Minnesota @ Detroit preview
Comerica Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 28, 2011 ) Detroit 4, Minnesota 11
THE STORY: The Detroit Tigers have spent the last six games turning the American League Central race into a laugher. The surging Tigers swept each of their closest pursuers in the past two series, pushing themselves far enough ahead of the pack that they can now begin to worry about things like playoff positioning. The Minnesota Twins have fallen back into last place in the division and will spend the rest of the month trying to avoid being the latest team to drop from first to worst in the span of one season. The Twins will at least get to take their shot against one of the few struggling players for Detroit when Brad Penny gets the ball in the opener of a three-game series at Comerica Park on Friday night.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, FSNO (Minnesota), FSD (Detroit)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Tigers RH Brad Penny (9-10, 5.13 ERA) vs. Twins RH Kevin Slowey (0-4, 5.31 ERA).
While the rest of the Detroit pitching staff rounds into form in advance of the postseason, Penny has likely pitched his way out of a spot in the playoff rotation. The burly righthander served up eight runs - four earned - and 10 hits over five innings against the Chicago White Sox last weekend. He has allowed four or more earned runs in seven of his last 10 outings. Penny was lit up for seven runs over five innings in a loss at Minnesota on Aug. 28.
Slowey has lost four straight starts since returning to the rotation, though his last two were both quality turns. The Twins have offered Slowey a total of three runs of support in the four outings. The 27-year-old righthander has never lost to Detroit, posting a career record of 5-0 with a 4.93 ERA in eight games - seven starts.
ABOUT THE TIGERS (81-62): Things could have gone much differently over the last few weeks of the season had the Tigers failed to take care of business in the last six games. But since they went ahead and swept the White Sox and Cleveland Indians, now they only need to worry about whether they would like to start the postseason at home against the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox as the No. 2 seed, or on the road at one of the AL East powers as the No. 3 seed. Detroit left no doubt that it can compete with the best of them while putting up an average of 9.5 runs per game during its six-game winning streak. Every starter except for Penny has been strong and Victor Martinez is on an absolute tear at the plate, going 10-for-21 with 12 RBIs and a pair of key home runs in the last five contests.
ABOUT THE TWINS (59-84): Minnesota helped the Tigers out a little bit on Wednesday when it managed to avoid a four-game home sweep to the White Sox. After scoring one run total through the first three games of the set, the Twins finally brought their bats to a 5-4 win in the finale. Danny Valencia drove in a pair and recent call-up Chris Parmelee chipped in a two-run double. One thing the standings will allow Minnesota is a good look at youngsters like Parmelee, Joe Benson and Liam Hendricks, each of whom were brought up from Double-A this week.
FINAL PITCH: Miguel Cabrera went 2-for-4 with a walk on Wednesday, running his streak of consecutive games reaching base to 34. That marks the longest streak for the Tigers franchise since Damion Easley reached in 34 straight from April 21-May 30, 1998.