Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page B14

September 26, 2009

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Sports » Baseball

Verlander helps Tigers extend lead

Source: Agencies | September 26, 2009, Saturday | Print Edition

STARTING pitcher Justin Verlander helped the Detroit Tigers to a 6-5 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Thursday, extending their American League Central division lead over the Minnesota Twins to three games.

The right-handed Verlander struck out 11 and allowed two runs in seven innings for his 17th victory of the season, just one win away from equalling a career-high. He had an 18-6 record in 2007.

The Indians lost their 11th successive game despite outfielder Choo Shin-soo making things interesting in the bottom of the ninth with a two-run homer against closer Fernando Rodney.

Rodney struggled with his control, walking one batter and allowing two hits before getting Jhonny Peralta to line out for his 35th save of the season.

"He (Rodney) has come through all year for us," Verlander told reporters. "Whenever a little doubt creeps in, you say he's done it all year, and once again he did it."

Elsewhere in the AL, it was: Athletics 12, Rangers 3; Mariners 5, Blue Jays 4; and Red Sox 10, Royals 3.

In the National League, it was: Cubs 3, Giants 2; Dodgers 7, Nationals 6; Reds 4, Pirates 1; Phillies 9, Brewers 4; and Padres 5, Rockies 4.

In Cleveland, the Indians led 2-0 on a Michael Brantley two-RBI single in the third inning before the Tigers responded with four runs in the fourth.

Infielder Brandon Inge had an RBI single during the fourth-inning rally and finished 2-for-5 while Carlos Guillen had three hits and an RBI double in the seventh to help the Tigers (82-70) complete the three-game sweep.

Detroit next heads to Chicago to play the White Sox before it begins a four-game series against Minnesota on Monday.

Playoff contention

The last-place Indians (61-91) have already been eliminated from playoff contention and meet the Baltimore Orioles next.

Rookie starter Carlos Carrasco fell to 0-3 after allowing six hits and four runs in five innings.

"Our guys made a good run at it," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. "We played better baseball tonight, still short, obviously, but against one of the better pitchers in the league, we made him work."

In San Francisco, Jeff Baker hit a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning as Chicago staved off elimination in the NL Central for a day by handing San Francisco a blow to its postseason hopes.

Had the Cubs lost, the St Louis Cardinals would have clinched the Central. The Cardinals begin a three-game series against the NL wildcard-leading Rockies, who lead the Braves by 3 1/2 games with San Francisco and Florida four behind. The Cubs trail Colorado by 6 1/2 games with 10 to play.

Brian Wilson (5-6) walked Derrek Lee to open the inning but got Micah Hoffpauir and Mike Fontenot on infield popups before Baker hit his fourth home run.

In Washington, Rafael Furcal hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth as Los Angeles beat Washington to hand the Nationals their 100th loss of the season.

Furcal's drive off Ron Villone (4-6) was his fourth hit of the game. Ramon Troncoso (5-4) pitched 1 1/3 innings to get the win, and Jonathan Broxton finished for his 36th save.

The win reduced the Dodgers' magic number to one for clinching an NL playoff berth.

The Nationals, who were 59-102 last season, are the first NL franchise to lose 100 games in consecutive seasons since the San Diego Padres, who dropped 102 in both 1973 and 1974.
Baseball



 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend