What's the cleaning implement of the night? BROOM! What's the word of the evening? SWEEP!
The Tigers got out their brooms and swept their 3 game series against the sad sack Orioles with a 4-2 victory. More importantly, they held on to first place in the Central, no matter the result of the Twins and White Sox games, respectively. (The Twins have lost and the Sox are in a rain delay. They are both 1.5 games back of the Tigers as I write this.)
Max Scherzer continued his emergence as the Tigers' number 2 starter, going 7 extremely strong innings to even his record at 6-6. Scherzer has won 4 straight, and is 5-2 since taking an enforced 10 day vacation in Toledo. We can only hope things click as well for Rick Porcello.
Offensively, the Tigers were led by...I'll give you one guess. You're correct if you said...Danny Worth. The rookie infielder went yard for the first time in his short big league career in the 3rd, part of a 2 hit night. Brandon Inge remained at a Brennan Boesch level of hot at the plate, with a 2-3, 1 RBI night. Inge is now hitting .500 for the homestand, raising his average to a wholly respectable .272.
Of course, Miguel Cabrera had 2 more hits. The Triple Crown candidate raised his major league leading average to a mere .347.
The Tigers have been neigh unbeatable at Comerica Park as of late. Actually, they've been good at home all season, but have really stepped up their performance in the D over the past month. The Tigers have won their last 13 of 15 while winning 6 straight home series, and now stand 30-12 for the season at Comerica.
But the time for playing bottom feeders has ended. The 2nd place Twins are on deck.
It's never a good time to play the Twins, who come into town for a 3 game series before the All-Star break. But the Tigers are hot, playing at home, with Justin Verlander taking the ball for Friday's game one, and have Miguel Cabrera absolutely clobbering the ball.
So there's no time like the present, right?