Minnesota @ Detroit preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 10, 2011 ) Minnesota 2, Detroit 3

THE STORY: The way the Detroit Tigers are going right now, they might have a full two weeks to rest up and get their rotation straight for the playoffs. Winners of eight straight games, the Tigers are firing on all cylinders and now lead the Texas Rangers for the No. 2 spot in the American League postseason race. The rest of the AL Central Division is an afterthought at this point, with Detroit focused completely on the future. The Minnesota Twins are part of that distant rearview in the Central, fighting to stay out of last place as they muddle through the franchise’s worst season in over a decade. The Tigers will hand the ball to Doug Fister in search of their third straight series sweep in Sunday afternoon’s finale.

TV: 1:05 p.m. ET, FSNO (Minneapolis), FSD (Detroit)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Tigers RH Doug Fister (7-13, 3.17 ERA) vs. Twins LH Scott Diamond (1-3, 4.56 ERA).

Fister has quickly elevated himself to No. 2 in the Tigers rotation behind Justin Verlander. The 27-year-old has dominated over his last four starts, going 3-0 while posting an 0.91 ERA and striking out 31 in 29 2/3 innings. He punched out a career-high 13 in a win over Cleveland on Monday. Fister lost to Minnesota when he was with Seattle earlier in the season and has never beaten the Twins, going 0-4 with a 4.10 ERA.

Diamond has performed well in four major league starts, allowing three runs or less in three of the outings. The 25-year-old Canadian allowed eight hits in five innings on Monday but limited the damage to two runs in a 4-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox. Diamond’s lone poor start came against Detroit on Aug. 26, when he was knocked around for five runs – four earned – on 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings to suffer the loss.

ABOUT THE TIGERS (83-62): Detroit’s magic number shrunk to nine on Saturday when Brandon Inge took Glen Perkins out to deep left in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off homer and a 3-2 victory. Max Scherzer turned in a second straight strong start and Victor Martinez drove in his 90th run and 13th in the last six games. The Tigers are getting contributions up and down the lineup and the entire rotation – with the exception of Brad Penny – has been solid over the last two weeks.

ABOUT THE TWINS (59-86): Joe Mauer played for the second straight day on Saturday and hit his third homer, a solo shot in the fourth. Mauer’s lack of continuous playing time due to injury has been a large focus of Minnesota’s season along with Justin Morneau’s slow road back. The Twins got some help from some recent call-ups on Saturday, as Joe Benson recorded his first two career hits (and first career caught-stealing) while Chris Parmelee hit in his fourth straight game since joining the team. The two former first-round picks will get plenty of playing time over the last few weeks to prove they belong with the club for the start of next season.

FINAL PITCH: The Twins are shuffling players in and out of the lineup due to injury. Outfielder Michael Cuddyer expects to return from a sore right wrist that has cost him four straight games on Tuesday against the Royals. Middle infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka played Friday for the first time in over a week but was shut down again Saturday with a sore right oblique. The injury forced Nishioka to bunt in his final at-bat on Friday because he had trouble swinging through.