indians hitters were supposed to know what was coming from Edwin Jackson, they didn't. The result, however, had to feel familiar.

For the second time this year, Jackson used seven scoreless innings to pull the Tigers through a low-scoring game at Progressive Field. Tuesday's 3-1 win over Cleveland, however, meant more than the performance he put on in early May.

With another low-scoring win, their 30th of the year when scoring four runs or less, the Tigers held up their part of the American League Central race. They remain 2 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Twins with 12 games to play, reducing their magic number for clinching the division to 10. Just as important, they saw the same pitching the Tigers got from Jackson earlier in the year.

What could have been a rough performance from Jackson, as he worked his way out of trouble early on, instead resembled vintage form.

"Edwin was just what the doctor ordered," manager Jim Leyland said.

A big hit and big throw from left fielder Ryan Raburn ended up as a little medicine along the way.

Jackson (13-7) entered this series opener having allowed 21 earned runs on 37 hits over 31 1/3 innings in his previous five starts. Pitching coach Rick Knapp openly discussed Sunday whether Jackson might be tipping his slider, leading hitters to lay off it. That didn't seem to be a factor Tuesday against a young Indians lineup, but Jackson still had to frequently battle his way back from behind in counts.

He didn't throw a first-pitch strike until Asdrubal Cabrera took a slider for strike one in the third inning, his second time up. Four Indians drew 3-0 counts the first time through the order. It wasn't about the slider, but his fastball.

"It was just a matter of missing pitches," Jackson said. "I was behind in the count, but the pitches I was missing could've been called either way. It wasn't like I was super erratic, all over the zone. They were in the zone, but either in or out a little bit, or up a little bit."

Though Jackson finished with more hits allowed (seven) than first-pitch strikes (six out of 27 outs), his last-pitch strikes were very effective. He made up for his counts with a power fastball that topped out at 98 mph and a slider that induced some bad swings and much-needed outs, especially later in the game.

"That was the old Eddie," Knapp said.

He also got one big out from his left fielder. After a two-out walk to rookie catcher Lou Marson put runners at first and second in the second inning, Jackson fell behind on a 3-0 count to Trevor Crowe, who lined a 3-1 fastball for a single that sent Matt LaPorta around third without hesitation.

Raburn came up firing and delivered a strike of his own on one hop to catcher Gerald Laird, who caught the ball to the third-base side of home plate and then lunged back toward the plate to tag LaPorta as he tried to slide by.

"I don't think people realize what a cannon he's got," Leyland said of Raburn. "I mean, he's got a tremendous arm strengthwise. He threw a rocket.

"I don't think people realize, either, how hard it is for a catcher to make that play, skipping them [off the ground]. The grass is probably damp this time of year. It was a heck of a play by both of them."

Indeed, they complimented each other after the game on Raburn's eighth outfield assist of the year.

"Gerald did a good job on that ball," Raburn said. "It wasn't quite on line. He did a good job of getting it and tagging the guy out."

"See? Got him an assist," Laird answered with a smile.

Not only did Raburn step to the plate minutes after his defensive play, he compounded it. Working out of an 0-2 hole with one out in the third, he went to the opposite field on Aaron Laffey's 2-2 fastball and just cleared the fence in right-center field for his second homer in as many games and his 14th homer of the year.

"I saw him pretty good," Raburn said of Laffey, who also gave up a single to Raburn to lead off the game and a walk in the fifth. "That's just me. I was seeing him pretty well, but he seemed to keep the runs off the board."

Laffey (7-7) held the Tigers scoreless from there, but still left trailing after 6 1/3 innings. Back-to-back walks from Chris Perez in the eighth set up Miguel Cabrera's RBI double and a Marcus Thames sacrifice fly.

Jackson made it stick from there. His 103rd and final pitch, fittingly, was a slider that drew a swing and miss from Crowe to strand runners on first and second in the seventh. Cleveland's lone run came after back-to-back walks from Brandon Lyon forced in a run in the eighth and put the potential tying run in scoring position, but Lyon's strikeout of Luis Valbuena preserved the lead for Fernando Rodney's 34th save.

It was Jackson's fifth win this year when the Tigers have scored three runs or less. Given the standings, it might've been the biggest.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers rout Tribe, send message to Twins
Guillen's homers lead surge to keep Minnesota at 2 1/2 back

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/23/09 10:10 PM ET
UPDATED: 09/24/09 12:21 AM ET

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CLEVELAND -- Jim Leyland calls these the toughest games for him to manage, these runaway games in which the Tigers build a big lead.

Even so, Wednesday's 11-3 win over the Indians might've been just what the Tigers needed.

They scored four first-inning runs and added on with tallies in four of the next five innings. Detroit got enough out of rookie starter Rick Porcello to keep a comfortable lead through five innings, then take him out. The Tigers finished out the game without having to bring in any of their late-inning arms, keeping closer Fernando Rodney and setup men Brandon Lyon and Bobby Seay rested for Thursday's series finale.

Most important, after so many close, low-scoring games lately, they got into the late innings without plenty of runs and not much suspense. Whether it was a statement for the second-place Twins, who remained 2 1/2 games back with a win of their own, is debatable. It was certainly a statement for themselves.

"For the offense, it's pretty good," said Carlos Guillen, whose two home runs played a big role in the add-on runs. "Now we've got to be consistent. We have to do the same thing."

If Guillen can do anywhere near the same thing the rest of the way that he did Wednesday, the Tigers will be happy. He homered from both sides of the plate for the first time since 2006, but it was his home run and double from the right side that prompted so much encouragement.

After struggling for so long to get a right-handed swing ready for a game, then trying it out in a spot situation last week, Guillen made it look like he hadn't missed much time with it. After teeing off from the left side on Justin Masterson's hanging sinker in the third inning, he was set to lead off the fifth when lefty Mike Gosling entered in relief.

Much like he did last week against Royals lefty Bruce Chen, Guillen convinced manager Jim Leyland to keep him in the game and switched to the right side. He then turned on a Gosling fastball and sent it over the out-of-town scoreboard in left for his 11th homer in exactly two months since coming off the disabled list with right shoulder soreness.

An inning later, he chased Gosling with a line-drive double that sailed over center fielder Trevor Crowe to drive in another run and put the Tigers into double digits.

"That was good," Leyland said. "That was real good."

Guillen is going just as much on feeling as he is on results.

"I feel good. That's the most important thing," he said.

In between Guillen's home runs was an estimated 440-foot drive from Miguel Cabrera into the left-field bleachers in Masterson's fourth and final inning. Before that, four straight base hits from the heart of Detroit's order keyed the first-inning rally.

"He threw hard," Ramon Santiago said, "but you could see his ball good. You have to take advantage when the pitcher makes mistakes, and I think we did in the first inning. Then later, we kept adding on."

Once Brandon Inge greeted Jose Veras with an RBI single in the sixth, every starter in Detroit's lineup had a base hit. Guillen reached base in all four of his at-bats, though one was on an Andy Marte error. The Tigers finished with as many runs as they scored in their previous four games combined.

"I think the last series, we came out and had a bunch of close games," said Porcello. "Not many runs were being scored on either side. This was a nice game for us to come out there and put some runs up."

Five days earlier, Porcello lost a 3-0 shutout to the Twins at the Metrodome. Thanks to the first-inning rally, he took the mound Wednesday with a four-run lead to protect. He wasn't dominant in doing so, but he overcame some command issues to do it.

