2011 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS

Despite five homers, Tigers overwhelmed
Cabrera goes deep twice, but Coke falters again in starting role

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 6/30/2011 1:17 AM ET

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DETROIT -- Phil Coke's wild pitch that bounced off home plate and cleared the backstop and the screen was a pretty bad sign of things to come. Don Kelly's curveball to get the last out was a pretty good capper. The wrong relief pitcher coming out of the bullpen for the Mets was a decent interlude in between.

Those were among the oddities Wednesday night at Comerica Park. Another winless outing for Coke, however, wasn't among them, continuing a streak that has been going on since April. And unlike some low-scoring games he has pitched, Wednesday's 16-9 Tigers loss to the Mets was relentless.

"I'm sick to my stomach right now," Coke said.

While three American League pitchers have suffered more losses than Coke (1-8) this year, they've all won more recently. Coke's lone victory came April 14, and his stretch of 12 winless starts is the longest by a Tigers starter since the Tigers' 119-loss team of 2003. Adam Bernero went 0-10 over a 17-start stretch that began June 15, 2002, and ended May 31, 2003. Just days before that, Mike Maroth ended his own 12-start winless streak.

Those two had bad numbers on bad teams, including a 6.39 ERA for Bernero in his winless stretch. Coke has had his share of decent starts that have gone unrewarded. His past three starts don't fall into that category.

Coke hasn't pitched into the sixth inning in any of those three outings, but the latest was the statistical apex of his struggles this year. By the time Tigers manager Jim Leyland went to the bullpen with nobody out in the fifth, constituting Coke's quickest non-injury exit this year, he had allowed a season-high eight runs, seven earned, on 10 hits, not counting several hard-hit drives that sent Tigers outfielders to the depths of Comerica Park.

"I was throwing strikes and they were hitting them," Coke said. "That pretty much sums it up. ... I was going back and forth, and they were just hitting anything that was over the white thing [home plate]."

Leyland accounted for the hot team they're facing, which also put up 14 runs on Rick Porcello and the Tigers' bullpen Tuesday. But he also accounted for the pitches being thrown.

"When you pitch the way we have the last couple days, you leave a lot of hittable pitches there that get hit all the time, and every once in a while you throw a pretty good pitch that gets hit when somebody's that hot," Leyland said. "That's just the way it happens.

"But we've just made some miserable pitches the last couple nights. That's simple. That's without any criticism or anything else. That's just not acceptable."

Not since May 18-19, 1996, had the Tigers allowed 14 or more runs in back-to-back games. That pitching staff finished with a team ERA over 6.00 on a ballclub that lost 109 games. This is a contending team, fronted by a Cy Young favorite in Justin Verlander, but its staff has been shredded the past two nights.

Add Wednesday's damage to outings against the D-backs and Rockies, and Coke has allowed 18 runs, 16 earned, on 22 hits over his last 13 2/3 innings. Unlike Porcello, Coke has not had a corresponding stretch where everything has gone right for him. Though he tossed 6 1/3 scoreless innings against Tampa Bay before this streak, he gave up 10 hits and six runs, four earned, in five innings to the Rangers before that.

The Tigers have supported Coke as a starter ever since announcing his move last fall from the bullpen, where he was an effective setup man last year. When Leyland was asked about Coke after Wednesday's loss, his response hinted that change could be in the works.

"We're tossing some things around," Leyland said. "We're not ready to make any decisions at this particular time. We'll leave it at that."

Coke was asked about his preference later.

"I'm at the team's disposal," Coke said, "and I'll do whatever I'm asked to do. And they're asking me to go out there and start, and I'm going out there and giving everything I have, every time I take the ball. Boos, no boos, happy people, not happy people, it doesn't matter. I'm doing the best I can. If they wanted to do something like that, that's their prerogative. I'm at their beck and call."

Leyland has had to change course before. In fact, he had to do it Wednesday with Kelly, after saying for years he would never use a position player to pitch. Simply put, the damage the Mets put up against Tigers relievers -- including 42 pitches from Al Alburquerque, and 47 from David Purcey -- forced the change.

"They got behind in the count and had to throw a pitch down the middle, and we took advantage of it," Pagan said.

Leyland went heavy with his bullpen to try to keep the deficit at two runs. The Mets just kept driving in runs.

"We really battled our tails off to get within two," Leyland said.

With the deficit at seven runs, Kelly retired Scott Hairston to become the first Tigers position player to pitch in a game since Shane Halter played all nine spots in a game to close out the 2000 season. The Tigers, meanwhile, sent down Daniel Schlereth after the game and called up Brayan Villarreal to have a fresh arm.

They hope they won't need it with Verlander going Thursday. With the oddities of this series, they can't be sure.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Verlander gives gritty effort to beat Mets
Ace settles after early homer, rides offense in finale in Detroit

By Chris Vannini / MLB.com | 6/30/2011 7:16 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Justin Verlander was a little disappointed with himself after Thursday's 5-2 win over the Mets.

Verlander's line showed he gave up only one run over seven innings -- a great game for most pitchers -- but for a guy who has been close to unhittable over the past month-plus, Verlander didn't feel like he was able to get into a rhythm. He was able to battle throughout the day and help the team win, though, which did give him some solace.

"I was a little down on myself after the game -- down that I wasn't able to find my rhythm, but happy that I was able to battle and keep us in the game and allow our guys to do what they do best, which is go out there and score some runs," Verlander said.

Verlander moved to 11-3 on the season and won his ninth straight decision, becoming the first Tigers pitcher to win 11 games by the end of June since Jack Morris in 1987.

In June, Verlander went 6-0 with a 0.92 ERA, 54 strikeouts and six walks.

"I've been on a pretty good run here," Verlander said. "I've had pretty good stuff for a period of time here. You've got to know it's not going to last an entire season. But when you don't have your best stuff and you don't have your best control, it's just a matter of going out there and really grinding through it."

After the Mets scored 30 runs in the first two games, it looked like it could be another long day for the Tigers when Jose Reyes blooped a mishandled double into center field to lead off the game.

But Jason Pridie lined out to Ramon Santiago, and a throw to second base caught Reyes for a double play.

"It kind of got lucky there, because the ball that was kind of mishandled in right allowed him to go to second, but then if he's on first -- that's assuming he hasn't stolen second base yet -- we're playing double-play depth and that ball off the end of the bat is a base hit," Verlander said. "Then you're sitting at first and third with nobody out, so we got a little bit of a break there."

Verlander allowed a leadoff homer to Daniel Murphy in the second inning, but the Tigers tied the game on an RBI single from Austin Jackson in the bottom half of the inning.

After the leadoff home run, Verlander didn't allow another run and scattered five hits the rest of the way. But even when he found some rhythm, he would lose it. He didn't locate a type of pitch for a strike more than 72 percent of the time, according to BrooksBaseball.net.

"I just know that everything wasn't quite probably as sharp, but I mean, to me, that's even higher praise for me for Justin Verlander," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "I would even have higher praise for him today than I would some other days, because to me, to go out there where you're not maybe quite as sharp as you've been and hold a team that got that many hits and scored that many runs in the last two nights is pretty unbelievable, really."

With a day game after a night game, Leyland started Santiago and outfielder Andy Dirks. Both contributed to give the Tigers a lead they would not lose.

In the third inning, Detroit loaded the bases with one out after a double by Victor Martinez, a single by Dirks and a walk to Jhonny Peralta. After a sacrifice fly by Avila, Santiago singled to center to score another run. The throw from Angel Pagan to Murphy at third base went into the Tigers dugout, giving Detroit a 4-1 lead.

Dirks homered in the fifth inning -- his third in as many games -- to extend the lead to 5-1.

"It was nice to see Dirksy and Santiago come up with a big hit," Leyland said. "Everybody playing, everybody participating, that's good tonic."

With the Tigers' bullpen expended after the previous two nights, it was even more important for Verlander to have a strong outing. With Verlander nearing 100 pitches after five innings and Leyland being "scared to death" about the bullpen situation, Verlander had a 1-2-3 sixth and got three outs in three batters in the seventh -- thanks to an outfield assist to home from Brennan Boesch.

Verlander finished with 120 pitches. Joaquin Benoit came in for the eighth inning and gave up a solo home run, making Jose Valverde's appearance a save opportunity, which he converted for his 19th of the season.

"There's no doubt we had a very good approach against [Verlander]," Reyes said. "He threw a lot of pitches. He was working hard there. But when we got on base, he looked like he made some quality pitches to get out of the innings. That's what good pitchers do. He's one of the best in the game, so you have to give some credit to him."

Verlander's 11 wins are tied for the Major League lead with the Yankees' CC Sabathia. Even an off game for Verlander has become much more than a quality start. With the Tigers' rotation getting a new member in Charlie Furbush, it's nice for them to know that the ace of the rotation will always give the club a chance to win.

"He clearly didn't have his best stuff," Avila said. "The thing is, it's funny, because he still pitched a really good ballgame. He didn't have his best stuff, but 99 percent of the pitches, we'll take that."

Chris Vannini is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers fall short of picking up Valverde

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 7/2/2011 12:53 AM ET

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DETROIT -- Brad Penny gave up a run in seven innings and never pitched with a lead. His former teammate Brian Wilson retired just two of the seven Tigers he faced, saved his lone punchout for the dugout water jug and ended up with the win.

"I'd rather give up five [runs] and win," Penny lamented as he tried to take some responsibility for a game that went crazy in the ninth.

It was that kind of game for the Tigers on Friday night, knocking them out of first place. And yet, their 4-3 loss to the Giants had plenty more than that.

For the Tigers, it nearly ended with one dramatic walk-off hit, had Brennan Boesch's line drive with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth just stayed a little more towards the middle.

"We just didn't come up with that final one," manager Jim Leyland said, "and I thought for sure Boesch was going to do it."

If his slicing liner goes somewhere else, he potentially has the winner. Instead, it went to the same player, Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, whose 10-pitch, bases-loaded walk drove in the eventual deciding run.

If it doesn't make him a Tiger killer, it certainly made him a presence.

"It's kind of funny how the game goes sometimes," Leyland said. "The [ground-rule] double that [Pablo] Sandoval hit ended up where it didn't kill us. The two walks were the thing that killed us. Both starters pitched very well, very good ballgames. Probably neither closer was at their best tonight, two great closers."

That last part would be an understatement. It was a rare game in which both closers were pulled in the ninth after both starters, Madison Bumgarner and Penny, pitched at least seven innings of one-run ball.

While Wilson leads the Majors in saves this season, Jose Valverde has yet to blow a chance. Valverde didn't have one Friday, but after Magglio Ordonez's two-out single off Wilson tied the game in the eighth, the Tigers went into the ninth with no lead to save. Enter Valverde, whose numbers -- like those of many closers -- differ greatly in save situations. Still, at 1-1, the situation demanded the closer.

Valverde gave up hits to three of the first four Giants he faced, including Sandoval's drive to deep left-center field to put San Francisco ahead. But after an intentional walk loaded the bases and a Cody Ross popup brought the second out, the next two batters did him in without putting the ball in play.

Nate Schierholtz worked Valverde (2-3) for eight pitches to escape an 0-2 count, walk in Aaron Rowand and bring out Leyland with a hook. Rookie Brayan Villarreal made his return to the Majors after control woes helped end his previous stint, but he and Crawford battled for 10 pitches, including four straight full-count foul balls.

Finally, Villarreal's slider just missed the outside corner, and Sandoval walked in.

With Wilson on the mound, that seemed like enough to ensure victory for the defending World Series champions. Four baserunners in a five-pitch span of the ninth quickly changed that outlook.

None of Detroit's three hits went for extra bases, and none were particularly well hit. Yet after Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta singled, the Tigers sensed an opportunity. Ryan Raburn broke down the first-base line on a grounder to short to help prevent a double play. Alex Avila declined to chase sliders off the plate from Wilson, who then left one over the plate for Brandon Inge to pull into left field for his third hit in 23 at-bats since coming off the disabled list, producing a 4-2 game.

Exit Wilson, who took out his frustrations on the dugout cooler -- first with his right hand, then with a bat. But with Jeremy Affeldt on, the biggest gaffe came from second baseman Emmanuel Burriss, who watched a potential double-play ground ball from Andy Dirks jump up his arm and off his chest for a run-scoring error.

Instead of a win salvaged, the Giants were a fly ball away from losing the lead and a hit away from losing a game that they never trailed. With the bases loaded, there stood Boesch, who had raised his average against left-handers to .362 (25-for-69) an inning earlier against sidearming Javier Lopez.

Affeldt, best known in Detroit for being the unexpected target of Kyle Farnsworth's flying tackle during a Tigers-Royals fracas in 2005, had allowed a .179 average to left-handed batters. After Boesch swung and missed at a pitch to go to two strikes, however, he tracked a curveball and sliced it seemingly up the middle.

"When he hit it," Leyland said, "I thought it was through."

Then he saw it keep slicing towards the shortstop side of second base, while Crawford closed in.

"He hit it," Affeldt said, "and I turned and looked and went, 'Please no -- I mean, yes.'"

Crawford knew he had at least one out from it.

"I knew he didn't hit it that well," Crawford said. "I thought he got jammed a little bit. Then I saw Inge come off the bag and I knew we had a shot."

From where Crawford caught it, he was close enough to second base that he could step on it himself for the final out. It was one of the rare times in the game where the final few steps really ended up feeling that easy.

"That's just one of those freaky ones," Leyland said. "For us, it was hit in exactly the wrong spot, and for them it was hit in exactly the right spot. That's a tough one.

"... They fought their tails off right to the end. That's all you can ask for."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Giants rain all over Tigers' parade in rout
Scherzer, Villarreal yield 10 runs around delay in first three frames

By Chris Vannini / MLB.com | 7/3/2011 2:35 AM ET

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DETROIT -- The Tigers' bullpen is running thin.

For the third time in five games, a starter didn't pitch past the fourth and the bullpen was called upon to complete several innings, this time in a 15-3 loss at the hands of the Giants on Saturday.

"It was ugly, to be honest with you," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland. "You can't say much more than that. It was pretty ugly, obviously."

It was the third time in five games the Tigers gave up at least 14 runs, and Detroit had to make another roster move to have enough ready arms in the bullpen for Sunday's Interleague finale.

Four days after sending Daniel Schlereth down and calling up Brayan Villarreal, Villarreal is being replaced by Adam Wilk.

"You're stretching them out where you shouldn't be stretching them out, and it all starts with starting pitching," Leyland said. "It's that simple. That's what the game's all about -- starting pitching."

Max Scherzer lasted two-plus innings before a thunderstorm delayed the game for 2 hours, 36 minutes, and mercifully ended his night.

Scherzer struggled right from the get-go. He allowed a two-run home run to Pablo Sandoval and a three-run home run to Brandon Crawford in the opening frame as the Giants jumped to an early 5-0 lead.

