Tigers Win Game Two: 6-5…
I don’t quite know why Justin Verlander insists on staying in games when he is obviously tired. In the eighth inning in game two of Tuesday’s double header, Verlander was noticeably having control problems but insisted on throwing through them. He never wound up walking anyone and made it through the inning with the lead, but the lead did get ground down to within a run.
Verlander and the Tigers walked away with the win in game two and thus split the two-‘fer with the Minnesota without losing any ground. However, it got a bit closer than it needed to be. Curtis Granderson hit his second hard-line-noodle of the day to give Fernando Rodney a bit a breathing room for the ninth, but then got burned on a liner to center and gave the run back. I wouldn’t want anyone else out there, however.
Granderson now has 30 homers 70 RBI this season. Magglio Ordonez (remember him?) is now batting .297 with 22 doubles on the season. Brandon Inge, knee injury and all, rolled over the 80 RBI mark for the season and Justin Verlander got his 18th win and now has 264 strikeouts.
The Tigers lead is back to two games with two pitching mismatches awaiting them. Wins in the next two games will be harder, but will indubitably help Detroit gain much needed momentum for the first round of the playoffs.
If the pitching mismatches do prove to be detrimental to the Tigers, the White Sox and the Royals will be the teams left in charge of deciding the fate of the AL Central. Luckily the Tigers will not have to face Cy Young frontrunner Zach Greinke with the division on the line.