Porcello gave back a run in the first inning, including a single off his right hip, but stranded another run at third base with a fielder's choice. He gave up a pair of two-out singles and a walk to load the bases for Asdrubal Cabrera, arguably Cleveland's top hitter for most of the year, but a first-pitch sinker got a groundout to second.

From there, Porcello (14-9) scattered two singles and a walk before leaving after five innings. He improved to 5-2 with a 3.23 ERA over 11 starts since the beginning of August, scattering 56 hits over 61 1/3 innings.

"He wasn't real sharp," Leyland said, "but he got through it."

So, too, did Leyland. He dreads games like these sometimes because he questions when to take his regulars out of a game, or get a pitcher some work who needs it.He sent out Jeremy Bonderman for the ninth inning on Wednesday, for example, then replaced him after back-to-back one-out walks and let Fu-Te Ni finish out the game.

"I don't like to do that stuff when I've got a big lead, to be honest with you," Leyland said. "I'd rather do it when I'm way behind."

Nonetheless, the Tigers could use this.

"No doubt about it," Santiago said. "We needed a game like that to make the offense go. We have to feel confident we can win an easy game. We have to keep playing and try to fight until the end, keep the pressure on the pitcher."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Tigers 6, Indians 5: Justin Verlander completes sweep
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

Cleveland -- One chance per customer.

Not two, seldom three. One.

If you're going to beat Justin Verlander, you better make the most of what's often just one good opportunity per game to do so.

Giving themselves that chance, the Indians came up with two runs in the fourth inning -- their first lead in the last 70 innings they've played, but a lead the Tigers quickly obliterated with four in the fourth, en route to a 6-5 victory Thursday night over the sad-sack Tribe.

What made it close was Shin-Soo Choo's two-run home run off Fernando Rodney with two outs in the ninth.

With the victory, the Tigers not only completed an essential three-game sweep, but reduced their magic number to win the American League Central to any combination of eight Tigers wins and Twins losses.

With 10 games remaining for both teams, the Tigers lead the Twins, who were idle, by three games.

Lasting seven innings, but striking out 11, Verlander ran into bases-loaded trouble with no outs in the third on a single-double-walk combination. Michael Brantley's two-run single put the Indians in front, but that's where the scoring stopped against Verlander.

Not against Indians rookie starter Carlos Carrasco, though.

By the time the Tigers were out in the top of the fourth, they were in front to stay -- thanks to four singles and a walk by the first five batters to face Carrasco after the Indians took the lead.

The Tigers were both persistent and patient in the inning. At the plate after Aubrey Huff's leadoff single, Carlos Guillen fell behind with a 1-2 count, but fouled off three pitches en route to a walk.

Brandon Inge was up next and fell behind 0-2, only to take the next three pitches for balls before driving in Huff with a single to center.

Two batters after that, it was Ramon Santiago's turn. He fell behind 1-2, fouled off two pitches, then singled in a run.

The Tigers added runs in the seventh and eighth, with the Indians countering with one in their half of the eighth off Bobby Seay.

With his third hit in two nights while batting right-handed, Guillen doubled in the seventh-inning run while Santiago's first stolen base of the season enabled him to score on Placido Polanco's two-out single in the eighth.

The loss for the Indians was their 11th in a row. It also sent them into their next series -- against the Orioles who've lost seven in a row -- with a 3-19 record in September.

Around the horn

When asked if he minds that tonight's starter Eddie Bonine throws an occasional knuckleball, manager Jim Leyland replied, "I want him to throw it more. He's one of those guys who has to use all his artillery."

Leyland estimates Bonine throws a knuckler "about 15 percent of the time."

... With his 14th victory on Wednesday night, Rick Porcello became the first American League pitcher since Bert Blyleven in 1971 to win that many games before his 21st birthday. National Leaguers who've done it since 1970 include Dwight Gooden with 17 wins in 1984 and 24 in 1985, and Don Gullett with 16 in 1971.

tom.gage@detnews.com

Tigers sweep Tribe, pad AL Central lead
Inge, Verlander help Detroit reduce magic number to eight

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/24/09 10:27 PM ET
UPDATED: 09/25/09 12:24 AM ET

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CLEVELAND -- Justin Verlander made a point to thank his Tigers teammates once he left Thursday's outing with a lead.

A couple innings later, he was congratulating Brandon Inge for saving it.

He wasn't the only one.

"Oh boy, what a play that was," manager Jim Leyland said of Inge's diving catch after the 6-5 win over the Indians completed a three-game sweep at Progressive Field.

Verlander gave a quick shake of his head when asked about it.

"That guy's unbelievable," Verlander said.

Opponents are used to saying that about Verlander this year, and the Indians were still in awe of his recovery from a rough third inning. But once closer Fernando Rodney gave up Shin-Soo Choo's two-run homer and put the potential tying tally on base, it was up to Inge to put out the final flicker of fight from Cleveland and make the last play to bump Detroit's lead in the American League Central to three games with 10 games remaining.

It also officially reduced the division to a two-team race, eliminating the third-place White Sox. Though Chicago could technically still finish with the same record as Detroit, doing so would require a four-game sweep of the Tigers next week by the Twins, which would push Minnesota in front.

A loss not only would've kept the White Sox briefly alive, it would've brought the Twins ever closer to the lead. That's how much a difference defense can make. But then, Verlander's teammates supported him on a few occasions Thursday night.

"I told all our guys, 'Thanks for picking me up,'" Verlander said.

Inge wasn't expecting that tough of a play when he first saw the ball off Jhonny Peralta's bat. With speedy pinch-runner Niuman Romero on first base as the potential tying run, Inge was playing the line to deny a potential game-tying double.

Once Peralta turned on Rodney's 99-mph fastball, Inge knew he'd have to range toward the hole, just not that far.

"I got a good look on it," Inge said. "I thought I was going to be able to catch it standing up, but it looked like it was diving towards shortstop."

Inge dove with it, stretching out to snare it as he fell.

"I thought it was going to be a base hit," Peralta said. "At the last minute, he [dove at] the ball."

Asked what would've happened had that ball gotten through, Leyland simply said: "Tied."

Inge has made so many of those plays already this year, but this might've been the biggest situation for one.

"He doesn't surprise me," shortstop Ramon Santiago said.

Verlander (17-9) looked dominant through his first two innings, striking out four of Cleveland's first six batters, before a loss of fastball command led to three hits and a walk to start the third. Michael Brantley's two-run single put the Indians in front for the first time in 70 innings, and his ensuing stolen base put runners at second and third with nobody out.

The frustration on Verlander's face showed as pitching coach Rick Knapp made the trip to the mound. His message was quick and simple: Just make your pitches.

"He threw some pitches instead of pitching some pitches," Leyland said.

Verlander said he was still pitching, but putting more effort into it as he tuned up his fastball to 99 mph, then threw two pitches at 100. Those came to ninth hitter and backup catcher Wyatt Toregas, who worked out of an 0-2 hole to draw a walk to load the bases for Brantley.

Just as quickly as he fell into trouble, however, Verlander was out, having retired the heart of Cleveland's order on a called third strike and two flyouts.

"I wasn't trying to do anything special," Verlander said. "In my mind, I was kind of conceding the guy on third. In that situation, I don't want the game to get out of hand. I don't want to try to do too much and then look up and [see] 5-0. I was lucky escape only giving up two."