He was able to strand a runner in the second inning, but found himself in trouble again in the third. Back-to-back doubles by Aubrey Huff and Cody Ross extended the lead to 6-0, and that was followed with a walk.

"His control was not good," Leyland said. "His control was just not good at all. He was all over the place, really, and didn't get in a groove it all. He just didn't have any command, which obviously was not good."

Scherzer got to a 3-1 count on Crawford before the game was delayed. Since starting the season 6-0 and running his ERA as low as 2.81, Scherzer is 3-4 in his past nine starts and his ERA has risen to 4.90.

"Three of our last five starting performances have just been not good, really not acceptable," Leyland said. "We're in a stretch of 37 [games] out of 38 [days] and we just can't just get behind the 8-ball like we've been behind the 8-ball. In three of those five games, we're just four, five, six, seven runs behind. That just can't happen."

The rain came quickly and heavily before lightening up. But it continually came and went, causing a restart time of 10:15 p.m. ET to be pushed back to 10:40.

After the game finally resumed, Villarreal came in to pitch for the Tigers and walked Crawford, although it was charged to Scherzer. Miguel Tejada sent the first pitch he saw into the left-field seats, as the Tigers gave up their third grand slam in five games and the Giants extended the lead to 10 runs. San Francisco added two more runs in the third off Ryan Perry and David Purcey allowed three in the sixth inning.

"What we had to do is get people out of their comfort zones," Leyland said. "We're asking Purcey to do too much. We're asking Perry to pitch the third inning, that's not good. That just won't work."

Detroit's bats finally woke up when Saturday turned into Sunday. Jhonny Peralta and Brennan Boesch hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning and Ryan Raburn added an RBI double in the ninth, but it was far too little, too late.

The 51 runs allowed over the past five games are the most for the franchise since 2004. The Tigers' rotation only has one starter, Justin Verlander, with an ERA under 4.40, and rookie Charlie Furbush will make his first start Monday.

The Tigers fell to 1 1/2 games back of the Indians in the American League Central, and although the standings might not mean much in early July, a pitching staff that came into Saturday with the fifth-worst ERA in the Majors is going to need to turn things around if the Tigers are to be successful in the second half of the season.

"I'm not concerned about anything," Leyland said. "It's very simple -- this is not acceptable. And somebody needs to step it up."

Chris Vannini is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers reward Porcello's solid outing

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 7/3/2011 4:17 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Rick Porcello said after his last start that he needed to mix things up, that he had become too predictable in his pitching. What followed Sunday, few would've predicted, and not just from him.

It wasn't just the 6-3 win over the Giants to salvage a game from the series and stop the bleeding from a pitching staff that yielded 51 runs over a five-game stretch for the first time in seven years.

Not many would've foreseen a sinkerball, contact pitcher like Porcello hitting three batters, throwing three wild pitches and earning a quality start as well as his first victory since June 7. Just four other Major League pitchers since 1901 had done it, regardless of result, according to research on baseball-reference.com, and only Victor Zambrano in 2003 had gotten the win and the quality start out of it.

"He had some innings where he was effectively wild," catcher Alex Avila said.

Fewer would've predicted the game hinging on a diving attempt at a catch from Ryan Raburn, the left fielder turned second baseman who was moved back out to left field for defense just before Aaron Rowand's sinking line drive in the eighth inning. With two on and two out in what was then a 4-3 game, any ball past him would've surely cost them.

Instead, the denial earned Raburn a standing ovation from a crowd that has been less than sympathetic to struggles over the last few weeks.

"He hit it," Raburn said, "and I took off for it."

Though Magglio Ordonez's go-ahead single an inning earlier might've been predictable, ringing true to his track record as a run producer, the fact that it came off a mid-90s fastball from Santiago Casilla might have seemed a little tougher for someone who had to regain his bat speed after an injury-slowed start.

The insurance runs that followed in the ninth inning, when Brandon Inge defied his sub-.200 average with a two-run triple into the gap, might've been the most unexpected -- even though Inge has been feeling good about his swing for several days since coming back from mononucleosis.

"I've felt unbelievable at the plate," Inge said. "I've felt like my old self at the plate. But it's hard to block out [the struggles]. I've probably strung together probably four or five at-bats back to back, great at-bats in my book, but no results. It is good every once in a while to get rewarded."

The resulting win was a reward for a brutal week of lopsided losses and close wins, and an end to an Interleague Play stretch that the Tigers would probably like to forget. Detroit 's 7-11 record against the National League marked the first losing Interleague record in manager Jim Leyland's six-year stretch as Tigers manager.

At the same time, the combination of a Tigers win and an Indians loss crept Detroit back to within a half-game of first-place Cleveland in the American League Central. It also reclaimed a game of breathing space for the Tigers over the third-place White Sox, now three games back of Detroit and 3 1/2 games out of first place.

"It wasn't an easy game by any means," Porcello said. "But it was definitely a game that we needed, especially going on the road here to finish up this first half. We had to go out there and get it done any way possible."

Porcello's early command made that possibility seem a little dim. After a three-game losing streak in which opponents seemingly were on his sinker, Porcello entered Sunday on a mission to find a better mix, and he spent a lot of time trying to find the secondary pitches to keep hitters honest.

He battled the Giants, but he also battled himself. He hit batters in the third, fourth and fifth innings, starting with a pitch off Miguel Tejada that nearly set up San Francisco to blow open its lead after Aubrey Huff walked and scored in the third.

Emmanuel Burriss reached base on a hit-by-pitch in the fifth and scored on a wild pitch, with Pablo Sandoval's double in between. Another wild pitch advanced Sandoval to score on Cody Ross' RBI single.

That was the last hit Porcello (7-6) allowed. He retired eight of the final nine batters he faced, with a Miguel Cabrera errant drop accounting for the lone runner. Porcello's six strikeouts, many on sliders, marked his highest total since mid-April, and his eight swings and misses from Giants hitters was his highest total in four starts.

"I think the main thing was I was able to locate my fastball down in the zone more, especially early on," Porcello said. "That was a big difference. Also, we were throwing some off-speed stuff for strikes and getting some good swing and misses. I think that definitely helped."

As Leyland put it, Porcello stepped up. If the Tigers are going places this summer, they desperately need that. If they were going to go into this coming week with a fresh bullpen, they had to have it.

"Rick was what the doctor ordered today," Leyland said. "He came up big with us."

So did Inge, Raburn and Ordonez. But nobody could've fit that so easily into a prescription for a Tigers victory.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Furbush shows promise in loss to Angels
By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 7/4/2011 11:50 PM ET

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ANAHEIM -- Charlie Furbush had to challenge Torii Hunter on a first-inning fastball and lost it over the center-field fence. He just about lost his balance mid-delivery in the third inning and had to hold onto the ball for a run-scoring balk. Both were rookie moments.

As the worst moments of Furbush's first Major League start Monday night, though, it wasn't bad. He didn't end up with a victory, not with seven innings of one-run ball from Joel Pineiro for a 5-1 Tigers loss to the Angels. But for a rotation in need of some stability after three rough starts last week and a pitching coach change Sunday, Furbush left with fewer questions than he had entering the day.

He did nothing to indicate he couldn't be a Major League starter, which was the question manager Jim Leyland wrestled for quite a while before making the rotation change.

Furbush moved from lefty reliever to big league starter after Phil Coke struggled mightily last Wednesday against the Mets. Leyland made the move more because he knew Phil Coke wasn't the answer than any conviction he had that Furbush was.

"Usually the other team tells you," Leyland said before the game. "But he's got the pitches to be a starter. That's a leg up."

The repertoire was on display -- at least a dozen each of four-seam fastballs, two-seamers, curveballs and changeups over 65 pitches. He racked up six strikeouts over his 4 2/3 innings, and didn't allow consecutive base hits at any point. His downfall came down as much to the Tigers' own offensive struggles with runners on base as his own.

Furbush's aforementioned balk completed Angels speedster Peter Bourjos' trip around the bases in the third inning. After a leadoff single, he stole second and third base with room to spare. Furbush's misstep allowed him to trot home for a 2-0 Angels lead.

Jhonny Peralta's two-out single halved the Halos' advantage, but the Tigers struggled to convert any other chances off Pineiro (4-3), who improved to 8-3 in his career against Detroit. A leadoff double from Alex Avila went unrewarded in the third inning after Ryan Raburn and Brandon Inge failed to advance him.

One of those halted rallies was squarely to the credit of Bourjos after Brennan Boesch's leadoff single and Magglio Ordonez's four-pitch walk put two on with nobody out. Miguel Cabrera followed with a line drive to deep center field, but Bourjos made a leaping catch as he crashed into the fence. Pineiro escaped from there with a double-play ground ball from Victor Martinez.

Another double play, this one off Inge's bat, halted a rally that began with a Peralta double. Added together, the Tigers went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Erick Aybar's two-out blooper for an RBI single ended Furbush's night in the fifth. He threw 45 of his 65 pitches for strikes.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Frustrated Verlander drops duel with Haren

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 7/6/2011 3:00 AM ET

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ANAHEIM -- The last time Justin Verlander pitched at Angel Stadium, he needed 125 pitches to throw five innings of four-run ball early last season, and he won. He said that game that he didn't feel like he deserved it, the way he pitched.

His return Tuesday night might well have been karma.

Verlander's win streak was going to end at some point, so perhaps it was fitting that it ended in a 1-0 duel with the Angels and fellow right-hander Dan Haren. He didn't fall without a fight, or at least an argument.

He wasn't the only one.

"He was terrific. I mean, he was absolutely terrific," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said of Verlander. "And Dan Haren was terrific. You saw two very, very good pitchers pitch a terrific game. They got one run. We got none.

"But it's a shame. If you guys are right about what you saw, then it should've been a scoreless game."

Considering Leyland had just written a check to Major League Baseball earlier in the day to pay the fine from his ejection last week, he didn't want to say too much about the call in question that put Howard Kendrick on base to score the lone run in the second inning. The way Haren was pitching, he could've kept the Tigers scoreless well into the night, having pitched a two-hit shutout.

The Angels had their opportunities to add on runs, including a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fifth, but Verlander shut them down from there.

"In this game, I know that if I give up anything more than one right there, it's probably game over," Verlander said. "I try to do anything I can to not let them cross the plate there, especially the way Dan was throwing. I know from the flip side of it, a one-run game is a little bit different than a two-run game, especially the way he was pounding the strike zone and keeping guys off balance. With a one-run game, somebody can run into one and it's a tie game."

Verlander kept it there. But the longer he did, the bigger the call loomed, and the higher the emotions on the Tigers' side. By the end of the night, there were more guys run from the game than runs scored. Leyland, Verlander and even Rick Porcello -- who was never in the game -- were all ejected, along with Angels DH Bobby Abreu.

The loss dropped the Tigers (45-42) to three games over .500 for the first time since June 4. Detroit has lost six of its last eight games and 11 of 18 since taking two out of three from the first-place Cleveland Indians in mid-June.

Three of their seven victories in that stretch came from Verlander (11-4), who had won seven consecutive starts and nine straight decisions since his April 27 loss to the Mariners.

Verlander retired his first four batters he faced until Kendrick hit a ground ball to short that forced Jhonny Peralta to range. Peralta lobbed a throw to All-Star Final Vote candidate Victor Martinez, getting a night at first base.

First-base umpire Joe West ruled that Kendrick beat the throw. Replays showed that Martinez had the ball before Kendrick's foot hit the bag, but Kendrick nonetheless had the infield single.

"I obviously went out [to argue] about the play at first base," Leyland said, "but I don't need to tell you guys. You saw the play, so you write what you saw."

That hit put the runner on base, but it was an aggressive play from the Angels that brought him in. Once Verlander fell behind on a 2-0 count and had to challenge him with a fastball, Kendrick took off on a hit-and-run. Aybar turned on it, sending it past Martinez and toward the right-field corner. Once right fielder Magglio Ordonez whirled and fired to second base, Kendrick was waved home.

"It was a great ball by the third-base coach [Dino Ebel], good baserunning by Kendrick on a great call," Leyland said. "He saw [Ordonez] coming up to throw to second and he continued waving him. It was a great call. Too bad that's how they got their run."

It was no doubt still on Leyland's mind when he and West got into another argument after the fifth inning, one that brought West to the dugout railing to eject Leyland from the game.

It was not quite on Verlander's mind by then, mainly because he had to work like crazy to prevent the Angels from adding on once two soft singles and a four-pitch walk loaded the bases with one out in the fifth.

What followed was some of the best pitching in the tightest situation Verlander has faced all year. Verlander fell behind on another 2-0 count to Jeff Mathis, then powered up three straight fastballs at 98-99 mph. His finishing pitch was a curveball off the outside corner that sent down Mathis swinging.

Maicer Izturis popped out on a first-pitch, 99-mph fastball.

From there, Verlander tried to overpower Torii Hunter, 12-for-36 off Verlander entering the night. He hit 100 mph twice out of seven fastballs, and clocked another at 99, but Hunter connected on a 96-mph heater on the final pitch for a sinking liner that Austin Jackson caught near his shoestrings.

"I've had similar situations in the past," Verlander said. "The difference with that one was, once I got to 3-2, I didn't try to overthrow it. I tried to hit my spot. Made my pitch. He hit it hard, luckily to Austin."

Verlander scattered seven hits with eight strikeouts before acting manager Lloyd McClendon pulled him with two out in the eighth. Verlander didn't say anything to McClendon, but he had plenty for West, who ejected him. It was an odd end to a memorable stretch of pitching.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Miggy's blast puts Tigers over the top

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 7/6/2011 9:07 PM ET

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ANAHEIM -- Brad Penny was staring at a three-run deficit in the first inning as new pitching coach Jeff Jones ambled out to the mound to give the right-hander a chance to catch his breath. The Tigers were staring at a potential series sweep in Anaheim, having scored one run in the first two games before missing a chance at some first-inning offense with two on and nobody out on Wednesday.

Give the Tigers credit: As maddening as their play can be for stretches, as discouraging as things can look during the bad times, they pick themselves up pretty well. After Miguel Cabrera's go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh inning helped power the Tigers back for a 5-4 win over the Angels, they had the feel of a team that had just gathered itself.

It was far from the first time. In fact, it has been a habit lately. But with everything that has happened over the past week and a half, everyone agreed it was big.

"It was a heckuva win," manager Jim Leyland said. "It really was. To me, that's one of the better wins of the season. Our team, rough night last night, real quick turnaround, against a team that's hot, to go down 3-0 and come back, that showed me something."

The stats seem to bear it out. The Tigers have played six three-game series and a makeup game since taking two out of three against Cleveland to vault into first place. They're 1-11 over the first two games of those series. Yet they've won all six finales.

Detroit does damage control pretty well. The club will have a hard time surviving that way with four games coming up in Kansas City this weekend before the All-Star break, but the state of affairs could easily be worse.

"I don't think things are so bad," Leyland said. "We just have to get ourselves straightened out a little bit and keep going."

