The Tigers lost two of three games to the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles before splitting the four-game series against the Twins.
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Apparently Detroit Tigers skipper Brad Ausmus is not one of those managers, or Minnesota’s Brian Dozier is not one of those players.
Minnesota Twins shortstop Jorge Polanco (11) holds up his throw after the force out of Detroit Tigers’ J.D. Martinez (28) in the sixth inning of a baseball game in Detroit, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016.
“Hector, he had to dance around a little trouble now and then”, Molitor said. He had a pinch-hit single in the ninth.
For the fourth day in a row, the Tigers had a Rio Olympic medallist throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Byron Buxton’s RBI single made it 5-1 in the ninth, and Brandon Kintzler finished Detroit off in the bottom of the inning.
The Tigers went on to lose, 5-1, to the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park.
DETROIT – Say this for old friend Mike Pelfrey: He’s nothing if not predictable.
Shane Greene (5-4) got the win, while Ryan Pressly (6-7) took the loss after surrendering Cabrera’s homer. He started the game with a 60-pitch limit but lasted only 36, giving up four runs and five hits in 1 2/3 innings.
Lowering his earned-run average to 1.80 over his past four starts, Santiago recorded all his outs by air or strikeout. He didn’t even get two. The Tigers own a 12-3 advantage in the season series and have registered at least 10 hits in nine of those encounters.2.
“No I didn’t”, Ausmus answered when asked if he considered walking Dozier, who has hit 24 of his 41 home runs in his last 44 games.
Santiago, meanwhile, has put himself back on track since scuffling to a 10.89 ERA in his first four starts after coming over in a trade with the Los Angeles Angels.
The first four batters that Pelfrey faced found the grass and two runs scored from it.
Eduardo Escobar singled Kepler home, Rosario bunted for a hit, Juan Centeno sacrificed and Dozier stroked his two-run single to left on a 2-2 pitch.Second-place Detroit is still on the fringes of the rush for the second wild-card spot in the American League and enters a weekend series against first-place Cleveland nearly needing a three-game sweep to retain serious hopes of overtaking the Indians in the AL Central. The Twins have been outscored by 22 runs in the matchup, which will wrap up with three more games early next week at Target Field.
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Juan Centeno bunted the runners over, and Pelfrey retired Byron Buxton. Cabrera has two homers in 16 at-bats against Twins starter Hector Santiago, who opposes Detroit’s Mike Pelfrey in the series finale.