Verlander retired 10 of 11 batters, five of them by strikeout, before Detroit's defense helped him out. Santiago's stop in the hole and strong throw retired Trevor Crowe to strand runners at second and third in the sixth. Then with runners at first and second, Placido Polanco took a short-hop off Jamey Carroll's bat to start an inning-ending double play.

Cleveland's third-inning lead didn't last long. Five straight Tigers reached base safely to start the fourth inning against Indians starter Carlos Carrasco (0-3), who gave up consecutive RBI singles to Inge, Gerald Laird and Santiago to put Detroit in front. Carlos Guillen batted right-handed for an RBI double and an insurance run in the seventh before Santiago scored another in the eighth, taking home on strong-armed Choo in right field after a Polanco single.

"That was a big run, wasn't it," Leyland said.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Bonine loses no-no, then game
Tigers upended by sharp Peavy, White Sox in opener

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/25/09 10:32 PM ET
UPDATED: 09/26/09 12:35 AM ET

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CHICAGO -- When Eddie Bonine was toiling in the San Diego Padres organization four years ago, listening to a Spring Training speech from Jake Peavy, he couldn't have figured on this.

One swing turned Bonine's night from one of the least expected chances at history into one of the hardest-luck losses a Tiger has had to take this year. One different swing, one different location for a sixth-inning changeup that Gordon Beckham hit out for a two-run homer, and maybe Bonine becomes a household name in the Tigers' run for the playoffs. Even if he hadn't continued the no-hit bid, he might've continued the shutout duel with Peavy. And maybe the Tigers would've had the boost they need to rally over the season's final week.

Just don't argue that margin to Bonine to reason the Tigers' 2-0 loss to the White Sox Friday night that whittled their lead in the American League Central to just two games over the victorious Twins.

"I would've rather given up five [runs] in five [innings] and won, 7-5," Bonine said.

For that matter, don't tell Brandon Inge it was a swing that turned the battle between Bonine and Peavy. He'll tell you it was his error.

"I feel so bad," Inge said. "I feel like I screwed that up for him tonight. [Beckham] wouldn't have even come into play if I hadn't made that stupid error."

But then, who exactly thought it would've gotten to that point in the first place, where Eddie Bonine was no-hitting the White Sox on the road in the sixth inning?

Two months after Bonine pitched a quality start to help the Tigers sweep a doubleheader from the White Sox at Comerica Park, he had a new trick for them. With a few more tumbling knuckleballs, many more changeups, a fastball he commanded for strikes at 90 mph and a game plan crafted by bullpen coach Jeff Jones, Bonine had a mix that confounded Chicago hitters for more than half the game.

"I thought Bonine was absolutely tremendous tonight," manager Jim Leyland said. "I expected him to pitch well. I think we got more than what we expected. He did a tremendous job to give us a chance to win."

He was better than he'll probably get credit for being when the highlights are replayed over and over, especially in comparison with Peavy. Part of it was because of the image of the knuckleball in today's game. There are few knuckleballers anymore, but Bonine is more like a pitcher who throws a knuckleball than a knuckleballer.

"I actually threw a lot of changeups," Bonine said. "I threw a lot more changeups. I probably threw about 10-12 slower knuckleballs. That was something that was brought up in my bullpen [session], possibly slowing down the knuckleball a little bit more. I felt like I had some effectiveness with that. I had some swings and misses and some outs with it."

The slower knuckleball moves more, and this one dropped at times that sent White Sox hitters swinging, especially in tandem with the changeup. Bonine struck out the middle of the White Sox lineup in order in the second, including a called third strike on Jermaine Dye. Even when he gave up contact, just three balls escaped the infield on him through five.

Little more than an hour into the game, Bonine had a no-hitter through five innings, but he still had a scoreless game. He talks too much in the dugout to go the superstitious route and let everyone leave him alone, but he knew what was happening.

After Bonine retired Chris Getz leading off the sixth, he induced what looked like a routine ground ball from Rios. The ball took what seemed like a predictable hop, but skipped off the heel of Inge's glove for an error.

"I thought it was a little more of a slow roller than it was," Inge said, "so my initial read on the ball was to charge it. Then I realized it was coming at me. The first hop just kind of threw me off a little bit. It's just kind of a bad read and an in-between hop."

It was just the second error from the Tigers in their past 22 games, and it proved costly.

"I just wanted to make the pitch to get that double play [to erase it]," Bonine said.

He might've had a shot, but Scott Podsednik's speed gave them virtually no chance at two even before Bonine deflected his comebacker, forcing Placido Polanco to go for one out.

Up came Beckham, who got back-to-back changeups from Bonine in almost the same location. He fouled off the first, but didn't miss the second, sending it soaring down the left-field line for his 14th home run of the year.

"I had conviction on the pitch," Bonine said. "It just got more of the plate than I wanted to, but in hindsight, he could've easily rolled over on it. He put a good swing on it."

That was it. Peavy (2-0) allowed four hits over his first three innings, but escaped damage with a pair of inning-ending double plays from Magglio Ordonez. From there, the former National League Cy Young Award winner heated up to retire eight straight Tigers on his way to eight strikeouts.

"The one big fly tells the story of the game," Leyland said. "Bonine was absolutely tremendous. Peavy was just a little bit better."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers come back, hold two-game lead
Detroit scores 12 unanswered runs to defeat White Sox

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/26/09 10:23 PM ET
UPDATED: 09/26/09 11:53 PM ET

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CHICAGO -- It wasn't the largest comeback of the season for the Tigers, but it was the biggest.

Not only was Detroit's five-run deficit gone by the seventh, it seemed like a mathematical glitch after Curtis Granderson singled in the last of a dozen unanswered Tigers runs. Yet the Tigers really did trail entering the seventh, and Freddy Garcia had a quality start going.

"It's a tough game. You have to get 27 outs," Garcia's best friend, Carlos Guillen, said Saturday night after Detroit's 12-5 win over the White Sox.

The end result from all of that was no change in the American League Central standings. The Tigers enter Sunday's series finale with their two-game lead intact over Minnesota and Edwin Jackson pitching in Sunday's series finale, while the Twins face AL Cy Young Award candidate Zack Greinke in Kansas City. Detroit's magic number was reduced to seven.

Still, after all that, pardon the Tigers if Saturday didn't feel like the status quo.

"To climb that mountain tonight, that was outstanding," said Nate Robertson, who had to watch the comeback after his rough start left the Tigers trailing early.

Robertson left with a 5-0 deficit and another runner on base after Carlos Quentin's three-run homer in the fourth inning. As rough as it was, with six hits and three walks over 3 1/3 innings, the damage could've been worse if not for double plays in each of the first three innings en route to five for the game.

The quick exit left Alfredo Figaro, who wasn't even among the September callups until Eddie Bonine went into the rotation, an opportunity to get some work. He took advantage by retiring seven of the eight White Sox hitters he faced, facing the minimum over his 2 2/3 innings.

"Figaro," manager Jim Leyland said, "was the key to the game, in my opinion."

The way Detroit's offense had been going, however, his outing was seemingly trivial. Garcia, whom the Tigers last saw as a teammate in a makeup game at the end of last season, faced the minimum 12 batters through four innings, though he had some hard-hit balls that went for outs.

