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While the Minnesota offense was able to strike tonight against Max Scherzer, it just wasn't enough to take the game from the division-leading Tigers. Tonight's game lowered the Tigers' magic number for another division title to 2 [pending the result of the White Sox-Royals game]. If the Twins aren't going to take the division, they at least get the chance to play spoiler, which is also kind of fun.
Trevor May pitched six full innings tonight, and while they weren't necessarily great innings, the game tonight was definitely an improvement over his last start, and a more positive way to end his season. He did give up two homers tonight, one to Miguel Cabrera in the fourth (luckily with no one else on base at the time), and another to Victor Martinez in the first, with a runner on. He did strike out seven batters, and only walked two. The bullpen came in to relieve May, but Jamie Pressly wasn't able to keep the Tigers off the bases - or the scoreboard - and he allowed the other Detroit run. Michael Tonkin came in for the last inning of relief pitching, giving up just one hit and getting a strikeout.
The Minnesota offense was like it so often has been this season - uninspiring. Also, Joe Mauer struck out twice. That seems really rare, and no, I'm not going to forget that he was the source of both Minnesota RBI. Chris Herrmann struck out three times, and nearly half the lineup went hitless for the night. Like I said...rather uninspiring.
If you like playoff battles, though, make sure you stick around to see what happens with the Tigers and Royals...maybe we'll have a surprise division winner this season. Fingers crossed.
Roll Call
| # | Commenter | # Comments
 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SooFoo Fan | 45 |
| 2 | Brananorama | 23 |
| 3 | Devereaux | 20 |
| 4 | kenzertz | 10 |
| 5 | jere.johnson.37 | 9 |
| 6 | NoahRJ | 7 |
| 7 | MNWildcat | 7 |
| 8 | Bloopers and Practical Jokes | 3 |
| 9 | twinssdfan | 1 |
Win Expectancy, via FanGraphs.com
<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2014-09-25&team=Tigers&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width = "450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2014-09-25&team=Tigers&dh=0&season=2014">FanGraphs</a></span>
What's Coming Up
The Twins continue their last series with the Tigers tomorrow night at Comerica Park. Game time is 6:08 pm CST, and will feature Minnesota's Anthony Swarzak throwing against Detroit's Rick "Forever Young" Porcello. Be there or be square.