Detroit @ Minnesota preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 9, 2015 ) Detroit 4, Minnesota 2

Looking far removed from his halcyon days with the Detroit Tigers, Justin Verlander goes for his first victory of the season Friday night in the second of a four-game series against the host Minnesota Twins. The Tigers continued their mastery of the Twins with a 4-2 victory on Thursday night to improve to 8-2 in the season series.

Verlander, the 2011 American League MVP and Cy Young Award winner, will be making his fifth start of the season and is unfazed by his bloated 6.75 ERA. "My stuff is better than it has been in a couple years," said Verlander, who missed the first two months of the season due to a strained right triceps. "I just need to fine-tune it." Minnesota fell to 28-16 at home and dropped 5 1/2 games behind first-place Kansas City in the Central Division with Detroit looming 1 1/2 games back. Rookie Miguel Sano struck out three times en route to an 0-for-4 night in the series opener to snap a seven-game hitting streak to open his major-league career.

TV: 8:10 p.m. ET, FSN Detroit, FSN North (Minnesota)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Tigers RH Justin Verlander (0-2, 6.75 ERA) vs. Twins RH Ervin Santana (0-0, 2.25)

Verlander appeared on his way to his best outing of the season last time out before he was rocked for seven runs - including a pair of homers - in the fifth inning of a 10-5 setback versus Toronto. The long ball continues to plague Verlander, who has been taken deep six times while allowing a total of 26 hits over 22 2/3 innings in his four starts. He has a solid track record versus the Twins with a 15-8 record and 3.19 ERA.

After serving an 80-game suspension for use of performance-enhancing drugs, Santana was surprisingly sharp in both his Twins and season debut at Kansas City on Sunday. Although he did not factor in the decision, Santana limited the Royals to two runs on only three hits while striking out eight. Santana has a career mark of 8-3 with a 3.01 ERA in 13 starts versus Detroit, including 14 scoreless innings in two wins in 2013.

WALK-OFFS

1. Tigers LF Yoenis Cespedes is batting .363 lifetime against Minnesota, hitting safely in 22 of 25 games.

2. Twins RF Torii Hunter is tied with Gary Gaetti for sixth place on the franchise's all-time RBI list with 758.

3. The Tigers have grounded into a major league-high 92 double plays.

PREDICTION: Twins 4, Tigers 3