Another friend of Garcia, Miguel Cabrera, gave the Tigers their first run of the series when he led off the fifth with his 32nd home run of the season. Guillen flew out to the warning track, but that was it for the scoring that inning.

Once Placido Polanco and Magglio Ordonez had back-to-back two-out hits in the sixth, however, they set up Cabrera to slug them back into the game. He reached a pitch at his shoetops and lined it softly into center to score both runners.

Garcia got out of the inning, but managed only one out among the five batters he faced in the seventh. That would've been survivable if not for the fact that all four of them scored.

"It was a real good comeback against a real good pitcher," Leyland said. "To come back against him, that's pretty good."

They weren't big hits -- a Guillen single to right, a couple of ground balls through the left side from Gerald Laird and Adam Everett and a Granderson liner to left-center -- but the cumulative damage turned the game. The singles from Everett and Granderson drove in runs, the latter to tie the game and finally knock out Garcia. Polanco and Ordonez singled in runs after that off Tony Pena.

"We were hitting the ball hard [earlier and] just couldn't find the holes," Laird said. "Then all of a sudden, things started dropping and guys were getting on base. The ball found some holes. It was big for us at the bottom of the order to get on base and set the table for the big guys up front. Granderson delivered, Polanco delivered. When you see guys starting to hit, it's like they say, hitting's contagious."

Not until Guillen came up again did the White Sox finally retire the side. Detroit sent 10 men to the plate in the seventh off three different Chicago pitchers, showing one reason White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen showed so much patience with Garcia (2-4).

"Our bullpen was short," Ozzie Guillen said. "I think that's the reason Freddy went one inning too long. I got [D.J.] Carrasco down, [Bobby] Jenks down, [Octavio] Dotel down. We tried to give Freddy one inning [to get] through it. Obviously, he couldn't go through that inning. Everything started to be wrong right after that."

How right: The Tigers went 17-for-25 with three walks over their final 28 batters. They had two hits from their first 19 batters before that.

Meanwhile, Figaro (2-1), who had gone back home to the Dominican Republic to prepare for winter ball when the Tigers called, picked up his first win since his Major League debut in June for his trouble.

"Great win," Cabrera said.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers preserve lead despite loss
Detroit falls to Chicago, maintains two-game edge

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/27/09 4:41 PM ET
UPDATED: 09/27/09 10:14 PM ET

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CHICAGO -- The Tigers headed home for their showdown with the Twins Sunday night with their two-game lead in the American League Central unchanged from Saturday. But they had to feel like they missed an opportunity with their 8-4 loss to the White Sox, and not just at the plate.

Around the same time the Twins were struggling to put up a run against AL Cy Young Award candidate Zack Greinke, the Tigers had their chances against White Sox rookie Daniel Hudson -- two runners on and nobody out in the second and third, then bases loaded and one out in the sixth. They came away with one run total out of those jams.

It figured, then, that three straight hits off Edwin Jackson in the bottom of the inning would lead to three runs, sending Jackson and the Tigers to defeat.

Minutes after the Tigers lost, Joe Mauer's ninth-inning groundout against Joakim Soria as the potential tying run finished off Minnesota's loss. The Tigers, however, weren't watching. They were already packing up and thinking of their upcoming matchup, their clubhouse television turned off.

A Detroit win Sunday would've rendered that series a desperate situation for Minnesota. As it is, the Tigers will take their chances with the lead they have and try to finish off the Twins. They'll likely need more offense than they had Sunday to do that.

"Today was pretty much [about] our offense, which has been mind-boggling, really," manager Jim Leyland said. "They got it last night, you think maybe you've got something going. And for five or six innings, you've got three hits."

It wasn't simply about their hit total. Hudson allowed just two singles after Curtis Granderson's 100th career home run and franchise-record 24th career leadoff homer put the Tigers in front. Hudson's five walks, however, came in bunches over his six innings.

Back-to-back walks to Aubrey Huff and Carlos Guillen put two runners on with nobody out in the second inning, but after a Brandon Inge fly out, Scott Podsednik's sliding catch in center field on Gerald Laird started an inning-ending double play after Huff took off from second.

"I know with runners on, he seemed like a guy that would be slow to the plate, but he's actually a little sneaky," Granderson said. "With runners on base, he got out of jams because he was able to go ahead and pound that ball in on guys."

Two more singles leading off the third created another scoring chance, only for Hudson to retire nine straight Tigers and take a tie game into the middle innings. Then suddenly, he lost command, walking three Tigers in a four-batter span to bring up Guillen with the bases loaded and one out.

Guillen centered a fastball and lined it toward center field, creating a glimpse of the surge the Tigers rode to a comeback victory Saturday. This one, however, Podsednik ran down, leaving the Tigers to settle for a sacrifice fly.

"He hit it hard," Leyland said. "You can't fault that. He hit it hard right at them."

That was their chance. Inge fell into an 0-2 hole before swinging and missing on a 1-2 pitch to end the threat.

"Of course I got in a little funk there a couple times and threw a lot of balls," Hudson said. "Luckily I was able to get out of it and got some great defense behind me."

Those escapes kept the White Sox in a position to wait for their chance on Jackson, who retired 10 straight batters after Carlos Quentin's second-inning RBI double tied the game. Jackson was rolling with one groundout after another, which usually isn't part of his game, until he went out for the sixth inning after that rally.

Jackson had been behind in the count at times, especially early, but induced outs with his fastball. Come the sixth, the White Sox teed off on it.

"They hit the ball. That's what changed," Jackson said. "They just hit the ball."

More important, they hit it for extra bases. Alex Rios' double down the left-field line put the tying run on for Podsednik, who hit a 2-0 heater into the gap in right-center field for a triple. From there, he could stroll home on Gordon Beckham's double down the line before Jermaine Dye's RBI single two batters later added an insurance run.

"It wasn't like a single," Jackson said. "There were two down the line, another in the gap. They were just well-placed balls."

Once Chicago used Quentin's three-run homer to tack on four more in the eighth, when Fernando Rodney was getting work, any hope of gaining distance was over. Jackson (13-8) gave up five runs over 7 1/3 innings for his second loss in his past three starts.

He's the only Tigers starter who won't pitch against the Twins this week, but the impact of Sunday's loss might well linger into it.

"He gave us a chance," Leyland said. "We just didn't do much offensively."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Wild 10th inning spells doom for Tigers
Lyon's wildeness opens door for Minnesota's winning rally

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/29/09 2:55 PM ET
updated: 09/29/09 6:04 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Like Brandon Lyon's 10th-inning pitches in the dirt, the Tigers are left fighting the possibility that the American League Central title is bouncing away from their grasp.

Yet, whether or not the Tigers hold off the Twins in Tuesday's nightcap, they'll have to take a long look at their offense as they try to figure how they got to this position.

Though Lyon's back-to-back wild pitches set up Denard Span to score on Orlando Cabrera's RBI single, part of a two-run 10th inning that sent Minnesota to a 3-2 win, manager Jim Leyland pointed to the Tigers runners stranded in the first few innings that helped the game get that far.

"We let them off the hook early," Leyland said. "We didn't take advantage of our opportunities. We should've had three or four runs early, and we didn't do it. And when you don't do that, it usually comes back to haunt you."

Detroit had five hits out of its first 13 batters, eight baserunners from their first 17, and got a lone run out of it. They didn't get another hit after Brandon Inge's fourth-inning leadoff single until Curtis Granderson led off the bottom of the 10th with his 29th home run of the year.