Things could've been far worse Wednesday.

"We stay together and battle," said Ramon Santiago, who scored the tying run on Andy Dirks' RBI single ahead of Cabrera's homer. "We keep steady and fight."

Said Brandon Inge: "Some teams are going to come in and they're going to have a day and they're just going pound the ball for runs and there's nothing you can about it. The good teams, once you get beat like that, they bounce back.

"When we're down three runs, we didn't go back and think, 'Poor me.' We battled back against them. That's what winning teams do."

The top of the first was a missed opportunity for the middle of the Tigers lineup against Angels rookie Tyler Chatwood, who walked Austin Jackson to lead off the game and allowed a single to Santiago. However, both were stranded as Chatwood fanned Dirks and Cabrera before inducing a Victor Martinez popout. The bottom of the inning was what Brad Penny called an "absolutely terrible" assortment of hittable strikes that led to four straight hits, and Jones' visit.

Penny caught himself in a veteran moment.

"When I was younger, I probably wouldn't have lasted three innings," Penny said. "Less is more. I'm trying to mix it up and mess their timing up. When I was younger, I would've been out there trying to throw 100. With this team, we can win a game with three runs [allowed]. We've got eight innings to play. Anything can happen."

Plenty did. It was all on the Tigers' side.

Penny allowed as many baserunners over the rest of his outing -- six innings' worth -- as he did in that five-batter stretch. Half of his four baserunners were erased on double-play ground balls from Angels cleanup hitter Vernon Wells, who had grounded into just four double plays all year but was just 1-for-12 off Penny entering the day.

"I think after that first inning, my focus got better," Penny said.

When Wells drove in the Angels' first run, he made Penny pay for a 2-0 fastball that was overthrown. Next time up, with one out in the third and Torii Hunter on first, he took something off the fastball and induced a ground ball to third. Inge nearly threw the ball into the dirt trying to start the double play, but Santiago picked it.

Another double-play grounder to third from Wells erased a Bobby Abreu walk in the sixth.

"Penny's stuff picked up after the first inning," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He was up a little bit [in the zone], and we took advantage of some opportunities and got three on the board. As the game went on, he definitely hit better spots and brought his breaking stuff into the game and kept us off-balance."

By settling down, Penny (6-6) eventually put himself in line for his first win since June 5. The veteran had four quality starts over the course of his five-game winless streak, but he lost the quality distinction once Mark Trumbo chased him with a one-out solo homer in the seventh.

By then, Cabrera's shot had pulled the Tigers ahead. The slugger came up after Jackson drew his third walk of the game and Dirks singled in the tying run. Scioscia lifted lefty Hisanori Takahashi in favor of rookie Michael Kohn to face Cabrera, who fouled off a 1-0 fastball on the outside corner, but didn't miss the next one spotted on the inner half.

Cabrera's 18th home run of the year was his first since he was left out of next week's Home Run Derby as part of All-Star festivities. He'll gladly take the homers that count.

"Yeah," Cabrera said. "I hope I hit a lot more."

Once All-Star closer Jose Valverde worked the ninth for his 21st save in as many chances, the Tigers could finally relax. Again, they had ended a series on a better note than they had started.

"We could've called it in and gone to Kansas City," Leyland said, "but we didn't."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Homers help Scherzer hang 10 against KC

By Adam Holt / MLB.com | 7/8/2011 12:50 AM ET

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KANSAS CITY -- Max Scherzer needed just one more out to end the seventh inning. Sure, there were two men on, with Jeff Francoeur reaching on a dribbler to third base and beating out the throw. But the Tigers starter had allowed just one run to this point on six scattered hits. He had only thrown 88 pitches and held a one-run lead. "Nope," Scherzer said.

Leyland brought in Phil Coke, who got the out and combined with Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde to preserve the lead en route to a 3-1 win over the Royals on Thursday at Kauffman Stadium.

Scherzer picked up his 10th victory in 14 decisions and limited the Royals to the one run -- an RBI groundout by Mike Moustakas in the fifth inning -- with zero walks. But Leyland didn't want to see his young pitcher's night unravel in the seventh.

"It's pretty simple. I wasn't going to let him get hurt," Leyland said. "The guy had hit a foul ball before, the guy before that had hit one long. He was only at about 88 pitches, but I wasn't going to let him -- after pitching that good -- I wasn't going to let him make one mistake, somebody hit a three-run homer."

Kansas City starter Danny Duffy made the one mistake in the pitching duel, giving up a two-run home run in the second inning to Ryan Raburn. The 393-foot shot into the Royals' bullpen gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead.

"It wasn't a bad pitch, it was down but he went and got it," Duffy said. "It just must have been the exact coordinates on a map that he was thinking it was going to be."

Duffy was a rock from that point on, finishing six innings while allowing just the two runs on four hits, while striking out six.

But Scherzer was better. He only struck two out, but got big ground ball outs and didn't run into any jams until he was finally taken out of the game. The Royals got just one extra-base hit off of Scherzer, a double by Eric Hosmer in the fifth inning.

"I thought he got the ball down better than he had been," Leyland said. "That's the one thing we're concentrating on, we're really trying to emphasize, and I thought he did that better tonight."

It was the first start where Scherzer allowed one or fewer runs since June 11, when he went seven innings and gave up one run in a win over the Mariners. It also helped take some of the sting off his last start, a nine-run (six earned), two-inning performance against the Giants where he gave up two home runs.

Royals manager Ned Yost had praise for the right-hander as well.

"I thought he threw the ball well," Yost said. "I thought he was effectively wild. He changed speeds well. He threw a lot of balls that were hittable, but changed speed on 'em and disrupted our timing to the point where we got a lot of fly-ball outs."

Don Kelly, who came into the game in the seventh inning as a defensive replacement for Magglio Ordonez, hit a solo home run off of Aaron Crow in the ninth inning to push the Tigers' lead to two runs.

Valverde made things interesting in the ninth, cruising through his first two batters before running into trouble. He walked Hosmer, and Francoeur beat out an infield grounder to short, to put men at first and third. Moustakas flew out to left to end the game. Valverde is now 22-for-22 in save opportunities.

Center fielder Austin Jackson came out of the game in the third inning with a sore left wrist. Leyland said Jackson had been battling a bit of an issue with his wrist earlier, but that it wasn't anything to worry about.

Adam Holt is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers gain on Tribe by beating Royals

By Adam Holt / MLB.com | 7/9/2011 1:30 AM ET

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KANSAS CITY -- If Thursday's game between the Tigers and Royals was a pitching duel, then Friday's starting pitching matchup started out as a battle of endurance.

Namely, which pitcher could absorb more runs and hits before being pulled from the game. Instead, both Detroit's Rick Porcello and Kansas City's Kyle Davies settled down, turning what looked initially to be a slugfest into a grind-it-out battle.

The Tigers nailed Davies for five early runs en route to a 6-4 win on Friday at Kauffman Stadium.

The win, combined with Cleveland's loss to Toronto, moved the Tigers to one-half game back of first place in the American League Central.

Detroit got a two-run home run from Magglio Ordonez in the first inning, and added runs in the second and third frames to take a 5-2 lead.

Despite the early leads, the Royals battled back, getting runs on Alex Gordon's single and Jeff Francoeur's sacrifice fly in the first to tie the game at 2.

"We did a great job of putting a two-spot early, the last thing I want to do is go out there and give up some runs, but that's the way it worked out," Porcello said. "It was definitely a battle, it wasn't an easy game, but we were able to squeak one out."

The Royals clawed back to within one run in the seventh inning. Reliever David Purcey walked Wilson Betemit and then gave up an RBI double to Melky Cabrera to make it 5-4. He struck out Gordon before Lester Oliveros came in and got Billy Butler to ground out and end the inning.

Detroit added an insurance run to push the lead back to two runs in the ninth. With runners at first and third and one out, Brennan Boesch hit a double-play ball to second base, but Andy Dirks' takeout slide kept Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar from making a throw, allowing Ryan Raburn to score from third and make it 6-4.

Dirks turned out to be the key player in the inning, reaching on a ball hit to first baseman Eric Hosmer and moving Raburn to third without losing an out. Royals reliever Tim Collins didn't cover first, setting up the rest of the inning.

"I froze," Collins said. "Maybe it just didn't click or register right away. That's something I take pride in and I'm more ticked off about that than anything. I hate losing, but your job as a pitcher is not only pitching, but you've got to field your position and I didn't do it."

Jose Valverde stayed perfect in save opportunities, converting his 23rd, but made things interesting for the second night in a row. Brayan Pena singled to start the ninth, and Valverde issued two-out walks to Cabrera and Gordon that filled the bases for Butler.

"I had full confidence in him," Porcello said with a laugh. "He'll make it interesting sometimes, but he gets the job done. There's nobody else I'd rather have out there. He's doing a great job."

Butler flew out to right to end the game, and Valverde never seemed rattled during the inning. The extra breathing room afforded by the ninth-inning run turned out to be a mental boost for the Tigers.

"Huge. That club over there battled their [butt] off. So did we," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "You saw they were still battling right up to the end, they're not going to give you anything."

The last six innings of the game came in stark contrast to the first three. Detroit collected five runs in the first three innings off Davies, while Porcello gave up three. Both starters had been laboring: Davies needed 69 pitches to finish three innings, while Porcello threw 70.

But Davies gave up just three more hits from then on, completing six innings. He allowed the five runs on nine hits and three walks, while striking out four.

"He changed. He did a hell of a job making an adjustment," Leyland said of Davies. "He started going to his curveball more and that threw us off. I give him a lot of credit -- what really could have been a rough night for him, he ended up actually pitching pretty good."

Porcello finished 5 1/3 innings, giving up three runs, although just one was earned, on six hits with one walk and five strikeouts.

In addition to his ninth-inning play, Dirks was able to put on a good show for family and friends in attendance. The native of nearby Hutchinson, Kan., started the game with a double and scored on Ordonez's home run. He finished 3-for-5 with a run scored.

Adam Holt is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers' early struggles costly against KC

By Adam Holt / MLB.com | 7/10/2011 12:45 AM ET

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KANSAS CITY -- Major League start No. 2 was not kind to Charlie Furbush.

The rookie starter gave up nine runs in just 2 2/3 innings, and although Royals starter Luke Hochevar seemed intent on keeping the visitors in the game, the Tigers fell, 13-6, on Saturday at Kauffman Stadium.

Just four of the runs Furbush allowed were earned, as two Detroit errors led to eight unearned runs in the game. The seventh inning was the first in which both teams failed to score a run.

For Tigers manager Jim Leyland, the final score said everything about the game.

"Really, at any level, when you score six, seven runs, you're supposed to win," Leyland said. "And when you don't, that means probably a combination of two things: You didn't pitch very well and you didn't play very good defense."

Despite being down seven runs after three innings, the Tigers roared back to cut the deficit to 9-6, chasing Hochevar from the game in the fourth inning. Down 9-2, Detroit loaded the bases with none out and scored runs on a throwing error, singles by Ramon Santiago and Brennan Boesch and a bases-loaded walk by Victor Martinez.

"I shouldn't say we felt good, but we felt like we had a shot, it was in reach," Leyland said.

The Royals kept hitting though, getting a run off Adam Wilk in the fifth and adding three more unearned runs in the sixth. Jeff Francoeur reached base on an error by Ryan Raburn and later scored, along with Wilson Betemit, on Alcides Escobar's triple.

Furbush struggled with his command and saw a lot of balls get hit through holes in the defense. The left-hander gave up nine hits and walked two, throwing 79 pitches before being pulled.

The lefty managed to escape the first inning with just one run allowed on a fielder's choice, despite having the bases loaded with one out. He loaded the bases again in the second, having already given up one run, and allowed a two-run single to Billy Butler to give the Royals a 4-0 lead.

"You've just got to tip their cap," Furbush said. "They were getting some hits, finding holes and playing some good baseball. Can't do much about it."

Detroit got two runs off the bats of Boesch and Miguel Cabrera in the third inning to cut the deficit in half.

But in the third inning, the Royals plated five two-out runs. Furbush walked Matt Treanor after retiring the first two Royals that inning, then Escobar reached on a throwing error by shortstop Santiago. The Royals followed with two RBI singles and a 412-foot home run by Alex Gordon to center field.

"The three-run home run by Gordon was probably the touch-off," Leyland said. "But really, before that, he just wasn't good. He was behind too many hitters early. And then when he did get ahead, he made some bad pitches. So, he just had a bad night."

Hochevar's night wasn't exceptional either. He was pulled after the Tigers scored four in the fourth, lasting 3 2/3 while giving up nine hits and six runs, along with three walks.

However, chasing Hochevar from the game didn't work out well for Detroit. Relievers Greg Holland and Everett Teaford combined to throw 5 1/3 scoreless innings, holding the Tigers to three hits from the fifth inning on.

"I don't like using Holland in the fourth inning, but they were coming, they were on the attack, and we had to bring in one of our better guys right there to shut it down and get us through the fifth and the sixth, and then get the other guys involved," Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Furbush fell to 0-2 with an 8.59 ERA in his two starts and was optioned to Triple-A Toledo after the game.

"I don't think he had his command of his fastball today," said Boesch who went 3-for-5 with two RBIs. "And in the big leagues, that'll usually spell some problems. He's a good pitcher, he's got good stuff, so as long he keeps working, I think he'll be fine."

The Tigers also missed out a chance to take the lead in the American League Central, as the division-leading Indians lost, 5-4, to the Blue Jays. Detroit remains one-half game back.

"Tonight's over with," Boesch said. "But it's definitely a little bit frustrating."

Adam Holt is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Verlander earns 12th; Tigers in first place

By Adam Holt / MLB.com | 7/10/2011 7:00 PM ET

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KANSAS CITY -- In their last game before the All-Star break to finish a stretch of 37 games in 38 days, the Tigers looked like they might cruise to an easy win.

Right-hander Justin Verlander breezed through his first seven innings, allowing zero runs on just four hits. But on a hot afternoon where the heat index hit 113 degrees, even the Tigers' ace buckled a bit in the eighth inning as the Royals banged out two one-out singles and later scored their first run.

So, the four-time All-Star handed the game over to the bullpen, which preserved the lead and helped Verlander notch his 12th win as the Tigers prevailed, 2-1, on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium.

The win, combined with Cleveland's loss to Toronto, moved Detroit one-half game atop the American League Central standings at the break. The Tigers also took three of the four games against the Royals.

"I really just tried not to do too much, I tried to take it easy, leave some in the tank for when I needed it," Verlander said. "I knew it'd be a grind out there, as hot as it was, so I really took my time in between pitches. Just tried to slow things down a little bit and I think that helped."

Verlander (12-4) and Atlanta's Jair Jurrjens are tied for second in the Major Leagues with a dozen wins, one behind Yankees ace CC Sabathia for the overall lead. Verlander also became the first Tigers pitcher to reach 12 wins before the All-Star break since Jack Morris in 1987.

And while Detroit's offense didn't do a whole lot to back Verlander, the right-hander didn't need a whole lot of help, scattering six hits in 7 2/3 innings to go along with nine strikeouts. The one run was unearned.

It was the 13th time in 20 starts this season that Verlander pitched into the eighth inning. Detroit improved to 39-21 when its starter goes at least six innings, and given the intense heat on Sunday, Verlander's start was even more impressive.

The Royals were threatening with Alcides Escobar and Chris Getz at second and third with one out in the eighth, but Verlander got a fly out from Melky Cabrera. Alex Gordon hit a ground ball to third that should have ended the inning, but Brandon Inge's throw was high -- allowing Escobar to score and Gordon to reach safely.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland didn't let it get any further, bringing in Joaquin Benoit, who struck out Billy Butler to end the threat and preserve the one-run lead.

"Other than Verlander, the hero of the game was Joaquin Benoit, when he struck Butler out with two guys on," Leyland said. "That was the biggest out of the game.

"[Butler] got a couple of big RBIs last night. He's a great hitter. I'm not sure exactly what the numbers are, but he's the one guy that's had pretty good success against Verlander. At that point in the game, [Verlander was] tired, I wasn't going to let him face him."

The move worked out, and closer Jose Valverde worked another eventful ninth for his 24th save.

Eric Hosmer hit a leadoff double, but Jeff Francoeur went down swinging for the first out. With Mike Moustakas at the plate, Hosmer took off for third. Catcher Alex Avila's throw to Inge was a little late, but Inge blocked the bag with his foot and tagged Hosmer for a big second out.

"Late in the game like that -- I don't do it all the time. I don't feel like it's, dirty or not, I don't know," Inge said of blocking the bag. "I don't think it's dirty. It's just from catching instincts -- late in the game, I do not want him to get to that base.

"Plus, after flubbing a play earlier in the game, I'm gonna make sure I shut him down right there."

Hosmer thought he was safe, but didn't offer an argument.

"I know I got it in there, my hand was in there," Hosmer said. "But it's a tough call, bang-bang play, that's how it goes."

Moustakas grounded out to short to end the game.

The Tigers got on the board first after Casper Wells doubled to lead off the fourth inning. He eventually scored on a hard ground-ball base hit by Brennan Boesch, his third RBI single in two games.

Detroit added another run in the sixth inning when Wells drew a one-out walk. After stealing second for his first career stolen base, he scored on a Magglio Ordonez single to center.

For most of the game though, the Tigers couldn't figure out Kansas City starter Jeff Francis. The veteran left-hander notched six strikeouts, including two each on Ryan Raburn and Avila. He finished six innings, allowing just two runs on four hits and a walk.

"Francis really pitched good," Leyland said. "That's a pitcher. He tries to take advantage of your aggressiveness, that's what he does, and he does it really well."

Despite a nice first half, Verlander -- who also leads the AL in WHIP and is third in ERA at 2.15 -- knows the Tigers need to keep winning after the break, something they haven't done in recent years.

"Looking back at the first half, it's pretty doggone good. You can't be satisfied with just a good first half though," he said. "We want to win the division, go to the World Series."

Adam Holt is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Verlander stumbles out of second-half gate

By Chris Vannini / MLB.com | 7/16/2011 12:10 AM ET

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DETROIT -- Over the past month and a half, it appeared no one could get to Justin Verlander.

But all it took was one outing to bring everyone back to reality. Verlander gave up five runs -- four earned -- in six innings as the White Sox picked up a game on the Tigers with an 8-2 win on Friday night at Comerica Park.

"He certainly wasn't at the top of his game, but he wasn't that bad," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "The one inning that they scored, they didn't hit a lot of balls hard. He did make a couple of mistakes with breaking balls over the course of the game. He just wasn't really on top of his game, totally, but certainly wasn't that bad."

Verlander retired the first seven batters, but after Gordon Beckham reached on a single, the gates opened for the White Sox.

Mark Teahen followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Juan Pierre's bunt attempt couldn't be handled by Miguel Cabrera as Pierre reached safely and Chicago took a 1-0 lead. After a flyout, Paul Konerko walked. A single from Adam Dunn scored two more runs and Carlos Quentin added another run on a single before a ground ball to third ended the inning.

"Yeah, we just kind of scraped by a little bit tonight it seemed like," Beckham said. "I know in the inning where we first scored the runs, we kind of battled up there and managed to find some holes."

Every hit in the inning other than the Pierre bunt came on an offspeed pitch from Verlander. Despite that, Verlander felt the White Sox didn't hit anything hard and he could live with the pitches he made.

"I left a changeup up to Dunn," Verlander said. "He hit it sharply in the hole in that four-run inning. Other than that, slider off the plate to Quentin and he hit it off the end of the bat and found a hole. Pierre had a bunt, Beckham got jammed, hit a jam job down the left-field line that fell in.

"That's kind of the way things go in this game. Guys are going to find holes sometimes. Sometimes it's just their night. Obviously, I'm extremely disappointed with the results, but I'm not too disappointed at the way I threw the ball."

It was the first time since Aug. 3, 2009 that an opponent batted around against Verlander. On that day, Verlander gave up five runs in the first inning against the Orioles.

Verlander was done after six innings and 110 pitches, matching his shortest start of the season. He had given up four earned runs combined in his previous seven starts.

"I have had a game [this season] where things found holes, but not in succession up to tonight," Verlander said. "But in my career, I've had that happen numerous times, so it's not like I didn't know how to deal with it. You've just got to step back, and realize that, 'Hey, it's not the end of the world.

"'You made your pitch, they put it in play and it found a hole. Let's try to get the next guy out.'"

Verlander had won his past seven starts against the White Sox, so manager Ozzie Guillen was glad his team was able to get after the pitcher.

"Our offense went after them very well," Guillen said. "I think [Verlander], to me, is the best pitcher in the game right now. We made him throw a lot of pitches and we did not swing at bad pitches.

"I don't think Justin was sharp at all. He struggled from the beginning of the game trying to find the strike zone and we took advantage of that. The way the shadows [were], you couldn't see the ball well and he couldn't find the rhythm."

The Tigers cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth when Cabrera hit a two-run home run to left field.

In the top of the fifth, Pierre reached on a fielding error by Ryan Raburn and later scored on a fielder's choice by Quentin to extend the lead to 5-2.

In the sixth inning, Cabrera singled for the 1,500th hit of his career, prompting the crowd at Comerica Park to give him a standing ovation.

"He's a great player, there's no question about that," Leyland said of Cabrera. "Great players get a lot of hits and he's got a lot more to come. So, certainly, he's one of those guys you're thrilled to death to be his manager. This is a star. That doesn't mean you're not thrilled to manage everybody, but that's a nice touch. Like I said, he's got a lot more hits to look forward to."

The White Sox added three runs in the seventh inning against relievers Lester Oliveros and David Purcey.

The Tigers loaded the bases in eighth and ninth innings but could not scratch a run across.

Friday's loss was just Detroit's third in the past 16 games against the White Sox. With 45 of the team's remaining 69 games against American League Central opponents, the Tigers, who fell a game behind the Indians for first place, know those are the most important games.

"We've got a lot of games in the division, so if you're going to win our division, you've got to beat our division," Cabrera said. "We've got to go get it tomorrow. We've got to play better and try to get [a win] tomorrow."

Chris Vannini is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers shut down in Guillen's return

By Chris Vannini / MLB.com | 7/16/2011 9:20 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Heading into the All-Star break, the Tigers were one of the top run-scoring teams in the Majors but had one of the highest ERAs.

Two games into the second half, the opposite has happened, as the White Sox defeated the Tigers, 5-0, on Saturday, for their second straight win in the series.

Coming into the day, both starters -- Max Scherzer for Detroit and Edwin Jackson for Chicago -- had ERAs over 4.00. But both pitched very well and stayed in a groove. Only clutch hitting from the White Sox was the difference in who picked up the win and who was saddled with the loss.

"Both starting pitchers were really good," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "Scherzer was terrific and Jackson was very good. We just didn't get anything on the board. We hit a few balls hard, we had a few chances, we got some guys on the bases, but we just couldn't deliver the big hit. Obviously, they got a couple big ones and we didn't."

Scherzer went eight innings and gave up two earned runs on eight hits. Carlos Quentin led off the second inning with a solo home run on a 3-1 fastball to give the White Sox a 1-0 lead.

In the third inning, Juan Pierre hit a one-out single, stole second and advanced to third on a groundout. A 3-2 slider to Paul Konerko with two outs caught too much of the plate and he was able to drive it for a single to score Pierre.

Scherzer allowed four hits in his final five innings of work, matching his longest start of the season. He last went eight innings on May 4 against the Yankees.

"I felt pretty good, considering I had eight days off," Scherzer said. "I was able to find the strike zone, execute pitches. I pitched with all three pitches today. Obviously, I got hurt a couple times with a couple mistakes, really just one. The Quentin one, that happens when it's a 3-1 fastball. Obviously, you don't want to walk him there.

"I left a pitch up against Konerko and he was able to hit it in the hole for another run."

Despite a solid outing from Scherzer, whose ERA was 4.69 heading into Saturday, the Tigers couldn't muster any support for him.

Jackson threw a 101-pitch shutout, scattering nine hits along the way.

The Tigers had their chances, but didn't make Jackson pay, as Detroit went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base.

The Tigers put runners at first and second with one out in the third, but Brennan Boesch struck out and Magglio Ordonez grounded into a forceout.

Carlos Guillen played his first Major League game since Aug. 16 of last season and played well, but grounded out with runners at second and third with two outs in the sixth inning. Guillen finished 1-for-4 and was solid in the field at second base.

"Every time we had guys on base, we'd hit it right at them," Tigers catcher Alex Avila said. "It was one of those things where, on their side, besides the Quentin home run, it was a lot of well-placed base hits, just getting through the right spots. Looking back on the game, there's not much more you can do. We had the guys on base, put good swings on the ball and just hit it right at guys."

Jackson entered Saturday with a 4.30 ERA, but the Tigers were stymied for the second straight game.

"[Jackson] was awesome today," White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham said. "I looked up in the ninth and he had one out with 88 pitches or something like that. I couldn't believe that. He was really good. He kept them down, a really good hitting team, down the whole game. When you get that, you gotta win."

The White Sox sealed the game in the ninth inning when they scored three more runs off Jose Valverde.

Valverde is 24-for-24 in save opportunities this season, but has struggled in non-save situations, when opponents are hitting .304 off him.

"I think the three runs in the ninth were huge against Valverde," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "Valverde, we never do anything against him. Those three runs were the biggest of the game, even when we were up by two."

In his first action of the season, Carlos Guillen said he felt good and Leyland said he looked fine, although he said he wouldn't pass judgment after one game.

"It was good, exciting," Carlos Guillen said. "Unfortunately we lost, but that's part of the season."

The Tigers have now lost two straight games to the White Sox after taking 13 of the previous 15. Chicago is moving back up the American League Central standings.

Justin Verlander has been the only consistent Tigers starter this season, and if the team is going to stay in the race for the division crown, the other starters are going to need to step up. Although the run support wasn't there, better outings from Scherzer, such as Saturday, are encouraging for the Tigers.

"I just want to go out there and pitch my best," Scherzer said. "I want to be a part of this team, help this team win. I feel like if I can pitch deep into games, it helps this team win."

Chris Vannini is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Rally temporarily quells Tigers' ghosts

By Chris Vannini / MLB.com | 7/17/2011 7:00 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Tigers manager Jim Leyland knows about the rumblings from fans about another second-half collapse.

That's partly why he knew Sunday's 4-3 comeback win over the White Sox was so important. Although he won't buy into the negativity, Leyland said the win was good for the atmosphere. It was also good for the standings, as the win moved the Tigers back into a first-place tie with the Indians in the American League Central.

"Let's face it, everybody's been talking about the second half, and I said I'm talking about the positive," Leyland said. "We're not hiding from that. ... The only way you quiet that down is to do what we did today: go win games. It's a great win for us inside the clubhouse, it's a great win for our fans today, really, because of everything."

The Tigers haven't posted a winning record after the All-Star break since 2000. Last season, the team lost six straight games after the break en route to a 33-43 second-half record.

The Tigers lost the first two games of the series to the White Sox, scoring two runs combined, and some fans were beginning to feel déjà vu when Chicago put up three runs in the second inning on Sunday.

Adam Dunn led off the inning with a double, Carlos Quentin walked and Alex Rios doubled to give Chicago a 1-0 lead. A sacrifice fly from A.J. Pierzynski scored another run and a single from Gordon Beckham gave the White Sox a 3-0 lead.

"I was terrible in the second inning, but you've just got to go out there and try to locate, focus and go as long as you can," Tigers starter Brad Penny said.

Penny struggled early, but was able to recover for the second straight start. Against the Angels on July 6, Penny gave up three runs in the first inning and didn't allow any more for the rest of his time.

Penny said he stopped throwing his breaking ball after the early struggles. He threw just one curveball after the third inning and focused on his fastball and sinker. After the second inning, Penny scattered just five hits. He left after 6 2/3 innings.

"You know what you have working for you and the catcher knows, so you're going to be on the same page. ... It's nice when [Alex Avila] switches with me without having to talk about it," Penny said. "We did it last game and we did it today."

But for the second straight game, the offense wasn't giving any support to a quality start.

Brennan Boesch hit a solo home run in the fourth inning to cut the deficit to 3-1, but White Sox starter Philip Humber held the Tigers to just four hits in five innings and had tied a career high with seven strikeouts through five.

But the Tigers finally strung together some hits in the sixth. A leadoff double by Andy Dirks was followed by a strikeout by Boesch. Magglio Ordonez earned a walk to put runners and first and second with one out. With Miguel Cabrera at the plate, Leyland sent the runners on a full count. The decision turned out to be crucial, as Cabrera grounded to the shortstop, but there was no double-play attempt.

"You know if he hits a ground ball, it's a double play if you don't send them," Leyland said. "But sometimes you're leery, too, as a manager, [if] he thinks, all of a sudden, he's got to swing because they're running, and maybe he swings out of the strike zone because they're running. That's a tough one, but Miggy's pretty good. A more undisciplined hitter, I probably wouldn't have sent them."

Victor Martinez came up, hitting .357 with runners in scoring position this season, but the Tigers were 0-for-14 in that situation in the series. Martinez hit a ground ball through the right side to score two runs and tie the game.

"You know what? I made a good pitch and he put a good swing on it," Humber said. "It kind of seems how that inning was going. I wouldn't really change anything I did as far as what pitches I threw. I actually thought I threw the ball better the last two innings than I did earlier in the game. Results were totally different."

A bloop single by Jhonny Peralta ended Humber's day, and Carlos Guillen, in his second Major League game after 11 months of rehab, drilled a line drive into right field to score Martinez and give the Tigers a 4-3 lead.

"That's how we play this game," Martinez said. "We go out there and give our best effort and see what happens."

Al Alburquerque, appearing in his second straight game since coming off the disabled list on Saturday, stranded two inherited runners to end the seventh inning. Joaquin Benoit pitched a perfect eighth inning and Jose Valverde picked up his 25th save, despite allowing the leadoff hitter to reach second base.

The 25 straight saves this season for Valverde mark the third-longest streak in a single season in Tigers history.

The Tigers fought back to move into first place and stave off any negativity of the fans -- for now. The biggest key for success in the second half likely will be Tigers starting pitching, which struggled in the first half. On Sunday, Penny gave the Tigers exactly what they needed, and the offense did the rest.

"Those three guys that threw today, that's how good we can be," Penny said of the bullpen. "If you look how Joaquin's throwing now, Alburquerque's back and Valverde. You can make it a seven-inning game, a six-inning game sometimes."

Chris Vannini is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers blast, slide past A's
Guillen, Cabrera homer; V-Mart provides laughs

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 7/20/2011 12:55 AM ET

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DETROIT -- Most Tigers players probably wouldn't have argued Victor Martinez's footwork. He has an iPad with a speaker in the clubhouse at Comerica Park, and he can get a laugh out of his teammates with a few moves.

But nobody expected that out on the field. The Tigers might have expected to dance their way out of another early deficit, scoring seven unanswered runs in an 8-3 win over the A's that included four runs on 822 feet of homers. That first run, however, caught them by surprise, and it still had them talking after the game.

"Well, that was a very acrobatic slide, I guess, to say the least," manager Jim Leyland said.

It had Miguel Cabrera smiling. His 422-foot launch to left field for his 20th home run of the season, by comparison, was humdrum for him.

"He's got a little move," Cabrera said of Martinez. "He's got a salsa move -- salsa, with meringue, with reggaeton, together."

A's catcher Kurt Suzuki wasn't quite smiling about it, but he respected it.

"He stopped and did a little dance and avoided me and that was that," Suzuki said. "He did a good job of avoiding the play."

Martinez was a little quieter about it. He might have been just as excited about Michael Cuddyer's slide home with the winning run for the Twins minutes later, sending the Indians to defeat and moving the Tigers back into a tie atop the American League Central for the second time in three days. Still, he enjoyed it.

"Sometimes," Martinez said, "we need a little thing like that to get a team going."

It wasn't only one run in the Tigers' mid-inning onslaught against former Detroit prospect Guillermo Moscoso, but it was the first run. He was on first base with two outs in the fourth inning when A's first baseman Conor Jackson was caught flat-footed on Carlos Guillen's grounder. Martinez took off as the ball rolled into foul territory, and third-base coach Gene Lamont waved him around to test right fielder David DeJesus.

The throw beat Martinez easily, so easily that he had a split second to think as Suzuki tried to lunge across the plate for the tag.

"I think that's one of those things where you don't practice that, obviously," Martinez said. "I was dead out and just trying to make something happen."

The prevailing thought for him was to step around home plate.

"He's got some great feet," Cabrera said. "He can play soccer."

He had enough of a move that he still hadn't been tagged as he was standing on the other side of the plate.

"I think when I went past home plate, he was still with his glove laid on the plate," Martinez said, "and I was like, 'Wait a minute, I think I've got a chance to [sneak] my hand here.'"

With a one-handed lunge at the plate that left Suzuki waving for a tag, he did. Suzuki didn't have an argument.

"I went to tag him and he stuck his arm under," Suzuki said, "and I was kind of put in a messed-up situation and he slid and touched the plate before I touched him."

Said Tigers starter Rick Porcello: "That was pretty good. It seems like he'd be a pretty good dancer, bouncing around."

Porcello had a less artistic escape of his own in the top of the inning, getting out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam scoreless with a force out at the plate and an inning-ending double play. He couldn't do the same in the fifth, with doubles from Suzuki and Coco Crisp fueling a three-run A's rally. But Cabrera and Carlos Guillen quickly put him back in front -- no footwork, just strength.

Their homers came after Moscoso was a strike away from getting out of the fifth inning with the lead intact, having gotten Cabrera to swing and miss at one fastball and foul off another over the middle of the plate. After Cabrera fouled off two more to stay alive in the count, he didn't miss another mistake pitch.

"In that at-bat, he threw me a good pitch to hit, I think 1-1, but I just missed it," Cabrera said. "I was kind of upset, but I said to myself, 'Focus on this at-bat. Try to make something happen and try to see a ball and do a better job.'"

Cabrera's 600th career extra-base hit pulled Detroit ahead. After Jhonny Peralta's RBI single, Guillen's 400-foot drive over the right-field fence put Detroit comfortably in front. It was Guillen's second home run since last Aug. 14, two days before the knee injury that led to microfracture surgery and an 11-month absence.

"He's giving us a little punch, obviously, and that's nice to see," Leyland said.

Porcello (9-6) took it from there, using another double play to close out with a quality start and his third victory in as many outings. It wasn't always pretty, but it was effective.

"I think we're just using a better mix of off-speed stuff," Porcello said. "I think that's keeping guys off balance."

Martinez's slide, on the other hand, was more off-balance.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers drop seesaw affair in Below's debut

By Chris Vannini / MLB.com | 7/20/2011 10:20 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Making his Major League debut, Britton, Mich. native Duane Below pitched solidly for the Tigers, but struggles from the bullpen allowed the Athletics to come from behind Wednesday for a 7-5 victory.

Below gave up five hits and three runs -- one of them earned -- over five-plus innings.

After retiring the first six batters he faced, he found trouble in the third inning. David DeJesus reached on a fielding error by Carlos Guillen to lead off the inning. A single by Landon Powell put runners on the corners and Coco Crisp singled in a run two batters later. A walk to Cliff Pennington then loaded the bases.

After Josh Willingham struck out, Hideki Matsui barely beat out an infield single off Below's glove to score a run. Conor Jackson finished the inning with a flyout.

The Tigers came right back in the bottom of the frame. Ramon Santiago drove in a run on a groundout after Don Kelly led off with a triple. Austin Jackson hit a single, stole second, moved to third on a Brennan Boesch groundout and scored on a single from Magglio Ordonez as the Tigers tied the game.

The Athletics regained the lead in the sixth when Matsui hit a home run off the right-field foul pole, ending Below's night. It was the 500th in his career between Japan and the United States.

But the Tigers again responded in the bottom of the inning. Back-to-back singles by Ordonez and Miguel Cabrera put two on with no outs, and Victor Martinez drove them both in with a double, giving the Tigers the lead. Detroit proceeded to load the bases with no outs, but could only put one run across, on a sacrifice fly from Kelly as the Tigers extended the lead to 5-3.

With Christmas in July being celebrated at Comerica Park, David Purcey gave the Athletics a gift, walking the bases loaded in the top of the seventh. Joaquin Benoit relieved Purcey and allowed a single to Pennington and a sacrifice fly to Willingham as the Athletics tied the game. A single by Matsui gave Oakland a 6-5 lead. Jackson followed with a base hit to make it 7-5.

Chris Vannini is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers roll Twins as Verlander wins No. 13

By Jordan Schelling / MLB.com | 7/22/2011 12:25 AM ET

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MINNEAPOLIS -- Typically, a leadoff triple is going to result in a run. For Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander, it's more of an opportunity to show off his stuff.

When right fielder Michael Cuddyer opened the second inning of Thursday's 6-2 Tigers win at Target Field with a triple to the gap in right, the Twins looked like they might put together a rally. Instead, Verlander reached back for something extra to get a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to strand the runner.

"It's not a high point, but it's exciting and a momentum builder for our team," Verlander said. "At that point, it's 0-0, a leadoff triple and most of the time, that guy's going to score. Being able to get out of that inning unscathed kind of turned it around and gave our guys a little shot in the arm."

Verlander pitched brilliantly throughout Thursday's game, bouncing back from his worst outing of the season to pick up his 13th win as the Tigers earned their 10th straight win over Minnesota.

With the victory, the Tigers lead the Indians, who were idle, by a half-game, taking sole possession of first place in the American League Central for the first time since July 10.

"We let one get away last night, there's no question about that," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland, referring to the club's 7-5 loss Wednesday to the A's. "We came here tonight, we had our horse going, he gave us a great effort, we got some big hits and we got a nice win."

Verlander (13-5) went eight innings, giving up just one run on five hits with nine strikeouts. He did not walk a batter, and faced just two over the minimum through five innings.

He was especially impressive against slugger Jim Thome, who has seven career homers off Verlander. Thome struck out all three times he faced Verlander, stranding four runners.

"He kind of goes hand-in-hand with me as a pitcher," Verlander said. "Early in my career, he really had my number. I made a lot of mistakes to him, and he did a lot of damage with those mistakes. It seems like over the years I've been able to cut down those mistakes to less and less and therefore allow less and less damage."

Only once did Verlander allow more than one baserunner in an inning, when the Twins scored a run on three straight two-out singles in the sixth inning.

Three Twins -- Alexi Casilla, Joe Mauer and Cuddyer -- got hits off Verlander. The other six went a combined 0-for-19 against the Tigers ace, who topped out at 99 mph on the night.

"It's tough because he can throw 100 [mph] and then drop of an 80-mph curveball or slider," said Twins center fielder Ben Revere, who went 0-for-4 on the night. "He knows the back door and the front door. He can place it anywhere. He's a big-time All-Star, and I'll say he'll be a future Hall of Famer, too."

At the plate, the Tigers put up more than enough offense to support Verlander, knocking Twins right-hander Carl Pavano out of the game after just six innings. Pavano gave up five runs on nine hits with a walk and two strikeouts.

The fifth and sixth were the big innings for Detroit. Brennan Boesch belted a two-run homer -- his 14th of the year -- with two outs in the fifth, and the Tigers added two more in the sixth. Verlander said the Boesch home run was crucial, allowing him to be more aggressive with a three-run lead than he would with a one-run advantage.

"I just had to battle all game, and I got a pitch to hit and didn't miss it," Boesch said. "[Pavano's] had a lot of success against me, so I knew I had to really focus today."

Miguel Cabrera led off the sixth with a double, followed by a Victor Martinez single, a Jhonny Peralta double and a sacrifice fly from Carlos Guillen.

Peralta added a solo homer in the eighth, his 15th of the season, into the second deck in left off Twins reliever Chuck James. Peralta finished a triple shy of the cycle, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs.

Phil Coke pitched the ninth inning, allowing an unearned run on a Wilson Betemit throwing error. Betemit was appearing in his first game since being acquired on Wednesday from the Royals.

"We got some timely hits, Jhonny Peralta had a very good night," Leyland said. "Big hits we got, and just a good win for us. Coke, I thought, looked really sharp at the end, really good."

Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Peralta, Tigers slug way past Twins

By Jordan Schelling / MLB.com | 7/23/2011 12:43 AM ET

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MINNEAPOLIS -- Since getting a day off, Jhonny Peralta has been crushing the ball over the last two nights against the Twins. Following a 3-for-4 performance on Thursday night, Peralta added three more hits on Friday night in the Tigers' 8-2 victory at Target Field.

For the second straight game, Peralta finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. He belted a solo homer in the second, drove in two runs with a third-inning single and doubled home another run in the fifth.

The home run was his 16th of the season, and the four RBIs boosted his season total to 58.

"He's in the midst of a real good year," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland. "He's really been a perfect fit for us in that area, sandwiched in between Victor and Carlos. He's absolutely been tremendous.

"I think what he's done so far this year is he's capitalized on mistakes. When they've made mistakes, he hasn't missed them very often."

In 12 career games at Target Field, Peralta is batting .432 (19-for-44) with eight runs, two doubles, five homers and 15 RBIs, including seven RBIs over the last two nights. He has homered in each of his last five games in Minnesota.

Over his last 13 games against the Twins, Peralta has 21 RBIs, including 13 this season.

"He's hot, is swinging good and is on the ball," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Right now, he's about as locked in as we've seen him."

With the win, the Tigers' 11th straight over the Twins, they increased their lead in the American League Central to 1 1/2 games over the Indians, who lost on Friday to the White Sox.

With more than 60 games to go in the regular season, though, the Tigers still say that they aren't paying much attention to the standings.

"At this point in the year, we're concentrating on ourselves," said Tigers starter Max Scherzer. "We know that we can win this division. We know that we're good and we know we've got the talent. We just feel like if we go out there and compete every day and keep these winning streaks going, then we're going to be the team on top."

Every Tigers player had at least one hit on the night and five different players scored a run.

Left fielder Ryan Raburn went 2-for-4 on the night with a solo home run in the first and two runs scored. Magglio Ordonez also had two hits with a pair of runs scored, and Carlos Guillen drove in two with a single.

Detroit jumped all over Twins lefty Brian Duensing, who lasted just 4 2/3 innings. Duensing surrendered seven runs on nine hits, walking one and striking out seven. In two starts this year against the Tigers, Duensing is 0-1 with a 12.54 ERA, allowing 13 runs on 18 hits in 9 1/3 innings.

Duensing opened each of the first two innings with a strikeout, followed by a home run, followed by another strikeout. He struck out the side in the second to go along with a homer and a single, but big innings in the third and fifth did him in.

"Their whole lineup is stacked," Duensing said. "They have the standard big guys in the middle of the lineup, but one through nine is pretty good and is producing right now. So that makes them even more dangerous."

With the offense putting up plenty of runs to support him, Scherzer delivered an impressive outing, giving up just one run over seven innings of work. The right-hander struck out four batters while allowing just four hits and one walk.

Scherzer faced just four over the minimum in his seven frames, as he won for the 11th time this season. He allowed more than one baserunner only once, when the Twins had two singles and scored their only run of the game in the second inning.

Over his last three starts, Scherzer is 2-1 with a 1.66 ERA, allowing just four runs on 18 hits with one walk and 12 strikeouts in 21 2/3 innings pitched.

"He really had a pretty comfortable seven innings," Leyland said. "I thought he did a good job. He didn't really tire at all, I didn't think."

Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers stymied by Twins' pitching as streak ends

By Joe Kieser / Special to MLB.com | 7/23/2011 8:55 PM ET

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MINNEAPOLIS -- Detroit's 11-game winning streak against Minnesota was snapped in a 4-1 defeat on Saturday at Target Field behind Twins starter Scott Baker and four relievers.

Baker, who came off a short stint on the disabled list to start Saturday's game, looked to be completely healthy as he stifled the Tigers' bats for the first five innings. Baker was lifted after throwing just 82 pitches because of his recent injury.

Eighty-two pitches were more than enough pitches for Baker, according to Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire, who said he had thoughts of removing his right-hander even earlier.

"We started getting a guy up in the fourth, at one point," Gardenhire said. "We just didn't want him to extend out too awful much. We are still trying to feel our way through and see how he's doing."

