The Ryan Doumit Show Spoils Detroit's Night; Twins Win 4-2, Tigers Lead Trimmed to 1

Ryan Doumit's 2-run home run put the Twins ahead in the 7th, and his 2-run double sealed the game in the 8th, as the Minnesota Twins continued to haunt the Detroit Tigers good and hard, winning 4-2 on Friday night. With Chicago defeating Tampa Bay, Detroit's lead in the AL Central is reduced to 1 game. Most importantly: Detroit will not celebrate an AL Central pennant on the Target Field grass. YOU'RE WELCOME, AJ.

Doumit's offensive heroics overshadowed another solid start from the only starter penciled into Minnesota's 2013 starting rotation, Scott Diamond, who went 7 and 1/3 with one mistake, a 2-run home run to Omar Infante in the bottom of the 7th. The tying blast was the only blemish on a line of 1 ER, 6 hits, 1 K and zero walks. I'm honestly thrilled with the Scott Diamond Era, and look forward to seeing where it ends up.

Jared Burton was called in after Infante's dinger, and his two outs were both easy-peasy and enough to give him the win. As Aaron Gleeman would note, Burton just knows how to win. Glen Perkins pitched a 1-2-3 9th, and hey, wins are fun.

Play of the game: the Tigers had the game's first real threat in the top of the 5th. Back-to-back singles by Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder with two outs put runners on 1st and 2nd. Delmon Young lined another single to Ben Revere, who gunned down (or at least as much as Ben Revere can gun someone down) Cabrera at the plate by a couple of steps to end the threat.

Batting title: Cabrera went 2-for-4 to up his average to .327; Joe Mauer went 0-2, dropping his to .322.

Studs: Doumit, Diamond, Revere, Burton, Perkins

Duds: the Detroit Tigers. Screw 'em.

Enjoy your weekend, everybody. See you in April.