By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com

Tigers 1, Twins 0 – The Tigers had the edge over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night in a game where offense was hard to come by for both clubs.

LSJ Logo incertBoth teams combined for six hits in the contest with each team producing three.

The games lone run was scored in the second inning on a solo home run by Justin Upton to give the Tigers a 1-0 advantage.

Upton’s homer was his 200th of his career. He is just the 10th active player to hit 200 home runs at the age of 28 and younger.Eye on the D

Detroit’s starting pitcher Matt Boyd tossed his first victory of the season, allowing three hits in six scoreless innings while striking out seven batters.

Tigers’ closer Francisco Rodriguez earned his 26th save of the season, allowing no hits and striking out one batter in the ninth inning.

Upton had two of the three Detroit hits while Jose Iglesias chipped in with a hit.

The Twins were led by Max Kepler with a double while Miguel Sano and Kurt Suzuki each singled.

The Tigers now 49-44 on the season, good for second place in the American League Central Division behind the first-place Cleveland Indians. They are two and a half games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the final playoff spot.

Detroit will look to pick up the series win with a victory over the Twins on Tuesday night.

Record: 49-44

Tied for 2nd Place in AL Central Division (5.5 games behind first-place Cleveland)

2.5 games behind Toronto for last Wild Card spot

Magic # to clinch a playoff spot: 72

Magic # to clinch an AL Central Division title: 76

Next Game: 07/19/2016 vs Minnesota Twins 7:10 p.m. @ Comerica Park

Hitting stats: Justin Upton HR (10) RBI (39).

Pitching stats: Matt Boyd W (1-2) 6 IP 3 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 7 K, Francisco Rodriguez SV (26) 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 1 K.