Note form Al: It's a short and to the point recap tonight. I was out of the house a little longer than anticipated!
The weather was hot, but the Tigers were hotter, out homering the Twins 4-1 in a 7-4 victory.
With the win, the Tigers are a season high 11 games over the .500 mark, and have an AL best 32-12 home record. This is a team currently on a big time roll, and I'm actually sorry the All-Star beak is almost upon us, interrupting their home winning streak.
With the loss, the Twins dropped 4 games back of the Tigers. It remains a 3 team race in the Central, as the surging White Sox remain only 1/2 game back with their win over the Royals tonight.
As for the game itself, Jeremy Bonderman wasn't his sharpest. But he did throw 6 innings of 4 hit, 3 run ball, which was enough to garner the victory. Big time kudos go out to recent call up Robbie Weinhardt, who once again entered the game in relief, and shut down the opposition with men on base.
Daniel Schlereth entered the game in the 7th in relief of a tiring Bonderman, and game up a long double to deep center off the bat of Jason Kubel. Weinhardt immediately got the call out of the pen, and kept the inning from spinning out of control. Kubel ended up scoring on a ground out, making it a 7-4 game. But what could have been a big inning was snuffed out by Weinhardt, thanks to his getting 3 quick outs.
Offensively, the big hit came off the bat of Johnny Damon. His 3 run shot in the 5th inning broke open what had been a tight 4-3 game. Also going yard were Miguel Cabrera (his 22nd of what may be an MVP season), Alex Avila and Maggilo Ordonez.
Despite all the injuries and the constant flow of players between Detroit and Toledo, the Tigers will go into the All-Break no worse than 1/2 game out of 1st. If any of you were asked before the season if you'd be happy with the Tigers going into the break in 1st place, or even a 1/2 game out...you'd be both stunned and damn happy.
No matter what happens Sunday, I'm thrilled where the Tigers find themselves.