Well, the first three games in this series didn’t go very well but Justin Verlander fulfilled his role as ace by coming up with a shutdown outing against one of the better offenses in baseball. Verlander was throwing 100 mph late in the game and he needed it to strike out eight in eight shutout frames in a 2-0 win.  In all, he gave up just four hits and a walk for his thirteenth win of the season. Fernando Rodney pitched a hitless ninth to pick up his 24th save of the season.

Ryan Raburn not only had a good game with the stick, but he made a nice play at third base as well.  Raburn put the Tigers on the board in the fourth with an RBI single and then he belted a solo home run in the seventh inning.  Not too shabby considering the Tigers had just five hits.  Magglio Ordonez singled and he drew a walk to join Raburn as the lone Tigers who reached base twice.

The White Sox were off and the Twins lost so the Tigers have a two and a half game lead (three in the loss column) heading into a three game weekend series at home against the Royals.  It’ll be Zach Greinke against Jarrod Washburn tomorrow night so hopefully the third time is the charm for the recently acquired southpaw.

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