Twins, Tigers Split Doubleheader; Minnesota Remains Two Games Back

A fast start is a always a good start.

It was closer than it originally promised: After going down by five runs early, and falling behind a very impressive Justin Verlander, the Twins put a series of runs together in the later innings to push the Tigers to the limit. But “close enough to be entertaining” isn’t quite close enough, at least not for Twins fans, as the loss means the Twins will again fall to two games behind the Tigers in the A.L. Central.

Full recap of the game can be found here.

Verlander managed to close the inning out immediately afterward, but still, with three innings left, two runs is better than none. They teach you that in Tim McCarver baseball analysis school, actually.

If the Twins feel like tying this series up tonight, they’re not being very efficient about it. After Duensing walked the bases and was pulled (which was only a matter of time), Bobby Keppel gave up a single to Brandon Inge that scored two more.

Through five innings, Verlander has allowed two hits, no walks, no earned runs, and has struck out six. Even if the Twins manage to hold the Tigers the rest of the way — and if Duensing keeps allowing runners on base this easily, they won’t — it might not matter. Verlander is just that good right now.

Brian Duensing is holding on for dear life against the Tigers offense. To his credit, he’s putting in quite an effort. Unfortunately, he’s Brian Duensing. So it goes.

Duensing gave up two more runs in the bottom of the third: Magglio Ordonez’s double to left scored Adam Everett and Placido Polanco in relatively academic fashion, and the Twins fell further behind, 3-1.

Delmon Young’s insurance run in the top of the 10th tuns out to be the game-winner for the Twins.

Curtis Granderson leadoff the bottom of the 10th with a deep homer off Twins closer Joe Nathan to make it 3-2. From there, Nathan shut down Detroit, thus saving a vital victory for Minnesota. Nick Blackburn gets the win. The Twins are now just one back in the AL Central race. For those of us with no rooting interest other than September baseball drama, this is an outstanding result.

After making an outstanding play on a linedrive in the bottom of the 9th to save the game for the Twins, Denard Span leadoff the 10th with a single. Then the fun started.

Lyon threw a wild pitch to allow Span to move to second. On the next pitch, he threw another wild pitch, on which Span advanced to third with no outs. He was driven in on a single from Orlando Cabrera.

Detroit put up a minor threat in their half of the ninth, getting a runner on second, but once again they were unable to produce with a man in scoring position. Ramon Santiago hit a deep liner down the right field line, but it was tracked down by Span for the third out.

We’re now in the top of the 10th with Brandon Lyon still on the mound for the Tigers.

From ESPN’s Rob Neyer:

In the top of the 8th, Zach Minor remained in the game, and set down the Twins in order.

Twins starter Nick Blackburn was then pulled after seven innings and replaced by Jose Mirjares, who retired the first two Tigers he faced before Jon Rauch came in, threw two pitches and ended the bottom of the 8th.

The 20-year-old didn’t seem fazed by the magnitude of this game, going 6 1/3 innings before be pulled after throwing 111 pitches and runners on first and second.

His final line is seven hits, one run and one strikeout.

Porcello rolls through the Twins yet again in the top of the sixth, giving up a harmless two-out single before retiring the site.

Blackburn then follows up his 1, 2, 3 fifth by setting down the Tigers in order again in the sixth.

After finally getting one run of support from his offense, Nick Blackburn pitched his first 1, 2, 3 inning of the game in the bottom of the fifth. We’re all tied at 1 heading into the sixth.

Matt Tolbert lead off the top of the fifth with a double down the line. He was promptly bunted over to third by Nick Punto and then driven in on a sac fly from Denard Span. Small Ball! Hooray!

It’s now 1-1 in the middle of the fifth.

Porcello cruising, yada, yada, he still looks good (although his pitch count is up to 68).

Score remains 1-0, Tigers, after four innings.

The Twins managed to hit another comebacker off of Porcello in the top of the third, this one off his leg from the bat of Denard Span. This may become an effective method for knocking Porcello out of the game early. Right now, he’s in total control.

Blackburn has now throw 58 pitches, scattered five hits and is fortunate to have only given up one run as the Tigers have left six men on.

SB Nation’s Tigers blog Bless You Boys lets out some last minute nervous energy by taking a closer look at the two starting pitchers for Game 1 of today’s day-night doubleheader:

Because this series wasn’t already awesome enough, we’ve been blessed with a doubleheader to kick it off. Join us here for updates throughout the game. Meaningful baseball! In September! This is gonna be fun.

While the first pitch is supposed to be 7:05 p.m. ET, the tarp is still on the field in Detroit and the first pitch is delayed until further notice. When we know what is going on, we’ll update accordingly.

For the second consecutive day, the Twins and Tigers remain two games apart in the AL Central standings. Minnesota lost to the Royals, 4-1, while the Tigers lost 8-4 to the White Sox.Bless You Boys makes a startingly good point:

And now, things get interesting. These two teams kick off a four-game series in the Metrodome tomorrow. If the Twins can win three out of four, they’re tied for the division lead. But if the Tigers can manage even two wins, they’ll keep a two-game lead with three games left for each team to play. Bottom line: the Twins really, really need to take three out of four in this series.

Detroit overcame a 5-0 fifth-inning deficit Saturday to ultimately win by the score of 12 to 5. Bless You Boys commends the Tigers’ ability to mount a comeback on the road:

Meanwhile, the Twins beat the Royals in Kansas City, 11-6. Denard Span, who knocked in six runs, is Twinkie Town’s hero of the moment:

On Monday, the Twins and Tigers will kick off a four-game series in Minnesota that could very well decide which team wins the AL Central this year. Until then, both teams will try to stabilize the battle lines in their favor. The two teams have ten games each left to play this season, and they’re separated in the standings by three games.

Check out Friday night’s Tigers-White Sox game thread at Bless You Boys.

With the Twins having an off-day, the Tigers are looking to extend their 2.5 game lead over the Twins lead in the AL Central. Carlos Guillen is doing his best to make sure that happens.

Guillen doubled to left center in the 7th inning to extend the Tigers’ lead to 5-2. Meanwhile, Justin Verlander is on the hill and absolutely dealing — he has 11 strikeouts in 6.1 innings of work so far.

The Tigers have granted themselves yet another day-long reprieve, and don’t have to worry about the Twins sneaking up and snatching their AL Central lead just yet. With 11 games left to play, the Tigers topped the Indians in an offensive explosion, winning 11-3. Justin Masterson pitched a tight game for the Tigers, while Carlos Guillen homered from each side of the plate. And that, as they say, is that.

Meanwhile, the Twins have gained a couple of runs back on the White Sox and now lead 8-4 in the bottom of the seventh.

The Twins are now just 2.5 games back from the Tigers in the A.L. Central.

There was a scary moment for Minnesota, however, when outfielder Denard Span took a fastball off the back of his head in the sixth inning. He was down for a few moments, but was able to walk off the field under his own power.