On Thursday afternoon, the Minnesota Twins hosted the Detroit Tigers in the first game of a day-night doubleheader. The win moved the Tigers to 81-70, just 0.5 GB the Baltimore Orioles for the second Wild Card spot in the American League. Go figure. It’s his 42nd home run of the year against Detroit. (Note to editor: Please fact check that).
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Cabrera is batting.375 in 32 at-bats over seven games at Target Field this season, all Tigers victories, with five doubles, three homers, seven runs and six RBIs.
Byron Buxton made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Cruz of at least extra bases in the third, but Cruz hit his 38th homer in the eighth, a drive off the stone facing above the batter’s eye in centre field. Francisco Rodriguez posted his 44th save.
Minnesota has lost six straight games and 98 overall, reaching 96 for the fourth time in six seasons and two short of its 2011 total. Although most of the damage was done after he left the game, Minnesota starter Kyle Gibson (6-11) took the loss, allowing five hits and two runs in five innings. He matched his career best with seven strikeouts and walked just one, after being pounded by Minnesota for seven runs in 3 2/3 innings on September 13.
Rosario was diagnosed with a broken left thumb after diving into first base trying to beat out a grounder in the game on Saturday, and he’ll need six weeks to recover. They had three errors and five wild pitches in the doubleheader, scheduled to make up Wednesday’s rainout.
Dozier broke the record of 39 that had been set previously by Alfonso Soriano of the New York Yankees in 2002.
Davey Johnson and Rogers Hornsby hold the Major League Baseball record with 42.
“It’s unfortunate for him that he hasn’t been able to celebrate a lot of those home runs with the losses”, Molitor said. Verlander is 14-8 with a 3.22 ERA in 207 innings pitched this season for the Tigers.
Tonight, the Tigers host the Kansas City Royals at Comerica Park.
Anibal Sanchez (7-13, 5.90 ERA) will start the day game for Detroit against Minnesota’s Pat Dean (1-6, 6.71). He was spotted a 2-0 lead in the second inning when his counterpart, Twins right-hander Ervin Santana, struggled with his command. “There’s still a little bit of the stretch run to go”. His other two home runs came when he was penciled into the lineup as the designated hitter.
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Seattle (80-72), which also ends the season with four at home against Oakland (66-86) – with a trip to Houston in between, is two games back with three teams over which to hop in order to get the wild-card berth. The Seattle Mariners offense has been hit or miss lately, but they’ve won seven straight games when scoring more than three runs.