Detroit Manager Jim Leyland said Baker's ability to make Tiger hitters swing at pitches that just miss the strike zone was the key to the Minnesota starter's success.

"[Baker] is very good at getting you out on high fastballs," Leyland said. "He's got late life to it, he's sneaky on top and he gets you to chase the ball just out of the strike zone. We were probably a little over aggressive. He pitched a very good game coming back."

Baker agreed with Leyland's assessment that he was pitching close to, but not in the strike zone to get Tiger batters out.

"Today, given the situation, even with the pitch count, I didn't want to give in to these guys," Baker said. "They're a good hitting lineup, and whether I threw three innings or five innings or six innings or whatever, I didn't want to throw it over the plate and allow them to get something going."

Detroit starter Brad Penny pitched seven innings, but was not as effective as Baker -- at least not in his first four innings of work. Penny gave up four runs on seven hits and walked three. Penny, who normally has excellent control, missed the strike zone badly at times early on and even threw a wild pitch in the fourth inning.

"I obviously didn't have good command," Penny said. "I was getting behind a little bit. I felt great, but unfortunately, those first few innings just killed us."

After spotting the Twins a 4-0 lead over the first four innings, Penny rebounded to throw 1-2-3 innings in the fifth and sixth and pitched a scoreless seventh inning.

"The early innings, [Penny] was wild," Leyland said. "His control betrayed him a little bit early on. After that, he settled down and pitched a whale of a game. He gave us a chance to get back in it; we just couldn't do it."

With the Twins up, 2-0, in the fourth inning, a two-run double off the bat of Delmon Young was a back-breaker for the Tigers, as Detroit could only muster one run against the Twins' bullpen, when Miguel Cabrera doubled in Brennan Boesch in the sixth inning.

Cabrera collected two hits to go with his RBI, and Jhonny Peralta also collected two hits, increasing his career average at Target Field to .437.

Four Minnesota relievers combined to pitch four innings, giving up just one run to close out the game. Detroit relievers David Purcey and Lester Oliveros combined to pitch a scoreless eighth inning, but Purcey needed 29 pitches to get two Minnesota batters out.

The Tigers really never threatened the Twins' lead. Any promising start to an inning for Detroit was snubbed out by Baker and the Twins bullpen, as the Tigers left six runners on base over eight innings.

"We just got beat. It was a good ballgame," Leyland said. "We had some chances; we just couldn't get that one hit we needed. We just couldn't get a big hit, and that's the way it is."

The loss dropped the Tigers to 53-47, but Detroit still holds sole possession of first place in the American League Central Division and will look to secure a series win on Sunday at Target Field.

Penny said the only thing to do after a tough loss is to look to the next game and concentrate on securing a series win against the Twins.

Joe Kieser is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Porcello shines as Tigers take series

By Joe Kieser / Special to MLB.com | 7/24/2011 9:51 PM ET

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MINNEAPOLIS -- Patience is a virtue, but it can also help you win baseball games.

The Tigers took advantage of an opposing pitcher who couldn't find the strike zone and found some creative ways to put up a three-run third inning against the Twins on their way to a 5-2 victory at Target Field on Sunday.

The victory gave the Tigers wins in three out of four games in the series and ensured Detroit would remain in sole position of first place in the American League Central Division standings.

"It was a good win for us," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "We got some big hits. You got to be happy with the series. To take three out of four, that's not easy to do. I am very happy about that."

While the Tigers were pleased with three wins in four games from a division rival, the Twins were left with a feeling that they let an opportunity slip through their fingers.

"It would've been nice to get a few more wins here at home, but we've still got a lot of games to go," Twins catcher Joe Mauer said. "We've got to play better."

Nine Detroit hitters batted in the top of the third in chasing Minnesota starting pitcher Francisco Liriano from the game. Five consecutive Tiger hitters reached base in the inning -- four on singles and another on an error. Liriano threw 78 pitches in 2 1/3 innings.

The final numbers showed how patient Detroit hitters were on Sunday, as the Tigers collected nine hits and seven walks.

"I thought we really did a good job with him today, being patient," Leyland said. "Liriano's got such good stuff that it's sometimes hard to lay off some of his pitches that end up being balls."

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said his starter had a poor outing, and nothing seemed to be working for him.

"We were trying to get him to just throw his fastball over the plate, and he really couldn't find anything," said Gardenhire. "He was spinning off the ball. Hopefully, there will be better days ahead for him."

Jhonny Peralta, Wilson Betemit and Ramon Santiago each drove in a run for the Tigers, though the first Detroit run scored in the second inning when Liriano threw a wild pitch with Ryan Raburn standing on third base. Detroit would score another run on a wild pitch in the sixth inning, when Austin Jackson came home on a pitch in the dirt from reliever Anthony Swarzak that got by Mauer.

It was a balanced attack for Detroit, as Magglio Ordonez and Miguel Cabrera were the only two players in the Detroit lineup who didn't manage at least one hit. Only Victor Martinez collected more than one knock.

Detroit starter Rick Porcello wasn't flawless and had baserunners to deal with most of the game, but he usually managed to wiggle out of trouble and finished stronger than he started. Porcello lasted six innings to earn his 10th victory of the season, giving up five hits and two walks and striking out four on 93 pitches.

"Aggressive in the strike zone is more what I was today," Porcello said. "There were a couple of at-bats where I fell behind some guys. That lead-off walk in the fourth kind of hurt us, but for the most part, Victor [Martinez] called a great game, and we were pretty effective."

Leyland said Porcello wasn't perfect on Sunday, but he worked through problems and got the Tigers the win, which was the most important thing.

"He was good," Leyland said. "He was being aggressive. He threw some pretty good changeups today. He won his 10th game, so that's pretty good."

Porcello received solid relief from Al Alburquerque and Joaquin Benoit, who pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth, respectively, and closer Jose Valverde, who nailed down the win with his 26th save of the year.

Jackson said that, though it was nice to take three of four from the Twins, he knows the division race is just heating up, and there will be more tough games ahead against AL Central opponents.

"You always know the season goes on," Jackson said. "Those couple teams that were struggling early on will be right there toward the end of the season. There is a lot of the season left, and anything can happen."

Joe Kieser is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Miscues prove costly in Tigers' loss

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 7/26/2011 1:41 AM ET


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CHICAGO -- Combine all the breaks -- first Detroit's way, then the other -- and Monday's Tigers-White Sox clash had the feel of a game of chance. And then, it was a game for Chance.

Welcome to the Majors, Chance Ruffin. The 6-3 Tigers loss won't be a result he wants to remember, but the situation will be one he and plenty others won't soon forget.

"Major League debut in middle of a pennant race, bases loaded and [Carlos] Quentin's up," catcher Alex Avila said with a smile. "Good luck."

From a dropped fly ball, to a bloop single that should've been caught, from an extra step on a double play to a missed chance at a pickoff, it took a lot to bring the game to that point.

All that was far out of Ruffin's mind as he stared at Quentin at the plate with two outs and the bases packed in a tie game. He just wanted to focus on what was right in front of him.

"It's a high-pressure situation," said Ruffin, who was called up from Triple-A on Sunday night to help stabilize the club's middle relief. "It's fun to be in. You just want to be that guy to come up with the big out. Just didn't happen for me on that one."

The stuff Ruffin showed reflected the potential the Tigers saw in him. The resulting go-ahead, two-run double from Quentin reflected the way the game was going to go the rest of the way, from manager Jim Leyland's ejection at the end of the inning to the game-tying chance squandered in the seventh.

The loss whittled Detroit's lead atop the American League Central to a game over Cleveland, which beat the Angels. Chicago's fourth straight win moved the Sox to within 3 1/2 games, with the .500 mark a win away. After gaining ground on the Indians last weekend thanks to two White Sox wins, Monday was the Tigers' turn to feel how that felt.

"You don't have to look up at the scoreboard and see what they are doing anywhere else," White Sox All-Star Paul Konerko said. "But regardless of what happens in this series, you still have a full third of the season left. It's not like anybody is going to be breaking out champagne bottles either way."

To Avila, at least, it felt like a game that turned against them in a hurry.

"It seemed like we were catching all the breaks and then it just kind of flip-flopped," Avila said. "That's baseball."

That didn't appear likely early, once the misplays helped Detroit moved ahead. White Sox starter Mark Buehrle seemed set to complete a third scoreless inning despite Magglio Ordonez's two-out single. Buehrle induced a popup into shallow center field from Miguel Cabrera, but second baseman Gordon Beckham couldn't complete an over-the-shoulder catch, allowing Victor Martinez to step to the plate with two on.

Martinez, 23-for-69 (.333) with 12 RBIs off Buehrle entering the night, delivered on the first pitch, lining an RBI single into right-center field. Jhonny Peralta followed with a fly ball that fell between shortstop Alexei Ramirez -- who stopped on the play -- left fielder Juan Pierre and center fielder Alex Rios, allowing Cabrera to score.

Ryan Raburn's drive to center field died at the warning track, stranding the bases loaded, but Duane Below had a lead with which to work.

For four-plus innings, it looked like he had the stuff to protect it. Though Brent Morel's one-out single in the bottom of the inning put the tying run on, the Tigers seemed set to beat it once Cabrera fielded Pierre's grounder and tried to start a double play. But Pierre barely beat out the return throw to bring up Ramirez.

A couple pitches later, Below seemed to have Pierre caught too far off first base. Below quickly fired, but with the grip he had readied for his pitch.

"I had a cutter grip and threw it," he said. "I needed to make a better throw."

It was a missed chance, but a play Pierre forced with his speed. He made it to second without a throw. After a 2-2 fastball that just missed the outside corner, Ramirez ended up on first with a walk that Leyland disputed.

"I thought it was a pitch he was calling all night for both sides, really," Leyland said. "Jim [Wolf] is a very good umpire."

The Tigers intentionally walked Konerko to face slumping Adam Dunn, who has struggled mightily against lefties all year. But after putting Dunn in a 1-2 count, Below couldn't get a strike call on what looked like a pitch at the belt, and he walked.

"He located his fastball pretty good," Leyland said of Below (0-1), "but he couldn't get his breaking ball down tonight. He actually tried to overthrow a little bit to Dunn. But that's youth."

Enter more youth, with the right-hander Ruffin facing the right-handed-hitting Quentin. According to Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time a pitcher made his Major League debut with the bases-loaded in a tie game since Brian Lawrence did it with the Padres on April 15, 2001 against the Dodgers.

Ruffin used back-to-back fastballs before overthrowing a 1-1 slider. Quentin took advantage with a line drive into the left-field corner. Solo homers from A.J. Pierzynski and Konerko in the seventh, both off Ruffin, padded the advantage.

"He's got a good arm," Leyland said of Ruffin. "We know he's got a good slider. He was probably overamped a little bit, tried to throw it too hard. It kind of stayed there. It really didn't dive. Kind of left it out a little bit and he hooked it."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Betemit seals Verlander's 14th win

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 7/26/2011 11:17 PM ET

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CHICAGO -- Justin Verlander hunched over after Paul Konerko's game-tying home run like he had been punched in the gut, but he survived, just as he did after Adam Dunn's two-run homer earlier.

The Tigers rewarded Verlander with an eighth-inning rally, capped by new Tiger Wilson Betemit's two-out single to score pinch-runner Andy Dirks for a 5-4 win over the White Sox on Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Field.

It wasn't the Verlander gem that has wowed Tigers fans so often this season, not with four runs allowed over eight innings. At the end, however, it was classic Verlander (14-5), from the 100-mph fastball to strike out Konerko in their eighth-inning rematch to the curveball he dropped on the outside corner for his 125th pitch to fan Dunn and end the eighth.

With that, Verlander picked up his second win on this critical seven-game division road trip. The Tigers, meanwhile, clinched a winning trip and moved back to two games up on the Indians atop the American League Central. They dropped the White Sox to 4 1/2 games back.

It was a duel in completely contrasting styles. Chicago had just three hard hits off Verlander all night, but two of them cleared the fences, both times with a runner on base. Dunn's first home run since July 8 came after Verlander put him in an 0-2 count. Dunn fouled off three two-strike pitches to stay alive for a 97-mph fastball over the plate on a full-count delivery, then sent it deep to right field.

By contrast, the only extra-base hit of the night for the Tigers was a sixth-inning double from Betemit, and it didn't drive in a run. Twice, Tigers hitters led off innings with bunt singles. Both times, they scored. In the case of Brennan Boesch, the surprise bunt down the third-base line was the first of four straight singles in a three-run sixth that put Detroit in front.

Verlander took the mound with the lead in the bottom of the sixth, having retired 13 of 14 White Sox since Dunn's homer. But Alexei Ramirez's one-out single brought up Konerko as the potential tying run. Verlander put him in a 1-2 count, then left a curveball over the plate that Konerko lofted to left.

Verlander looked down in disbelief, but kept it at that.

Once Victor Martinez drew a leadoff walk in the eighth, the Tigers had their chance to give him the lead once more. Pinch-runner Andy Dirks stole second, but Jesse Crain retired Jhonny Peralta and Carlos Guillen. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen turned to lefty Matt Thornton against the switch-hitting Betemit, who worked out of an 0-2 hole to send a line drive through the middle, deep enough to score Dirks.

Verlander stayed on for the eighth, put the potential tying run on base by walking Ramirez, then got his revenge on Konerko and Dunn. Jose Valverde worked the ninth for his 27th save in as many chances.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

One mistake costs Scherzer, Tigers

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 7/27/2011 7:50 PM ET

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CHICAGO -- A day after the Tigers' offense gave Justin Verlander a second chance, Max Scherzer returned the favor. White Sox left-hander John Danks made sure it didn't convert.

For four consecutive innings, the Tigers put multiple runners on base, only to watch Danks and his nasty cutter strand them all. Tigers hitters walked back to the dugout shaking their heads, but Tigers baserunners weren't going anywhere.

And after a 2-1 loss to the White Sox on Wednesday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field, all Scherzer could do was tip his cap.

"We were hanging around," Scherzer said. "When the other team doesn't put you away, you're just hanging around, and you usually find a way to win that game. Lately, we've been able to do that. Even if we're down just a run or two, as long as we get good pitching, our offense is good enough where we can come back.

"That's what was happening today. We were hanging around, hanging around, except their guy was able to get us out today. So tip your hat to them."

They also will keep their eyes on them. The Tigers head back to Comerica Park still up two games in the American League Central over the Indians, who were no-hit by Angels right-hander Ervin Santana earlier in the day. Chicago's win, however, bumped the White Sox up to 3 1/2 games out.

To think in terms of road trips, the Tigers went 4-3, reinforcing their standing as the top team in the division. The approach the Tigers took at the plate in the finale of the trek, though, left their manager feeling a little empty, unlike the basepaths.