By then, the Twins had their lead and closer Joe Nathan on the mound. Thanks to Delmon Young's sacrifice fly after Cabrera's single, all Granderson's homer did was bring the potential tying run to the plate.

Rick Porcello, whose 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball kept the Tigers in the game, was long since out with a no-decision. So was Twins starter Nick Blackburn, who escaped the early trouble and retired the final 12 Tigers he faced.

Lyon (6-5), who entered the day with one wild pitch all season, was on the hook. But so was the offense.

"You don't like to see the game get sloppy with the wild pitches to get the go-ahead run," Leyland said, "but that's part of it. I don't have any problem with that. Like I said, the whole key to this game was early innings. Blackburn had not gotten settled in where he was real sharp yet, and we let him off the hook. That's my opinion."

Blackburn wouldn't argue about the early innings being a struggle. He fell behind four of the five batters he faced in the opening inning, and the one time he got ahead came when he was pitching around Miguel Cabrera. Granderson hit a 2-0 pitch for a leadoff double, but Placido Polanco's ensuing groundout to short left him there. Clete Thomas' groundout advanced him, but Aubrey Huff's grounder to second ended the threat.

It also set a tone. Detroit's lone run out of the early threats came when Ramon Santiago's liner to first hit off the glove of the lunging Michael Cuddyer for a second-inning infield single. Another leadoff double from Thomas in the third went for naught when he was thrown out at home on Huff's grounder to first.

"First couple innings were a struggle," Blackburn said. "[Pitching coach Rick Anderson] came out and told me he saw a few mechanical things I was doing different. Once we got those lined out, hitters started battling themselves in a way, kind of getting themselves out, taking defensive swings and not sure what was coming. For the most part, they kept hitting the ball at people."

Porcello kept pace. His lone run, ironically, came when Nick Punto's sacrifice bunt and Span's sac fly turned Matt Tolbert's fifth-inning leadoff double into a score.

With a stiff breeze blowing out to left, Porcello went early and often to his sinker and used it for one out after another, though he didn't have a 1-2-3 inning after the first.

"That's my game plan from the get-go," Porcello said, "whether the wind's blowing in, out, sideways."

It was an important enough game that Leyland left Porcello in well past the 100-pitch mark to 111, seven more than his previous high. It was also important enough that each leadoff hit after that seemed to put Minnesota's manufacturing offense in motion. Tolbert's sacrifice bunts in the seventh and ninth moved Alexi Casilla into position.

It finally backfired in the ninth, when Lyon's high fastball nearly knocked over Punto as he squared around for a squeeze bunt with Castilla darting home. His popout set off an inning-ending double play that sent the crowd roaring, but Span's running catch in the right-field corner to rob Santiago of a walk-off hit sent the park silent.

It also made the Tigers 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

Once Span's ground ball skirted up the middle for a leadoff single in the 10th, Lyon's wild pitches sent the crowd into dismay. The first was a fastball he put too low and skipped off catcher Gerald Laird's right side, the second a slider that spiked the dirt to Laird's left.

"I just went out there and didn't make the pitches today," Lyon said. "I don't know, I usually have better control than I did today. I didn't really take control out there. ...

"Obviously, you don't want to do it, especially in that situation, but it happened. Once it happens, you just try to pitch out of that situation. My focus is the same."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

With pressure on, Verlander delivers
Detroit reclaims two-game lead, trims magic number to four

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/29/09 9:57 PM ET
updated: 09/29/09 11:59 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Jim Leyland's eighth-inning visit with Justin Verlander lasted about 10 seconds. If the Tigers make the postseason after Tuesday night's 6-5 win over the Twins salvaged a split in the day-night doubleheader, that talk will be remembered for far longer.

There stood Verlander at the 125-pitch mark, hanging on for dear life to the Tigers' lead, trying to salvage a doubleheader split. The tying run stood on second base in Jason Kubel, whose broken-bat bloop single sent Verlander to defeat 10 days earlier. At the plate stood Michael Cuddyer, owner of five home runs against Detroit this year.

In the balance stood the Tigers' lead in the American League Central, which they've held to themselves for the last two months but which had been whittled to one game after the Twins' 3-2 win in the first game Tuesday afternoon.

"It was quick," Verlander said of the visit. "He said, 'Hey, this is your guy. Go get 'em.' That was all it was."

It meant a lot more than words. The sight of a crowd of 30,240 rising to its feet in an ovation for a manager walking off the mound showed how much it meant.

They knew what Leyland knew, what Leyland told Verlander when he went 126 pitches in his last start.

"I basically told him, 'I don't have anybody better than you,'" Leyland said. "That's the line I usually use, and with him, I mean it. Once in a while, I'm not quite so sure, but with him, I mean it."

It's a line Leyland can remember using with just a few pitchers in his career, Doug Drabek and Kevin Brown among them. Most opponents would agree.

The win, Verlander's first in four meetings with Minnesota this year, brought the Tigers back to two games up on the Twins in the AL Central with two games left in this series and five games left overall. Detroit can clinch its first division title in 22 years if it can win the next two games. Minnesota can draw even if it wins both.

If any doubt lingered about where Verlander stood among baseball's young aces, they should be erased now. It isn't that the young right-hander has gone from 17 losses in 2008 to 18 wins this year. It's about situations like these, a pitcher a manager can turn to in what's pretty close to a must-win situation.

For five-plus innings, Verlander flat-out dominated the Twins, retiring 16 of his first 18 batters with seven strikeouts in that stretch. He mixed a high-90s fastball -- which he had in abundance in their last meeting at the Metrodome -- with a sharp breaking ball -- which he did not have. And he all but toyed with some Minnesota hitters.

He used three straight fastballs to set up Cuddyer to swing and miss at a changeup on his way to striking out the side in order in the second inning. Delmon Young went down swinging at back-to-back curveballs to start the fifth. Next, he put Carlos Gomez in an 0-2 hole on 97-mph fastballs in the fifth, sent a heater up and in as a throwaway, then dropped a breaking ball over the plate for strike three.

"There were a couple innings in the middle there that we didn't have much of a chance," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Everything was snapping, his changeup, his fastball was blowing by people there in the middle part and we didn't have much of a chance."

Miguel Cabrera's second-inning solo homer off Twins starter Brian Duensing (5-2) and two-RBI hits from Magglio Ordonez in the third inning and Brandon Inge in the fifth earned Verlander his first five-run lead since July 29. When Verlander gave up two runs in the sixth -- including a double in which Joe Mauer turned on Verlander's 98-mph fastball and pulled it down the line -- it looked like Verlander had survived his bad inning.

Then came the eighth and the top of the order. Back-to-back ground-ball singles from Denard Span and Orlando Cabrera brought the potential tying run to the plate in Mauer. Verlander changed speeds to get a run-scoring groundout to first, but Kubel jumped on his first-pitch 96-mph fastball and drilled it into the gap in left-center.

That brought out Leyland.

"When he pulls a guy, he goes out there and [makes a signal] real quick," catcher Gerald Laird said. "He didn't do that. I [knew] he was going to let him face Cuddyer. He had success all night on him. He earned that right there."

Verlander missed with a curveball, then hit 98 mph on pitches 127 and 128. Another curveball induced a grounder to third, which Inge corralled to fire to first for the out.

