What do you think about the article, “At Detroit, Twins & Tigers will continue their fight for baseballs …”?
Those pesky Twins didn’t want to see the Detroit Tigers celebrating right in front of them Thursday afternoon. Scott Baker got plenty of run support and pitched Minnesota to a testy 8-3 victory, preventing the Tigers from clinching their first division title in 22 years. Minnesota avoided elimination from the playoff race and moved within two games of the first-place Tigers with three to play. “We just didn’t want to see them celebrating,” Twins outfielder Denard Span said. The teams wound up splitting their crucial four-game series. The Tigers had a chance to wrap up their first division crown since 1987 in the finale, but their bats were quieted and their pitchers got roughed up in a three-run third inning and a four-run eighth.
Sep. 19–Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland spent some time before Friday’s game discussing his approach to Joe Mauer — when to walk the Twins catcher, when to let him swing away. But Mauer isn’t the end of Leyland’s situational dilemmas. What about Denard Span? “Kills us,” Leyland said. Any reason why Minnesota’s leadoff hitter had, entering Friday’s game, peppered Detroit pitchers for two five-hit games and a .472 average in 11 games this season? “If I figured it out,” Leyland said gruffly, “he wouldn’t kill us.” Span’s .430 career average against the Tigers entering Friday’s game is the second-highest batting average for any player against Detroit (minimum of 100 plate appearances) behind Bobby Bonilla’s career .448 average. In addition to two five-hit games, Span also has two four-hit games this season against the Tigers. Last month in Detroit, he went 9 for 11 in the first two games of a three-game series, prompting Leyland to take the bat out of Span’s hands with an intentional
Those pesky Twins didn’t want to see the Detroit Tigers celebrating right in front of them Thursday afternoon. Scott Baker got plenty of run support and pitched Minnesota to a testy 8-3 victory, preventing the Tigers from clinching their first division title in 22 years. Minnesota avoided elimination from the playoff race and moved within two games of the first-place Tigers with three to play. The teams wound up splitting their crucial four-game series. The Tigers had a chance to wrap up their first division crown since 1987 in the finale, but their bats were quieted and their pitchers got roughed up in a three-run third inning and a four-run eighth. The showdown in Motown didn’t determine much: Detroit started the series with a two-game lead and ended it with the same tenuous cushion. At Detroit, the Twins and Tigers will continue their fight for baseball’s final playoff spot over the weekend – or early next week if a tiebreaker is necessary.