"I thought we overswung all day long," Jim Leyland said. "We had opportunity after opportunity. And Danks was tremendous, don't get me wrong. He had his cutter going really good. He was nasty and made a lot of nasty pitches. But at the same time, for some reason, I just thought we overswung. That was really disappointing.

"It was a great game. The only disappointing thing was we just didn't do a very good job of just taking what's there."

They committed to a decent approach toward that on Tuesday night against Jake Peavy and the White Sox bullpen, capped by Wilson Betemit's go-ahead hit off hard-throwing lefty Matt Thornton. Detroit had only one extra-base hit that whole game, but went 5-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

The only extra-base hit on Wednesday was also the lone RBI, and it was Austin Jackson driving in himself. His seventh-inning solo homer chased Danks from the game and put some new hope into Detroit's offense. But the White Sox bullpen set down Detroit's final nine hitters.

Their opportunities at rallies had come and gone over the previous four innings.

"We kept talking about it: Don't try to do too much," Leyland said. "But Danks was really good, too. His ball was darting. His cutter was real good, so you tip your hat to him. It's just that the thing that frustrates you a little bit is when you had opportunity after opportunity. If you take just one or two hits in that game, you might have three or four runs."

Danks tied a career high with 10 strikeouts, and nine of them came with runners on base. All but one were swings and misses. He induced 16 swinging strikes from Tigers hitters, his highest total in two years, and 10 came against the cutter.

One strikeout came from Ryan Raburn in probably the Tigers' best scoring opportunity in the third inning once singles from Carlos Guillen, Alex Avila and Jackson -- the last of them being Detroit's lone hit with runners in scoring position -- loaded the bases with one out. Raburn worked the count full in a nine-pitch at-bat, then swung and missed at a changeup. Magglio Ordonez grounded the next pitch to shortstop to end the threat.

Back-to-back walks to Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez began the threat anew leading off the fourth, but Danks struck out Jhonny Peralta, Guillen and Betemit.

Guillen and Betemit fanned on three pitches each, two cutters and a changeup.

"It's tough to pick up the movement," Guillen said of the cutter. "He kept it down. Tough day."

Cabrera smashed a line drive to center in the fifth, but Alejandro De Aza ran it down to strand runners on first and second.

Danks' final strikeout came on a called third strike to Avila, stranding two more runners in the sixth.

"I didn't feel like I had a clean inning after the first or second," Danks said, "and I guess I really didn't. I felt like I had good enough stuff to pitch out of it and there were plays made behind me that really helped."

While Jackson provided the lone Tigers run, the only damage off Scherzer was also a home run, but it was a two-run shot.

Scherzer (11-6) did his best to keep pace, but an 0-2 offspeed pitch to De Aza provided the deficit from which he never recovered. De Aza, called up Wednesday morning after Mark Teahen's trade to Toronto, sent it out in his first at-bat with the White Sox this season.

It was just the second homer ever off an 0-2 pitch from Scherzer.

"I made one mistake and it cost me," Scherzer said. "I hung an 0-2 changeup and he was able to lift it out of the ballpark, and that was the difference in the game. Aside from that, my stuff was pretty good."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers rally, but fall short vs. Angels

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 7/28/2011 7:23 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Remember a day that you look back on in hindsight and think it went downhill from the moment you woke up? Welcome to the Tigers' world on Thursday.

It wasn't just the numbers from the 12-7 loss to the Angels. It was the incredulous look on hitting coach Lloyd McClendon's face in the Tigers' dugout when he threw up his arms at first-base umpire Jerry Layne, wondering how he could throw him out from across the infield, then realizing Layne had tossed manager Jim Leyland instead.

"I was totally confused on why I was tossed," Leyland said. "I did talk with Jerry Layne, and we cleared the issue all up."

It was the clear frustration in Brad Penny's body language as he shouted at his own catcher, Victor Martinez, following three straight hits to lead off the fourth inning. Then it was the look on Martinez's face at someone he caught in Boston two years ago and has caught well for much of this season.

"Me and Victor have been friends for a while now," Penny said, "and that happens when you're competing."

After all that, with Leyland and Penny in the clubhouse, the Tigers had a chance to pull ahead by the end of the fourth. But one more Angels rally, fueled in part by another battle with control for David Purcey, was too much for Detroit to overcome.

And that brought a look of exasperation from Purcey, who surely wants to do more than this with his first shot at a playoff race.

"[The] guys did an unbelievable job of getting us back in the game," Purcey said. "I let the team down today. There's no other way around it. I come in to do my job and just didn't get it done. That's the hardest part."

The Tigers don't very often return from a road trip to start a homestand with a day game.

Thursday was one of those days, literally and figuratively.

"When you have one like this, you turn the page and move forward," Leyland said.

Leyland was willing to turn the page on his fourth ejection of the season -- and second in three days -- after talking with Layne after the game. It wasn't a high-tension situation, he said, just him sticking up for Austin Jackson after a pitch that hit the center fielder on the hands, but was ruled a foul ball. He would have been crazy not to make a case, Leyland said, given the bruise on Jackson.

"Austin Jackson's got a bruise on his hand the size of a baseball," Leyland argued.

It was a key situation, with the chance to put a second runner on base for Brennan Boesch. Instead, Jackson was out in what turned out to be a one-run inning that began with two Tigers runners on with nobody out. Leyland was out, too, in a different sense.

At that point, the Tigers faced a 3-1 deficit, though Penny had the bottom half of the Angels order coming up in the fourth. Then came a Howard Kendrick single that deflected off Penny, then the first Major League triple for rookie slugger Mark Trumbo -- putting him halfway to the cycle -- followed by Peter Bourjos' second double of the afternoon.

"He was leaving the ball up in the zone," Martinez said. "When you pitch up, that's what happens. They don't miss any pitches up."

Out came Martinez to talk things over. Out came Penny's frustration.

"It had nothing to do with pitch selection or anything like that," Penny explained later. "With a runner on second, I like to come set taking signs. That way, the hitter can't look at second base and anything there. I've pitched my whole career that way, and [Martinez] didn't want me to do it."

It might have been a miscommunication, but Penny's frustration came out loud and clear. When McClendon came out to make a pitching change two batters later, Penny met him before he even got to the mound and handed him the ball. Penny gave up seven runs on nine hits over 3 1/3 innings, raising his ERA from 4.51 to 4.89.

Detroit still nearly survived, thanks to a four-run bottom half of the inning, fueled by Andy Dirks' two-run single and Jhonny Peralta's 100th RBI in a Tigers uniform on the one-year anniversary of his trade to Detroit. Chance Ruffin's two scoreless innings sent them into the seventh still down by just one run.

Purcey followed, but his struggles continued. After a single and two walks loaded the bases with nobody out and with a 2-0 count on Howard Kendrick, Purcey was pulled.

Add in his previous four outings, and Purcey has retired just six of 16 batters and walked eight. Leyland, who was watching Purcey's outing from the television set in his office, said he looked like he was aiming the ball. Purcey didn't use that term, but he said much the same.

"It's pretty much just trying too much to put the ball in one spot instead of just letting your body do what you've done for however long," Purcey said. "For me, I've been doing this for a long time. Instead of trying to throw the ball through the catcher, I'm trying to put the ball there instead, just trying to make a pitch instead of letting it happen."

It was a snowball effect, Purcey said, which was the only winter reference from what felt for the Tigers like a dog day of summer.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Angels get Rick-rolled by Porcello, Tigers

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 7/30/2011 12:37 AM ET

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DETROIT -- Let the speculation continue on the next Tigers starter. The midseason version of Rick Porcello might be the biggest July addition the team makes.

That doesn't mean team president/general manager Dave Dombrowski won't swing a trade by Sunday afternoon's 4 ET non-waiver Trade Deadline. But that smile on his face as he walked into the Tigers' clubhouse following Friday's 12-2 win over the Angels had a lot to do with one gifted arm already here.

Porcello is that different from his early-season form. And after eight innings of two-run ball, he's making that big of a difference on a team with some pitching questions after Justin Verlander. His 5-0 record and 3.06 ERA in July just provided one big answer.

"It's starting to come around a little bit," Porcello said. "Hopefully, we keep it going. It's at the right time. We're in a race here and every game means something, so we have to go out there as starters, push deep in games and give us a chance."

To Porcello, it wasn't that big of a difference pitching-wise. He felt like his pitches were better than his results, but the hitters were sitting on his sinker. His previous four outings were unpredictable at times, but effective.

On Friday, it largely didn't matter whether the Angels saw the sinker or slider coming. The way Porcello located, they couldn't do much with them.

"Their guy was dealing," said Howard Kendrick, whose fifth-inning run was the last of the night for the Halos. "He had his sinker going, and sinker guys aren't the easiest to hit. When he gets it down, there's not much anybody can do."

The Angels didn't see Porcello four weeks ago in Anaheim, so they couldn't compare much. But they had seen him four times in his brief career and beaten him up each time for a 7.40 ERA and 29 hits over 20 2/3 innings. He was a different pitcher Friday.

"That's the best we've seen him pitch," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "Good angles, good movement, good slider. He pitched a terrific ballgame. He didn't let up at all. He changed speeds and pitched deep in the game."

He wasn't the only manager thinking that.

"It might be the best game I've seen him pitch since he's been in the big leagues," said Tigers skipper Jim Leyland. "I thought he was tremendous against a team that just bashed the ball around yesterday."

The Angels put up 12 runs against Brad Penny and Detroit's bullpen Thursday afternoon, and had two games of at least nine runs last week. But in some ways, despite the track record against Porcello, it was a lineup that gave him an opportunity.

Much of Porcello's challenges since last season have involved left-handed batters. Their .327 average against him going into Friday's outing was 96 points higher than that of right-handed hitters, along with a 197-point bump in OPS.

Most opponents have tried to stack their lineups with left-handed and switch hitters. The way the Angels' offense lines up, that's not something they have in abundance. Five of their nine hitters batted from the right side, including Kendrick, Mark Trumbo, Torii Hunter and speedy Peter Bourjos. Their middle of the order featured lefty Bobby Abreu at cleanup and switch-hitter Alberto Callaspo after him.

Porcello had the motivation to attack hitters with his sinker, and he had the location to make it hard for them to hit it.

"The location was definitely better on the fastball, and at the same time, I saw more right-handed hitters in this lineup today than I'd seen in a while," Porcello said. "Normally, I'm seeing six or seven lefties in the lineup. I think today they had five righties. That opens up the door to throw more sinkers. That's definitely a harder pitch for righties to hit than it is for lefties.

"Our game plan was to try to pound a lot of those guys in and throw some sliders. We were able to accomplish that, for the most part."

Sinkers and sliders accounted for 74 of Porcello's 102 pitches, according to data on brooksbaseball.net and MLB.com Gameday. Just as important, he threw 52 of them for strikes. He didn't get many swings and misses, but he didn't have to.

That aggressiveness, Leyland said, is the difference -- not just Friday night, but all month.

"I think he's just made up his mind to be aggressive and quit feeling and just throw the baseball," Leyland said. "His slider's better, his changeup's better and I think he's got an air of confidence now. I think there was a time earlier when he went out and wasn't sure if he expected to do good or not. Now he's been going out there consistently figuring he will do good."

That confidence came in handy Friday. The Angels' first swing was a big one, producing a Maicer Izturis home run on the second pitch of the game, but Porcello shrugged it off. The only other extra-base hit was Kendrick's fifth-inning double that set up the Angels' second run.

"When you're locating your pitches, you're getting confidence with those pitches," catcher Alex Avila said, "and you're able to mix it up and change speeds at any time in the count, because you have the confidence in all your pitches."

That confidence, Avila said, never disappeared. But with experience, it grew. The Tigers' confidence in him is blossoming.

This is the starter the Tigers hoped to develop when they called him up to the rotation two years ago at age 20. And no matter who they add before Sunday, this is one of the starters they need down the stretch.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Turner's stellar debut goes for naught

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 7/30/2011 9:44 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Tigers fans spent Friday night reading the trade rumors and wondering if Jacob Turner could land them a deal for Ubaldo Jimenez. They spent Saturday night feeling pretty glad to have Turner around.

Turner took the loss in Saturday's 5-1 decision to the Angels, but he also gave the fans a reminder why Tigers officials have clutched onto the lanky young right-hander for dear life.

For all the raves about Turner's maturity beyond his 20 years of age, there are certain moments that bring out the kid in him. Major League hitters, speedy Angels baserunners, scouting reports -- none of that could faze him. But the reaction he heard coming off the mound in the sixth inning, leaving after a one-out walk, got to him.

The sellout crowd of 40,753 got on its feet and cheered. Turner just tried to keep walking.

"Once they started cheering, I don't really know how to describe it," Turner said. "My body felt like it went numb. That was just kind of the highlight of my day, to be honest."

Turner gave Tigers fans plenty of highlights over 5 1/3 innings of three-hit, two-run ball. In the process, he gave them a sneak preview of coming attractions for the Tigers rotation.

"Some of you guys will be gone," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said to reporters before the game, "and I'll be gone, but he'll still be pitching here for a long time. He's that good."

The Tigers gave him a shot now, in just his second pro season out of high school, because their player development officials said he gave them the best chance to win out of all their possible options for Saturday's start. If not for another gem from Angels veteran Dan Haren or a wild relief outing from Phil Coke, Turner might have had a chance.

But as it was, Turner's outing gave them as good of a shot as they've had lately out of their fifth starter's slot, which hasn't garnered a victory for the Tigers since mid-June. Newly acquired Doug Fister will take over the role on Wednesday against the Rangers.

Turner's shot here was a one-time appearance. Whether he gave up no hits or 10 hits, Leyland said beforehand, he was headed to Triple-A Toledo after the game. Saturday's outing gave him some points to learn, notably about holding runners, but it also gave him a lot of things to look forward to.

"It was a dream come true," Turner said. "I definitely had jitters in the first inning, but I think that's to be expected. I think it ultimately went pretty well. I wish could have gone a little deeper in the game, but I got my pitch count up there early in the game. It was an awesome experience."

The five stolen bases the Angels racked up on Turner were the highest total ever for a Tigers pitcher in his Major League debut, according to research on baseball-reference.com; the highest total by any Major League pitcher in his debut since 1995, according to STATS, and the second-highest total by any Tigers pitcher since Jack Morris gave up six in a start in 1980.

Half of those steals came in one inning. Erick Aybar followed up his one-out single in the second by swiping second, then third without a throw. After Peter Bourjos drew a two-out walk, he stole second.

It was a difficult sequence to watch a young pitcher go through. But he left it scoreless by striking out Jeff Mathis on three pitches -- two called strikes on a fastball and curveball, then a breaking ball in the dirt that got Mathis swinging.

All three outs that inning came on strikeouts, all on offspeed pitches. In fact, Turner's six strikeouts were the second most by a Tigers pitcher in his Major League debut since 2000.