There was still drama to come, from Curtis Granderson's insurance homer leading off the bottom of the eighth to the Nick Punto fly ball that flew over his head for an RBI double to put the tying run back in scoring position in the ninth before Fernando Rodney finished off his 36th save. But this was Verlander's game on a night when the Tigers needed him most.

All the offseason work to keep his arm strong late in the year, all the work he puts in between starts, he did for moments like this.

"I thought Verlander was the horse that he is," Leyland said. "He showed it tonight."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Tigers 6, Twins 5: Tigers split doubleheader; lead back at two
David Goricki / The Detroit News

Detroit - Justin Verlander came through with a strong performance when the Tigers needed it the most Tuesday night at Comerica Park.

Verlander (18-9) worked eight strong innings to help the Tigers to a 6-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins to earn a split in the doubleheader and give the Tigers a two-game lead in the American League Central Division.

Fernando Rodney pitched the ninth, picking up his 36th save, but it wasn’t easy. With a runner on first and two outs, center fielder Curtis Granderson misplayed Nick Punto’s line drive for a run-scoring double. Rodney ended the threat when he got Denard Span to fly out to left.

The Twins defeated the Tigers 3-2 in the opener and were in position to create a first-place tie with a doubleheader sweep.

Verlander was winless in his previous three starts this season against the Twins, and needed to set the tempo in the opening inning against Joe Mauer, the league’s leading hitter.

Mauer greeted Verlander with a home run in each of Verlander’s previous two starts against the Twins. He lined out to center in the opening inning Tuesday and Verlander escaped the first without allowing a run.

The Tigers handed Verlander a 5-0 lead, thanks to Miguel Cabrera’s solo home run in the second, a two-run double by Magglio Ordonez in the fourth and Brandon Inge’s two-run single in the fifth.

Cabrera entered the game 9-for-23 - four home runs and 10 RBI - against the Twins in six meetings at Comerica Park.

Ordonez sat out the opener, and Inge was in the midst of an 0-for-15 slump heading into the day.

The Twins battled back from the five-run deficit to pull within 5-4 in the eighth against Verlander. They had the tying run at second when Verlander retired Michael Cuddyer on a ground out to third.

Granderson hit his 30th home run to lead off the eighth to give the Tigers a much-needed insurance run.

Verlander, who threw 129 pitches, carried a two-hit shutout into the sixth. He had retired 14 of 15 batters during one stretch and was outstanding at mixing up his pitches.

The Twins ended Verlander’s shutout bid in the sixth when Span had a one-out double and scored on Orlando Cabrera’s single. Mauer followed with a double and Cabrera scored on Jason Kubel’s sacrifice fly.

Verlander pitched out of further damage when he struck out Michael Cuddyer on a 99 mph fastball.

How good was Verlander? He struck out the side - Cuddyer, Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez - in the second.

Then, in the fifth, Verlander struck out Young on an 82 mph curveball. He started Gomez with consecutive 97 mph fastballs for strikes, then went up and in with another fastball before sending Gomez to the bench with a 82 mph curve. Cabrera homered in the second, a 410-foot shot to left-center, to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

The Tigers added two more runs in the third on Ordonez’s two-run double. After Adam Everett had a lead-off infield hit, Polanco contributed a two-out single. Ordonez battled back from an 0-2 count and lined a full-count pitch into the left-field corner.

Tigers solve Pavano, have title in sight
Detroit can clinch AL Central with win vs. Twins on Thursday

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/30/09 10:20 PM ET
updated: 10/01/09 12:18 AM ET

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DETROIT -- Wednesday was more than just a move to the verge of an American League Central title for the Tigers. Their 7-2 win over the Twins might've been a release for the frustrations of an entire season.

They finally took them out on Carl Pavano. As a result, they have a chance to wrap up their first division crown in 22 years Thursday. A win in their series finale with Minnesota, a 1:05 p.m. ET start on MLB Network and MLB.TV, would take care of it. If not, any combination of two Tigers wins this weekend against the White Sox or Twins losses to the Royals would seal the AL Central crown for Detroit, which hasn't won a division since taking the AL East on the final weekend of the 1987 season.

What looked at one point like a potential disaster for Tigers starter Eddie Bonine soon turned into a drubbing of Pavano, the man the Tigers could never seem to beat. They could hit him, but they couldn't drive in runs against him, a problem that has plagued Detroit against all sorts of pitching this year and kept it struggling to create space atop the division.

He'd beaten the Tigers four times in five starts for two different teams and was trying to become just the third starting pitcher since 1954 to beat Detroit five times in the same season. By the time Magglio Ordonez's bases-clearing, fifth-inning double knocked Pavano from the game as the crowd of 34,775 at Comerica Park roared, the Tigers had saddled him with seven earned runs, the same total he gave up to the Tigers in their other five starts combined.

"We were due," manager Jim Leyland said. "Carl's been tough against us. We finally got him. It took us long enough."

It took almost an entire season.

"It's just amazing what a little end-of-the-season concentration will do for you," said Brandon Inge, whose two-run double set off a four-run second inning.

That wasn't the only amazement.

After Bonine got into trouble in the opening inning, it was amazing that he could pull an escape with just two runs allowed. Consecutive singles from Orlando Cabrera, Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel -- the latter two on two-strike pitches -- drove in the first run before a four-pitch walk to Michael Cuddyer loaded the bases.

What would've been a Delmon Young sacrifice fly instead became an RBI single when Curtis Granderson turned wrong and couldn't run down the ball in deep center field.

By the time Jose Morales ran a 1-2 count full with the bases still loaded, Fu-Te Ni was already warming up. Bonine, who said he tried to be too perfect, had to trust his stuff. So the man best known for his knuckleball, even though he only throws a handful or two per game, had to rear back and fire a fastball.

"I'm not going to give in, but it's got to be a strike," he said. "I can't afford to walk in a run -- just a fastball that obviously had a big part of the plate. ... I dug myself that hole. It's one of those deals where you have to continue to trust it and hope they hit it at somebody or you get them to miss it."

Morales hit it well, but right at second baseman Placido Polanco, who knocked down the ball and picked it up in time to start an inning-ending double play.

Bonine (1-1), a low-key personality who didn't join the rotation until two weeks ago, gave a big fist pump. The Twins shook their heads after being unable to capitalize.

"It looked like we were going to do some serious damage there," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "And the freaky fly ball to center field and then we hit into a rocket double play, what are you going to do there?"

Considering Pavano's track record against the Tigers, one might've wondered if two runs would be enough. He retired the side in order in the opening inning and sent Bonine back onto the mound quickly. But while Bonine settled down, Pavano found trouble when back-to-back singles from Miguel Cabrera and Ordonez and a walk to Carlos Guillen -- 0-for-13 lifetime off Pavano entering the night -- loaded the bases with nobody out in the second.

Inge, 4-for-12 off Pavano at that point, didn't wait for Pavano to get ahead. He saw a first-pitch slider and lined it into the gap in left-center field for a two-run double. Two batters later, Ramon Santiago singled in two more.

The aura of invincibility that Pavano owned in Detroit was gone.

"To be honest with you, I think that was kind of big, just because of the track record we had this year," said Inge, whose 83rd RBI matched his career high. "Pavano had won four times against us, going for five. If you give him confidence there, each team could've said, 'Well, here we go again.' He could've said, 'I'm going to own him again.'"

