September 16, 2011 The Tigers saw their 12-game winning streak come to an end last night, but still moved closer to clinching the American League Central Division title when second-place Cleveland lost. The Tiger magic number is now 1. That means that a Tiger victory at Oakland or Cleveland loss to Minnesota tonight will result in the Tigers becoming division champions.
September 14, 2011 The first half of this season the Tigers were a team that was waiting to get it together. It took a while, but it's happening in a big way for Detroit as the Tigers came from behind with a pair of pinch-hit homers in the 9th from Ryan Raburn and Alex Avila to tie the game at 5-5. Victor Martinez doubled in the Tiger half of the 10th and was replaced by pinch-runner Will Rymes, who promptly scored on Carlos Guillen's base hit (his 3rd of the day).
September 13, 2011 The last time Justin Verlander pitched, Victor Martinez made sure he got his 22nd win by belting a grand slam to beat Cleveland. Tonight, V-Mart hit a 3-run blast in the 6th inning of what was a 1-0 game at the time. That put Detroit and Verlander up 4-0. The Tigers would add one more run to beat the White Sox 5-0. It was the 11th win in a row for Detroit and the 11th straight win for Verlander, who is now 23-5.
September 12, 2011 Rick Porcello got off to a rough start, walking two and loading the bases in the first inning against the Chicago White Sox. He would find a way to wriggle out of that jam trailing only 1-0, then got into a groove to shut down the Sox while his offense continued to put a beat-down on Chicago pitching. The Tigers pounded out 21 hits en route to a 14-4 laugher over the Sox. The Tiger magic number to clinch the American League Central is now 6.
September 11, 2011 Doug Fister has been a fantastic acquisition since the trade that brought him here from Seattle. Fister tossed 7 shutout innings today against Minnesota, and the Tigers beat the Twinkies 2-1. Fister is 5-1 since coming to Detroit. Joaquin Benoit pitched a perfect 8th inning, then closer Jose Valverde created a bit of drama before finally dispatching the Twins in the 9th for his 43rd save in 43 chances. That's a new Tiger record. Valverde gave up a couple of hits and allowed a run to score before settling down and getting the Twins out to preserve the win.
September 8, 2011 As the Tigers march toward their first Division title since 1987 and their first postseason appearance since 2006, the team will put playoff tickets on sale beginning Monday, Sept 12th at 10 am. Tickets will be priced from $35 for nosebleed seats to $135 to sit right behind home plate. Season ticket holders will get first priority in purchasing postseason tickets. You can still put a deposit on season ticket packages for next season and get priority.
September 7, 2011 Justin Verlander only gave up three hits today in six innings of work. Two of them were two-run homers to Shelley Duncan, and Verlander finished the sixth trailing 4-2. You don't win 20+ games in the big leagues without a little help, and that help showed up in the top of the seventh in the form of a five run Tiger rally. Victor Martinez hit a grand slam on the first pitch he saw from reliever Tony Sipp to give the Tigers the lead for good.
September 6, 2011 Austin Jackson was named American League "Player of the Week" for his incredible offensive production last week where his batting average was well above .500. Tonight, he made two outs in the first inning. That's actually a good thing. The fact that Jackson had the opportunity to make two outs in the same inning meant that his teammates were doing some serious damage to the Cleveland pitching staff. After Jackson grounded out to start the game, Andy Dirks made the second out in the first. Delmon Young walked for the first time since becoming a Tiger (90+ at-bats). After that, the Tiger batters hit six straight singles and by the time Austin Jackson made the final out of the first inning, the Tigers had a 5-0 lead.
September 5, 2011 Doug Fister pitched one of the best games of his young career this afternoon when the Tigers really needed it. Mr. Fister struck out 13 Indians batters in 8 innings of work today to notch his 4th win since coming to Detroit in a trade from Seattle. Fister was 3-12 as a Mariner, but is 4-1 as a Tiger. Today's win puts Cleveland 7.5 games behind the first place Tigers with 21 games left to play.
September 5, 2011 This was a day when everybody in the lineup padded their stats. Andy Dirks came in as a defensive replacement after the game was already out of hand and had 4 RBI on two hits. Everything the Tigers hit tonight was falling in. They hit balls hard, they hit bloopers and nubbers, everything fell in safely for hits. The Tigers had a season-high 24 hits. Miguel Cabrera hit another long homer tonight, this one a 430 foot blast into the bushes in center. He also knocked in 4 runs. Victor Martinez had 3 hits, Ordonez had 2 hits, Austin Jackson had two more hits, Jhonny Peralta had 2 hits and 3 RBI, Alex Avila had 4 hits and Brandon Inge chipped in with 3 hits.
September 3, 2011 Brad Penny has struggled this season as a Tiger pitcher. He didn't get much help from his defense today and that set the stage for a fun day for Chicago hitters. An error on what could have been an inning-ending doubleplay in the 4th led to 5 White Sox runs (4 unearned) and the Tigers were down 6-1. Penny didn't help himself much in the next inning, allowing back-to-back jacks and suddenly the rout was on as Chicago held an 8-1 lead. The Tigers did not give up.
September 2, 2011 Chicago pitcher John Danks wasn't ready for the Tigers in the first inning of tonight's game. When Miguel Cabrera stole second base off Danks in the first (his catcher didn't have a chance to throw out the lumbering Tiger slugger), you had to know that this might be a good night for the team from "The D". Cabrera ended up scoring on a bloop single to left by Alex Avila, and the Tigers staked Justin Verlander to a 3-0 lead. That was more than enough for the Tiger ace, who struck out six in 7 and one third innings of work. The only blemish was a solo home run to White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers in the 8th inning.