"Very impressive," said Angels rookie slugger Mark Trumbo, who fanned twice in as many chances against Turner. "He's got real good movement and a nice curveball to complement the fastball. He pitched like somebody a lot older than 20. He did a real good job. We got a last-minute scouting report, and the fact nobody's seen him didn't help."

The Angels didn't know he was pitching until Friday night, and none of their players had seen him, since their affiliates play in different leagues. They came up with video from his starts to get an idea what he looked like.

The in-person version obviously left an impression.

"He has a nice, loose arm," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He spins the ball well and has late life. He shows the makings of a good changeup for a kid of 20 out of Double-A. He has poise and command. You have to be excited about everything that kid did."

Turner stranded four runners in scoring position over his first three innings, then retired seven of eight batters. He didn't pay for a stolen base until Bourjos reached base in the fifth, swiped second and took off on Torii Hunter's two-out single to left.

"That's definitely something that I'll go back to the Minors and work on," Turner said. "Obviously, you can't have guys running around all day. So that was a little disappointing. But it's just one of those things that, when you're out there, you might forget about them for one pitch, and these guys are so good, they take advantage of it. It's one of those things that you can't take any pitch off, depending on where the runners are at."

Leyland wasn't going to let Turner get past 100 pitches, and with his pitch count at 97, Kendrick's walk chased him. The Angels pounced from there.

Still, Turner accomplished what the Tigers asked of him.

"He gave us every opportunity to win the game," Leyland said.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Verlander's latest no-hit bid results in win
Ace tops Weaver; bid broken up in eighth after tempers flare

By Jason Beck and Chris Vannini / MLB.com | 7/31/2011 8:09 PM ET

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DETROIT -- The billboard over Interstate 75 leading downtown advertised Verlander-Weaver all weekend as if it were a heavyweight bout. There wasn't a fight on Sunday afternoon at Comerica Park, but it was arguably a knockout.

And while the Tigers' 3-2 win mattered more to Verlander than his no-hit bid that fell four outs short of etching his name more deeply into baseball history, he wasn't going to pretend that winning the duel didn't matter.

"I was definitely a little bit pumped up, once I got out there," Verlander said. "That was fun. It was a fun game. ... Really, I thought it might come down to one or two more swings, and hopefully, we were able to get those balls over the fence off him."

It was arguably the best pitchers' duel in Major League Baseball this season. At the very least, it was the nastiest.

It came down to two swings, both sending Weaver pitches over the fence, and both drawing an angry reaction from the Angels' 14-game winner. His reaction to the second one earned him an early exit.

By the time his retaliatory pitch over Alex Avila's head left him outlclassed, however, he had long since been outpitched.

Verlander already has one no-hitter this season, having blanked the Blue Jays in Toronto on May 7, and took another bid into the eighth inning last month against Cleveland. Neither of those, though, came under such a spotlight, opposite a similarly dominant pitcher.

All week, Verlander had played down the matchup. He doesn't face Weaver, he said; he just pitches in the same game. The conviction in his pitches from the opening delivery suggested otherwise.

Verlander didn't just retire the first 11 Angels he faced; he essentially toyed with them, striking out five and requiring only one moderately challenging play, with Carlos Guillen snaring Alberto Callaspo's ground ball up the middle. After Bobby Abreu's two-out walk in the fourth inning gave the Angels their first baserunner, Verlander recovered to retire the next eight batters.

Tigers fans, having grown accustomed to no-hit bids from their ace, grew louder with each inning. Once Verlander began locating offspeed pitches time and again, setting up a high fastball Angels hitters couldn't lay off, they knew something special was possible.

They didn't know it would be quite as unique as it turned out to be.

The first crushing shot in this duel came with two outs in the third inning, on one of the few mistake pitches Weaver made all day: a first-pitch breaking ball to Magglio Ordonez with Don Kelly on base. Ordonez turned and drove it down the left-field line toward the foul pole, waiting to see if it would stay fair.

The ball did stay fair for Ordonez's fourth home run of the year. Weaver, meanwhile, kept his eyes focused on Ordonez.

"I didn't see where the ball went," Weaver said. "But when you're standing up at the plate and do what he did, I don't agree with that."

Ordonez insisted he wasn't admiring.

"I don't hit many home runs," Ordonez said, "so I tried to make sure it was a home run. I didn't try to show him up. ... I was just making sure it was a fair ball, and I started running. He got mad because I stood at home plate and thought that I needed to run. That's how fast I run."

Weaver (14-5) retired 12 consecutive Tigers after that, striking out five of them. But as long as Verlander was matching him, there was no way to catch up.

That frustration seemed to linger with Weaver, who could be seen having words with Ordonez, once he flew out in the sixth, and Miguel Cabrera. Once Carlos Guillen pulled Weaver's one other mistake pitch 378 feet to right for his second home run of the year, the Tigers second baseman reveled in the revenge. He watched the home run land in the right-field seats, flipped his bat and stared out at a fuming Weaver.

"That's the first time I've done that," Guillen said. "I've never done that before like that. But the way he reacted to Magglio -- he's my teammate. We're a team."

Guillen had barely touched home plate when umpire Hunter Wendelstedt warned both dugouts about retaliation. Moments later, Weaver threw his next pitch over catcher Alex Avila's head and was immediately ejected, along with manager Mike Scioscia.

"I'm not one to go do like that," Weaver said. "But after what Guillen did, I thought that just kind of crossed the line a little bit. I'm not just going to go out there and take that. I'm a competitor. I'm not going out there trying to show anybody about up. Never have. And if that's way to play the game, then that's what it is."

That ended the duel, but it didn't end Verlander's no-hit bid. That lasted into the eighth, where hijinks continued.

Erick Aybar, known for bunt singles, laid down Verlander's first pitch to the third-base side of the mound, reaching base when Verlander's throw came in low. The scoring decision was an error, keeping the Angels hitless. After a botched fielder's choice allowed Aybar to score, Verlander still had it going. A second straight changeup to Maicer Izturis, however, led to an RBI single.

"A couple of fluke things happen," Verlander said, "and all of a sudden, you look back and the tying run's on second base with two outs, and somebody that's had a decent amount of success against you is at the plate. Right now, I'm just happy that I was able to make my pitches."

Verlander (15-5) stranded the tying run with a 101-mph fastball that struck out Torii Hunter, becoming the first Tigers pitcher since Joe Coleman in 1973 to notch 15 wins by August 1. Jose Valverde stranded the Angels' lone runner in the ninth for his 28th save.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. Chris Vannini is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Boesch's blast bails out bullpen, sinks Texas
Benoit gives up two late homers; Detroit leads Central by three

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 8/3/2011 12:48 AM ET

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DETROIT -- Brennan Boesch looked like he had the weight of the team on his shoulders around this time last year. As he watched his line drive clear the right-field fence Tuesday night, he looked like he could've flown around the bases.

"There's rare times as an athlete where things start to slow down a little bit," Boesch said, "and you kind of seize the moment, and I really felt like that was one of those times."

His go-ahead home run in the eighth inning off Mike Adams meant he could do an easy home-run trot through the driving rain at Comerica Park, having dug himself out of a two-strike hole. Once Jose Valverde followed it with three outs in the ninth, it meant the Tigers could breathe a sigh of relief with their 6-5 win over the Rangers.

They had a three-run lead in the eighth that felt like twice that with all the hits they recorded, but missed chances at add-on runs gave the Rangers a chance at a comeback, which they completed with two eighth-inning homers off their former teammate, Joaquin Benoit.

Boesch's solo shot in the bottom of the inning brought Detroit back. With the Indians and White Sox falling to defeat, it also pushed the Tigers further up in the American League Central. Their three-game lead over the Tribe is their biggest margin all year, while their 5 1/2-game gap over the White Sox is the biggest Chicago has faced since July 8.

It means Boesch's bash had a major impact around the Central. Just as important, it continued a season in which the second-year slugger has been less of a flash of lightning and more of a steady source of production.

After all that happened last year, that's what he has been looking to do.

"I'm just trying to be consistent," Boesch said. "I'm not trying to hit 50 home runs and do anything crazy. I just want to be consistent for this team."

If he can stay that way, the Tigers believe, he has a chance to be a lot more.

"If he lets himself," manager Jim Leyland said, "he has a chance to be a monster at some point, I think."

Boesch isn't interested in 2010, the stellar first half and the drop after the All-Star break. It isn't going to help him this year. He knows it, and he's moved on. His important message this year has been one word: Relax.

The publicity over that stellar first half last year is long gone, allowing him to settle in. He has become a much better hitter for contact, with 68 strikeouts in more than 400 plate appearances. He had a little bit of a slump after the All-Star break, a .230 second-half average entering Tuesday, but nothing by comparison to last year.

He went 5-for-15 over the four-game weekend series against the Angels, and he said he felt good about nearly every at-bat. That carried over.

"I felt like I was putting a good at-bat on some tough pitchers, and it kind of locked me in for today," Boesch said.

His evening was a decent sampling of his summer. His one-out walk in the opening inning off Texas starter Colby Lewis started a scoring chance that ended with a double play, one of three the Tigers hit into over the first five innings. His third-inning single was an easy ground ball through the middle, putting him on base to score on a head-first dive following Victor Martinez's hit.

Another ground-ball single through the middle led off the sixth before Boesch swiped second base, only to be stranded as Yoshinori Tateyama kept Detroit's lead at three. By the time Boesch came back up in the eighth, it was tied.

Adams arrived from San Diego with a 1.13 ERA and just 26 hits allowed over 48 innings. He had allowed just two home runs all season, and just five over the last three years combined.

All Boesch knew about him as he stepped to the plate with one out was what he saw on video before the game.

"I saw that he had a nice cutter, good cutter, tough cutter," Boesch said. "That was probably his pitch. I had a feeling that I might not get a pitch to pull because of the situation, and so he threw two good cutters away to get me down and 0-2.

"From there, it's just a battle, seeing the ball big and trying to just take anything he gives you -- a base hit the other way, whatever it takes to get on base from that point."

Boesch fouled off four straight pitches -- back-to-back sliders, another fastball, then a curve -- as he tried to extend the at-bat. He hadn't hit a home run after an 0-2 count this year, and had just two with two strikes, but he owned a .239 two-strike average that some hitters with more experience would love to claim.

"Things kind of slowed down," Boesch said. "I knew if I just laid off some tough pitches with two strikes that I'd get a pitch to hit, and I got a pitch to hit."

It was a changeup Adams left high, and it was enough to pull with authority. Boesch didn't miss.

"Boesch had a great at-bat," the Rangers' Michael Young said. "He fouled off some tough pitches and then hit the ball out of the ballpark. That was a great at-bat."

The at-bat ended in a no-doubt result. The line drive went out in a hurry through the rain. Boesch knew from the swing.

"It's just smooth," he said. "You don't feel anything. That's when you know you got it."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Fister gets long-awaited 'W' in Tigers debut
Starter goes seven; two blasts big as Detroit takes third straight

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 8/4/2011 1:38 AM ET

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DETROIT -- After Tuesday night's thrilling win, Victor Martinez told newcomers Doug Fister and David Pauley, "Welcome to the fun."

It didn't take long for more fun to arrive. Fister was solid in his Tigers debut, giving up three runs in seven innings, and Detroit held on for a 5-4 win over Texas at Comerica Park.

The win moved the Tigers to a season-high eight games over .500 and, coupled with the Indians' loss in Boston, gave them a season-high four-game lead in the American League Central.

"This is contagious," Fister said. "The way the guys handle themselves, the way the guys come to the ballpark early, get work done, that's the kind of situation I love being a part of."

Fister was excited for his debut since coming to the Tigers in Saturday's trade with the Mariners, but he was able to calm his nerves and hold off one of the top offenses in baseball -- and one that had past success against him. Fister had owned a 4.78 career ERA against Texas.

"I really liked his demeanor," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland. "The way he went after the hitters, stayed away from the middle of the plate for the most part. I really liked his presence on the mound, his demeanor. He did a real fine job for us. I'm tickled for him to get a win. I'm really happy for him and all the guys were."

It was Fister's first win since May 30, spanning 10 starts and seven losses. Jose Valverde, who remained perfect with his 30th save of the season, gave Fister the game ball afterward.

Fister struggled to pick up wins all season due to the lowest run support of any Major League starter. Despite that, Fister never lost focus and put up a respectable 3.33 ERA.

"It's not so much weighing on me at all," Fister said. "The focus is one pitch at a time, one game at a time. You can't control other than what you do and how you prepare and how you take your mentality to the mound."

An RBI single by Ryan Raburn opened the scoring in the second inning, and he came home one batter later when Alex Avila singled.

The Tigers extended the lead when Miguel Cabrera drove in Austin Jackson on a double in the third inning, giving Fister something he wasn't used to: a lead.

But Detroit lost a three-run lead for the second time in as many days. Although Fister could gameplan for a team he was used to, the Rangers were also familiar with him.

"It sometimes makes it tougher and sometimes makes it a little easier knowing what they're going to do, but they also know me," Fister said. "I just have to take the mindset that I'm going to attack them with my best stuff. If they get a hit, I tip my cap, if not, it's part of the game."

The biggest thing Fister had going for him was location. He threw 73 of his 99 pitches for strikes, including all 10 of his changeups and all five of his curveballs.

"Control is always the focus of my game," Fister said. "Using the defense, getting quick outs is the mentality that I take out there, trying to get everybody involved."

Unfortunately for Fister, that defense let him down a couple of times.

A fielding error by Wilson Betemit with two outs in the fourth scored a run for Texas. The Rangers tied the game in the fifth when the Tigers couldn't finish a double play, as shortstop Jhonny Peralta's throw to first was wild.

But it didn't affect Fister, something his new catcher noticed.

"Nothing really ever bothers him," Avila said. "He's just kind of focused on the hitter and doing what he has to do. When he was pitching in Seattle, he never let the lack of run support or anything affect him. He just went out there and pitched and did his job. Whatever happened, happened. To have a [3.29] ERA in the American League is pretty good."

Fister finished without recording any walks or strikeouts in seven innings. The only other pitcher to do that in at least seven innings this year was the Cardinals' Kyle Lohse on June 22. The last Tigers pitcher to do it was Justin Verlander on May 17, 2006.

Avila's solo home run in the bottom of the sixth gave the Tigers the lead and put Fister in line for the win. It was the third time this year Avila had a home run and a sacrifice bunt in the same game. Only the Angels' Bobby Abreu (four times) has done it more often.

"I just made a bad pitch," said Rangers starter Matt Harrison. "It's frustrating to do that after we had tied it."

Ryan Raburn, who went 3-for-4 on the day, added an insurance home run in the bottom of the eighth. That proved to be vital, as Valverde gave up a solo home run before picking up his 30th straight save to begin the season.

Then, Valverde gave Fister the game ball, officially welcoming him to the family as the Tigers push toward the playoffs.

"He gave me a big ol' hug and gave me that smile and said, 'Here it is,'" Fister said. "That's the kind of guys we have here. It's a great park to be a part of."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.