Instead, after Bonine and Detroit's bullpen held Minnesota scoreless the rest of the way, Pavano (13-12) had a short night and long laments.

"I needed to step up and I didn't do the job," Pavano said. "Not only did I let myself down, I let my team down. They needed me today to go out there and put in an effort for a win, and I fell short."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Loss to Twins leaves clinch on hold
Tigers' magic number in AL Central remains at two

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

10/01/09 4:40 PM ET
updated: 10/01/09 7:05 PM ET

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DETROIT -- The American League Central race isn't over yet. If anything, it became slightly more heated Thursday.

Though the trading of inside pitches and hit-by-pitches led to empty benches in the ninth inning, nobody threw any punches. It proved fitting, since the Tigers couldn't land the knockout blow they hoped to give the Twins.

Instead of a celebration, Detroit was fighting off any sense of a missed opportunity after an 8-3 loss to Minnesota cut the gap in the division back to two games. It's the same lead the Tigers had over the Twins going into the four-game series, only now with just three games to play.

"I felt like we did what we had to do," manager Jim Leyland said, "not what we wanted."

Any combination of two Tigers wins this weekend against the visiting White Sox or Twins losses at home to the Royals would clinch Detroit's first division crown since 1987.

Just one Tigers win and a Twins sweep would force a one-game playoff at the Metrodome early next week to determine which team advances to face the Yankees in the AL Division Series. If the Twins sweep Kansas City and the Tigers are swept, Minnesota would win the division title outright.

The Tigers see it as a division still in their hands. By contrast, a clinching win Thursday seemed further and further out of their grasp as the day continued.

"The players of the Twins came out today and kicked the fannies of the players of the Tigers," Leyland said. "Their manager and their players kicked me and the Tigers players today. They played the game right. They won the game. We turn the page."

Hopes of finishing the race contributed to a sellout crowd of 40,533, including more than 7,000 tickets sold Thursday to complete Detroit's first sellout since July 25. The vast majority of those were left silent in the third when back-to-back RBI singles from Joe Mauer and Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel's sacrifice fly put Nate Robertson and the Tigers down for the rest of the afternoon.

Robertson (2-3) didn't have the solid outing he enjoyed against the Twins a week and a half ago at the Metrodome, nor was it the rough exit he suffered against the White Sox last weekend. After an unearned run in the fourth inning, he retired nine in a row to get through six innings, salvage a quality start and keep it relatively close.

"I felt pretty good," Robertson told reporters afterward. "It was just the one inning."

Still, it wasn't enough for a win. With one or two key Tigers hits early, it might have been.

Marcus Thames' second-inning single and run scored was Detroit's only damage off Twins starter Scott Baker (15-9), but with three walks and five hits over five innings, it wasn't the only opportunity. Baker left runners at the corners by striking out Carlos Guillen in the opening inning, then walked Curtis Granderson to load the bases with two outs in the fourth.

Up came Ramon Santiago, whose 11-for-25 performance over his previous seven games helped earn him a start to rest Placido Polanco at second. He got a 1-0 fastball over the plate, but popped it almost straight up.

"That's the one," Santiago said. "I just missed it. It's baseball."

That's the way the day went, particularly for Santiago, who reached base on a Brendan Harris error to lead off the seventh and seemingly had taken second base on a Miguel Cabrera fly ball that Denard Span ran down in foul territory in right field.

Home-plate umpire Angel Hernandez, however, called Santiago out when the Twins appealed at first base, turning what was left of a late scoring chance into an inning-ending double play.

"I think when you have to call it with the naked eye, it's a lot more difficult than it is when you go down and watch a replay," said Leyland, rarely one to comment on calls. "That's in fairness to any umpire. Obviously, after watching it, it was a legitimate tag."

Santiago didn't need to see it.

"I was safe," he said. "I even got out [from the bag] late. Not even close. But he called me out, and I'm out."

The Twins, in turn, aren't out, not yet. They weren't heated over the tensions that followed, from Jose Mijares' pitch behind Adam Everett to Jeremy Bonderman's fastball off the back of Delmon Young's right knee. But they're heated over the chance they still have.

Much like they did for most of the summer, they're lingering. The Tigers can make it irrelevant by taking two of three over the White Sox to wrap up what would be their first division title since 1987.

Still, the way the Twins have hung around, it couldn't just be easy.

"I don't know if it's an opportunity lost," Everett said. "We just have to go out and win. That first game could've gone either way. They're a good team. You have to give them some credit, too."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers stifled by Peavy, White Sox
Magic number remains at two as Detroit held to three hits

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

10/02/09 9:33 PM ET
updated:

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DETROIT -- The Tigers' lead in the American League Central is likely headed back down to a game. Mark Kotsay's two-run double punctuated a five-run White Sox sixth inning in support of a dominant Jake Peavy, sending Detroit to an 8-0 loss to Chicago Friday night at Comerica Park.

Minnesota jumped out to a similar lead on the Royals around the same time, meaning the Twins will likely cut back the Tigers' division lead for a second straight day. Detroit needs some combination of two wins this weekend or two Twins losses to clinch the division. For the second straight day, the club couldn't cut into it.

What was hoped to be a late-season rebound for Edwin Jackson (13-9) turned out to be his second loss to the White Sox in six days. Scott Podsednik's first leadoff home run in five years put Jackson behind three pitches into his outing, and it only built from there. After doubles from Gordon Beckham and Jermaine Dye added a run in the fourth, Carlos Quentin's 20th homer of the year made it a 3-0 game.

That would've been more than enough with Peavy (3-0) rolling through eight scoreless innings for the White Sox, but their sixth inning put the game out of reach. Three walks and two hits to start the sixth knocked out Jackson, who walked in a run and gave up two more on Kotsay's drive to the right-field fence.

With Zach Miner being rested for potential relief work Saturday, the Tigers turned to rookie Casey Fien, who gave up a Quentin RBI single and Alexei Ramirez sacrifice fly.

Peavy's lone hits allowed were Placido Polanco's first-inning single and Alex Avila's single in the eighth. Two walks and a Ramirez error comprised the rest of the baserunners before Peavy retired 11 straight Tigers.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Scuffling Tigers fall into AL Central tie
Detroit held to late run vs. Chicago, setting up key Sunday

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

10/03/09 10:11 PM ET
updated: 10/04/09 1:16 AM ET

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DETROIT -- The three-game lead the Tigers held in the American League Central three days ago is now gone. The final game of it disappeared in almost stunning fashion.

Now, after Saturday's 5-1 loss to the White Sox dropped Detroit into a first-place tie with Minnesota, the Tigers have to regroup in a hurry.

"This is a team," manager Jim Leyland said. "We all make our contributions, and none of us are doing enough."

As former Detroit pitcher Freddy Garcia retired one Tigers hitter after another on his way to seven-plus innings, holding his ex-mates scoreless until the eighth, the balance of power in the division seemed to shift. No longer did it feel like a delayed celebration, though the Tigers could still end up winning their first division title since 1987 with a win Sunday and a Twins loss. The feeling now is of a team that has led or shared the lead atop the AL Central, but whose title hopes very much need a spark.

"Concerned? Yeah," said shortstop Adam Everett, who scored on Placido Polanco's RBI single for Detroit's first run in 17 innings. "We're not scoring runs. We need to win. Bottom line is, if you win, it doesn't matter how many runs you score. Our main objective is to win."

