By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com
Tigers 9, Twins 6 – Miguel Cabrera’s eighth inning homer propelled the Tigers to a crucial win over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.
Cabrera, who hit his 33rd home run of the season, knocked in two key runs that gave Detroit a lead.
The Tigers opened the scoring with a run in both the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead.
Minnesota responded harshly, scoring five runs in the fourth to take a 5-2 advantage.
Detroit regained its lead with a four run bottom of the fourth on an RBI single from Andrew Romine, back-to-back RBI triples by Ian Kinsler and Cameron Maybin and run scoring single by Cabrera.
Tigers led 6-5 heading into the fifth inning.
The Twins tied the game in the fifth 6-6 before Cabrera’s home run in the eighth.
Detroit scored two insurance runs in the eighth inning to take a three-run advantage.
Kinsler paced the Tigers with four hits, including a double and triple, while Maybin, Cabrera and Jose Iglesias added two hits apiece.
Tigers’ bullpen collectively tossed five scoreless inning allowing just one hit in relief for struggling starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez.
Shane Greene picked up his 5th win of the season for Detroit while Francisco Rodriguez notched his 42nd save.
The Tigers are now 78-67 on the season, good for second place in the American League Central Division behind the Cleveland Indians. They are now one game behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the final playoff spot.
Detroit will look to win the four-game set against the Twins with a win on Thursday afternoon.
Record: 78-67
2nd Place in AL Central Division (6 games behind first-place Cleveland)
1 game behind Toronto for the last playoff spot
Magic # to clinch a playoff spot: 19
Magic # to clinch an AL Central Division title: 24
Next Game: 09/15/2016 vs Minnesota Twins 1:10 p.m. @ Comerica Park
Hitting stats: Miguel Cabrera HR (33) 2 RBI (91), Ian Kinsler 2B (26) 3B (4) 3 RBI (78), Cameron Maybin 2B (12) 3B (3) 2 RBI (38), Andrew Romine RBI (14).
Pitching stats: Shane Greene W (5-4) 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 1 K, Francisco Rodriguez SV (42) 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 0 K, Anibal Sanchez 4 IP 5 H 6 R 6 ER 2 BB 7 K.
