The Tigers late season skid continued as they lost to the second place Twins for the second straight time.  It looks like Jim Leyland rode Justin Verlander just a bit too long in this one and while I’m all for riding the horse that got you there, this went a little overboard.  In all, Verlander threw 128 pitches and he came out just in time to see Brandon Lyon give up a three run home run (two of those runs went against Verlander) to put this game out of reach.  The end result is the Tigers now have just a two game lead in the Central with one more game in Minnesota.

Verlander was very good through the first seven innings.  He gave up a first inning run on a solo shot by Joe Mauer but then he pitched six scoreless frames.  The loss puts Verlander at 16-9 on the season.

Placido Polanco went four for five with two runs.  Miguel Cabrera went three for four and he put the Tigers on the board in the first inning with an RBI single.  Aubrey Huff singled home the other run for Detroit.

The finale is tomorrow at 2:10.  It’ll be Nate Robertson against Scott Baker.  This is a big game folks.

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