If both the Tigers and Twins win Sunday, or if they both lose, they'll give the Metrodome one more game Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET for a one-game playoff. If one team wins Sunday and the other loses, the winner will take the AL Central and meet the Yankees in the AL Division Series.

It marks the first time since July 24 that the Tigers haven't had first place to themselves. They've at least shared the division lead every day since May 10; no team has led a division or league that early in the season and lost it in the final week. For that matter, no team has led a division or league by three games with four games to play and not won.

The struggles that have led the Tigers to three straight losses aren't new; they're actually many of the same woes they've had for much of the season, especially offensively. After plating 13 runs over a two-game span against the Twins, they've scored just four runs in the three defeats since, though they've had chances to drive in runs early in each of those games.

Detroit has droughts like this before. This one, however, came at the worst possible time, and it includes star cleanup hitter Miguel Cabrera. It has left players and coaches alike struggling to explain why.

"We just haven't hit," Leyland said. "It's been a little bit of an issue all year."

Detroit's best chance to change that Saturday came in the third inning after Garcia (3-4) struck out four in a five-batter span. A one-out walk to Curtis Granderson and an infield single for Polanco set up the heart of the Tigers' order against a pitcher they know well.

Garcia fell behind on hot-hitting Magglio Ordonez, and got a popout to second on a 2-1 pitch. After putting Cabrera in a two-strike count, Garcia escaped with a groundout to third. He rolled after that, retiring 14 of 15, until three straight hits plated Everett and brought up Ordonez and Cabrera again as the potential tying run in a 4-1 game.

Ordonez worked the count full against reliever Tony Pena, then hit a hard shot to the left side that shortstop Alexei Ramirez snared. He nearly doubled off Granderson before he beat Brent Lillibridge back to the base.

"I feel like we hit a lot of balls hard tonight," Everett said. "We hit a lot of balls hard right at guys."

A pitch later, and a Cabrera grounder to short, that chance was gone with an inning-ending double play.

Cabrera went 0-for-4 without getting a ball out of the infield, and is now 0-for-11 since his first-inning single Thursday. He seemingly had a bruise on the left side of his face that showed up on television cameras Saturday, but he was not available for comment after the game. Head athletic trainer Kevin Rand said through a team spokesperson that he didn't see Cabrera.

Given the struggles offensively, even a gem of an outing probably would've gone for naught. The Tigers did not get that in a spot start from Alfredo Figaro (2-2), whose first start in three months ended after four outs, two walks and three hits to put the White Sox on top with Carlos Quentin's second-inning homer and load the bases for another tally.

Leyland, who said before the game that he'd change pitchers quickly if he sensed trouble, went to his bullpen from there.

"There wasn't much margin for error," Leyland said.

Alex Rios' blooper off Armando Galarraga an inning later fell out of the reach of right fielder Ordonez, who slid and missed it for a double that drove in Quentin and completed a two-out rally. Another two-out hit, a soft liner to right off Ryan Perry, drove in Paul Konerko for a 4-0 lead in the fifth.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers survive Sox to set up tiebreaker
Granderson seals 'W,' forcing Tuesday game vs. Twins

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

10/04/09 3:32 PM ET
updated: 10/04/09 6:15 PM ET

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DETROIT -- The Tigers headed into Sunday not just needing a win, but needing a spark. Justin Verlander provided the spark. Curtis Granderson might well have saved the win, and maybe the season.

Considering Granderson's leaping catch at the fence in Cleveland helped preserve a Verlander win as part of the run that propelled the Tigers to first place in May, it was fitting that his charge into shallow center field and diving catch helped preserve the win that kept Detroit tied atop the American League Central.

For that matter, considering how the season has gone, it's almost fitting that the Tigers' season rides on one play such as that, just enough to hold on for a 5-3 win over the White Sox on Sunday at Comerica Park. They make things dramatic, sometimes maddeningly so. But unlike a lot of teams, they're still playing.

"We had our backs totally up against the wall," manager Jim Leyland said, "and we won. We still have a heck of a chance, obviously, to win this division."

After three straight losses sent the Tigers from the verge of a division title to a tie atop the American League Central, Sunday's win ensured them of a one-game tiebreaker with the Twins on Tuesday afternoon at the Metrodome. The winner of the tiebreaker will advance to New York for the AL Division Series against the top-seeded Yankees.

"We expected to go," Gerald Laird said. "We hold serve. We did our job. And now we have to go to a tough place to play."

The Tigers expect to win every time Verlander (19-9) takes the mound, the way he can command a game, and he lived up to their hopes for seven scoreless innings. Detroit's unquestioned ace faced one batter over the minimum through seven, erasing two of his three baserunners on the bases, and retired 13 of 14 batters he faced from the fourth inning into the eighth.

While some might've feared that Verlander's anxiety would give him a struggle to settle down early, he toned down his game and didn't try to overthrow. Instead, it was White Sox starter John Danks who showed some nerves.

After Danks (13-11) battled through a 32-pitch inning that included a bases-loaded walk to Carlos Guillen that put Detroit ahead, Verlander retired the White Sox in order in the second, providing what he calls the shutdown inning.

"I thought my fastball was really good early," Verlander said. "It wasn't so good in the eighth, but other than that, I felt great."

Once Ryan Raburn's two-run homer in the second, the first of his two home runs, stretched the Tigers' lead to 3-0, Verlander needed four pitches for two outs before Laird erased his two-out walk to Brent Lillibridge by throwing Lillibridge out at second.

"I tip my hat to him," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said of Verlander. "This kid went out there and did what everybody involved with the Tigers expected."

Much like his previous outing Tuesday against the Twins, Verlander's performance lifted the Tigers, who built him a five-run lead. Once again, he faced his big test in the eighth. This time, he didn't get a chance to stop it, but Granderson did.

Four straight one-out hits from the bottom four hitters of the White Sox order plated three runs and brought the tying run to the plate. Verlander recovered to get a Scott Podsednik popout for the second out, but a four-pitch walk to mid-game replacement Jayson Nix brought Leyland out of the dugout.

Unlike Tuesday's quick visit, this was the second mound meeting of the inning, and Verlander was out. In came Fernando Rodney for just his second four-out save attempt of the year, starting with slugger Carlos Quentin.

Tigers outfielders played Quentin deep, respecting his power. Three pitches later, Granderson had to make the unlikely charge in.

"He's probably one of the strongest guys in baseball, so we definitely had to play a lot deeper than expected," Granderson said.

Granderson has not had the best of fortunes tracking balls at Comerica Park this week, from a couple of Minnesota drives that carried on him with the wind to a line drive he struggled to track Thursday, part of the day-game challenges he faces here.

The weather actually helped him out Sunday. With an overcast sky rather than a sunny day, Granderson tracked the ball quickly off Quentin's bat. And the wind, blowing right to left, held up the ball a little bit longer.

"If someone else is hitting, you're not as deep," Granderson said. "Big guy, big swing, gets jammed, ball ends up hanging up a little longer."

Just long enough that Granderson could stretch out and get his glove under it.

"I don't know what's going to happen," said Rodney, who finished the ninth for his 37th save. "He made a nice catch."

Thanks to that, for at least a couple more days, the Tigers are making a run.

"The fact of the matter is, here are we," Leyland said. "And the fact of the matter is, I'm proud of them."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.