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Led by a lights-out David Price and the hot bat of Ian Kinsler, the Detroit Tigers defeated the Minnesota Twins 3-0 to wrap up their fourth consecutive AL Central division championship.
The Tigers win the Central by a single game over the surprising Kansas City Royals, who will also make the post season as a wild card.
Twins starting pitcher Kyle Gibson did his damnedest to play spoiler, but was foiled by Kinsler, who drove in the first two Tigers runs. Detroit's second baseman led off the third inning by drilling his 17th home run of the season, a solo shot giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Detroit padded their lead in the eighth on a Kinsler RBI single and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Torii Hunter, accounting for the final 3-0 score.
Price was picked up at the trade deadline to shore up Detroit's rotation. He had his struggles over the last two months, but came up huge in the regular season finale. Price pitched into the eighth, shutting out the Twins on four hits over 7 1/3 innings, striking out six while walking two. The 2012 Cy Young winner left the game to a standing ovation from a Comerica Park crowd of more than 40,000.
The much maligned bullpen did their part as well. Joba Chamberlain retired the only two batters he faced in the eighth. Joe Nathan tossed a 1-2-3 ninth, recording his 35th save while locking down the AL Central title.
Detroit will have the next few days off to enjoy the spoils of victory. They will play the Orioles in the ALDS, game one scheduled for Thursday in Baltimore.