Detroit @ Minnesota preview
Target Field
Last Meeting ( Aug 31, 2010 ) Detroit 3, Minnesota 4
The Detroit Tigers suffered a major hit to their slim playoff hopes in the series opener. Francisco Liriano is ready to deal them another.
Liriano seeks his seventh straight win tonight when the Minnesota Twins host the Tigers in the middle game of their three-game series.
Sitting 10 games behind Minnesota in the American League Central, Detroit jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two innings Tuesday and Armando Galarraga made it stand until the Twins struck for two runs in the sixth. Tigers manager Jim Leyland turned to his bullpen in the seventh, a decision that ultimately backfired.
Phil Coke issued a leadoff walk before retiring the next two batters. The left-hander hit the next two batters to load the bases, then gave way to Ryan Perry, who walked Michael Cuddyer on four pitches to force in the tying run.
Delmon Young followed with an RBI single, giving the Twins a 4-3 edge. The Tigers got the tying run to third base in the ninth, but Matt Capps struck out Jhonny Peralta to clinch Minnesota's 12th win in 14 home games.
With the victory, the Twins improved to 6-1 at home against the Tigers this season and maintained their four-game lead over the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central. The loss was Detroit's fourth in six contests and put it 11 behind Minnesota in the division.
Liriano, who has won six straight decisions, will try to push the Tigers further out of the picture despite the club's recent success against him.
After tossing eight scoreless innings in his first outing with Detroit this season, Liriano is 0-2 with a 15.27 ERA over their last two meetings, allowing 13 earned runs in 7 2/3 innings. In 14 career games vs. the Tigers, including four relief appearances, the left-hander is 4-3 with a 5.24 ERA.
Liriano is coming off a solid performance on Thursday, when he yielded two runs and five hits in seven innings of a 6-4 victory at Texas.
The 26-year-old will be making his 13th start at Target Field this year. He went 6-3 with a 2.72 ERA in the first 12 outings.
The Tigers, who are 2-3 on their 10-game road trip, answer with Max Scherzer, who is on a winning streak of his own.
Scherzer has won each of his last three starts, surrendering a total of two earned runs. On Thursday, he gave up one run and six hits over eight innings of a 7-1 triumph at Toronto.
The 26-year-old has allowed three earned runs or fewer in each of his last eight outings and 14 of 15.
Scherzer has struggled on the road in 2010, going 3-6 with a 4.31 ERA in 13 starts. He has been considerably worse against the Twins this year, yielding 16 runs in eight innings over two starts for an 0-1 record and 18.00 ERA.