By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com
Tigers 9, Twins 4 – The Tigers cruised past the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night for their third straight victory.
Miguel Cabrera paced the Tigers with four hits, which included two doubles, a home run and two RBIs. Justin Upton added a three-run homer and Andrew Romine chipped in with two RBIs.
Detroit’s starting pitcher Matt Boyd tossed the win, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out seven batters in six innings.
Both teams exchanged a run the first inning before the Tigers exploded for five runs in the third to take a 6-1 advantage.
The Twins cut their deficit to 6-3, scoring a run in both the third and fifth inning.
Detroit increased its lead scoring three runs in the eighth before Minnesota closed the scoring with a run in the bottom of the eighth.
The Twins were led by Trevor Plouffe with two hits and two RBIs while Brian Dozier chipped in with a hit and an RBI.
The Tigers are now 67-59 on the season, good for second place in the American League Central Division behind the Cleveland Indians. They are three games back of the Baltimore Orioles for the final playoff spot.
Detroit will look to sweep the Twins with a win on Thursday afternoon.
Record: 67-59
2nd Place in AL Central Division (5.5 games behind first-place Cleveland)
3 games behind Baltimore for the last playoff spot
Magic # to clinch a playoff spot: 40
Magic # to clinch an AL Central Division title: 43
Next Game: 08/25/2016 @ Minnesota Twins 1:10 p.m. @ Target Field
Hitting stats: Miguel Cabrera 2 2B (26) HR (28) 2 RBI (80), Justin Upton HR (16) 3 RBI (55), Andrew Romine 2 RBI (9), J.D. Martinez RBI (51), Cameron Maybin RBI (35).
Pitching stats: Matt Boyd W (5-2) 6 IP 5 H 3 R 3 ER 1 BB 7 K.
