Jim Thome Hits 600th Homer, Detroit Tigers Lose 9-6

Jim Thome has made a career of hitting home runs. He came into tonight's game against the Tigers with 598. Before the night was over, he had 5 RBI and career homer #600. Thome becomes only the 8th player in Major League Baseball history to reach the 600 homer milestone. The game started out with a homer by the newest Tiger, Delmon Young, who reached the seats in his first Tiger at-bat in the first inning to put Detroit up 1-0.

The Twins would score 3 runs in three different innings, six of those coming off Tiger starter Rick Porcello who lasted six innings, in taking his 8th loss against 11 wins. Daniel Schereth gave up Thome's 600th in the 7th inning, a three-run shot to the opposite field on a curveball down and away. Thome just reached out and flipped it into the Tiger bullpen for the milestone dinger. Thome has hit more homers against the Tigers than any other team, reaching the cheap seats 65 times against Detroit.

The Tigers would hit three homers of their own, but it wouldn't be enough to overcome mediocre pitching and shaky defense. Delmon Young, Victor Martinez and Ryan Raburn all homered for Detroit in the losing effort. Raburn also made another error (that's 3 in the last 3 games, not that anybody's counting) that led to runs that shouldn't have scored. Alex Avila had a three-hit night, needing only a homer to hit for the cycle.

The loss leaves the Tigers with only a two game cushion over second place Cleveland and 3 and a half over 3rd place Chicago. The Indians begin a three game series in Chicago tomorrow night before coming to Detroit for 3 with the Tigers this weekend. Now is probably not a good time for the Tigers to go on a losing streak.

That is just what Detroit has started (2 losses in a row), and as luck would have it Justin Verlander is our starting pitcher in tomorrow night's game with the Twins. Verlander has started 13 times this season following a Tiger loss, and will try to get his league-leading 18th win. With the Indians and White Sox beating up on each other for the next 3 days, the Tigers have a great opportunity to build a lead in the A.L. Central race. Or one or both of those teams could make this race too close for comfort. 7:05 pm first pitch. Let's hope J.V. is bringing his "A" game.