Detroit loses tough game to Minnesota 4-1 in the heat

In front of a large crowd today at Comerica Park the Detroit Tigers dropped a tough decision to the Minnesota Twins 4-1.  On a extremely warm day at the ballpark the fans would see Justin Verlander have another strong outing only to come up on the short end.  Verlander pitched 8 innings giving up just 2 hits and 1 earned run along with 9 strikeouts only to get a no decision.   Joe Mauer would hit a first inning home run for the Twins and one other hit in the next seven innings for the Tigers ace.

Detroit responded right away in the bottom of the first inning with Ian Kinsler hitting the first pitch from Erwin Santana into the left field seats.   The score would remain the same until the top of the 9th inning.  The Tigers could not put together anything the rest of the game.   They dropped the series finale to the Twins and the series 2-1 the Tigers now remain 7 1/2 games behind the Division leading Cleveland Indians.   Detroit would end up with 9 hits on the day with Miguel Cabrera getting 2 hits and watched his team's record drop to 49-46.

Minnesota would only have 4 hits on the day but 3 of them would be home runs and accounted for all four runs.   Franciso Rodriquez had a bad 9th inning after getting the first two batters out.   He would then surrender a solo home run to Max Kepler and a 2 run homer to Eddie Rosario to make the final score 4-1.   

Justin Verlander now has had 5 quality starts in a row and is now touching 98/97 mph on the radar gun.   His strikeout totals continue to climb but has lacked the run support from his Tiger teammates.   With the trade deadline fast approaching it will be interesting to see what the Tigers intend to do.  Either build for a pennant run or start selling the farm.   Will see.