The Tigers continue to look like a team on a mission.

Saturday, the Tigers won another game in dramatic fashion as Brandon Inge hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to send the Tigers to a 3-2 victory of the Minnesota Twins.

It was only the third home run of the season for Inge who spent time in Toledo with the Mud Hens but it was his second walk-off home run on the season.

Saturday’s victory marked the eighth straight for the Tigers which have all come over AL Central division opponents. This is also their 18th win in their past 22 games. More importantly though the Tigers’ magic number to an AL Central division title fell to nine games. This means that Detroit only has to win 9 of their final 17 games to clinch the division. This would still hold true even if the Indians and White Sox were to go undefeated the rest of the way.

Scherzer allowed two runs on five hits and three walks in seven innings pitched. He struck out six.

Swarzak gave up two runs on four hits and two walks in six innings. He also struck out six.

Minnesota AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Revere, CF 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 .249
Plouffe, SS 3 1 0 0 1 2 0 .235
Mauer, DH 3 1 2 1 1 0 0 .292
Valencia, 3B 3 0 0 1 0 1 1 .247
Parmelee, 1B 3 0 1 0 1 0 1 .357
Benson, RF 4 0 2 0 0 2 1 .133
Dinkelman, LF 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 .308
Hughes, L, 2B 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 .237
Rivera, R, C 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .152
a-Tosoni, PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .170
Butera, C 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .163
Totals 29 2 5 2 3 8 9 .245

a-Struck out for Rivera, R in the 7th.

Detroit AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Jackson, A, CF 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 .254
Dirks, RF 4 1 1 0 0 0 4 .256
Young, D, LF 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 .273
Cabrera, Mi, 1B 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .329
Martinez, V, DH 3 0 1 1 1 0 0 .326
Avila, C 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .300
Peralta, Jh, SS 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 .304
Betemit, 3B 3 1 1 1 0 0 0 .285
Inge, 3B 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 .194
Santiago, 2B 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 .261
Totals 32 3 6 3 3 7 8 .274
BATTING
2B: Benson (1, Scherzer).
HR: Mauer (3, 4th inning off Scherzer, 0 on, 0 out).
TB: Mauer 5; Parmelee; Benson 3.
RBI: Mauer (30), Valencia (68).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Hughes, L; Tosoni.
SF: Valencia.
GIDP: Parmelee.
Team RISP: 0-for-5.
Team LOB: 4.BASERUNNING
CS: Benson (1, 2nd base by Scherzer/Avila).
PO: Benson (1st base by Scherzer).

BATTING
2B: Dirks (11, Swarzak), Santiago (10, Capps).
HR: Betemit (7, 3rd inning off Swarzak, 0 on, 1 out), Inge (3, 9th inning off Perkins, 0 on, 2 out).
TB: Dirks 2; Martinez, V; Betemit 4; Inge 4; Santiago 3.
RBI: Betemit (44), Martinez, V (90), Inge (22).
2-out RBI: Martinez, V; Inge.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Dirks 2.
Team RISP: 1-for-5.
Team LOB: 6.FIELDING
DP: (Cabrera, Mi-Peralta, Jh-Scherzer).
Pickoffs: Scherzer (Benson at 1st base).

Minnesota IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Swarzak 6.0 4 2 2 2 6 1 3.89
Capps 1.0 1 0 0 1 1 0 4.04
Burnett, Al 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.33
Perkins(L, 4-4) 0.2 1 1 1 0 0 1 2.72
Totals 8.2 6 3 3 3 7 2 4.53
Detroit IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Scherzer 7.0 5 2 2 3 6 1 4.27
Coke 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.47
Alburquerque(W, 6-1) 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2.09
Totals 9.0 5 2 2 3 8 1 4.11

Pitches-strikes: Swarzak 94-57, Capps 18-12, Burnett, Al 8-6, Perkins 7-4, Scherzer 118-71, Coke 12-10, Alburquerque 13-9.
Groundouts-flyouts: Swarzak 4-4, Capps 1-1, Burnett, Al 1-1, Perkins 1-1, Scherzer 4-9, Coke 3-0, Alburquerque 0-0.
Batters faced: Swarzak 24, Capps 5, Burnett, Al 3, Perkins 3, Scherzer 27, Coke 3, Alburquerque 3.
Umpires: HP: Jerry Layne. 1B: Bob Davidson. 2B: Mike Muchlinski. 3B: Brian Knight.
Weather: 70 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 4 mph, R to L.
T: 2:53.
Att: 38,567.

Source: Mlive.com, MLB.com

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