Tigers Take Series Finale From Rays, 2-0

St. Petersburg, FL (Sports Network) - Austin Jackson hit a solo homer and drove in two runs and Doug Fister tossed seven scoreless innings to lift the Detroit Tigers over the Tampa Bay Rays, 2-0, in the finale of a four-game series.

Fister (6-13) gave up five hits and struck out five batters for the Tigers, who hold a 6 1/2-game lead over the Indians in the AL Central.

Desmond Jennings, Casey Kotchman and Sam Fuld had two hits apiece for the Rays, who went 4-3 on a seven-game homestand.

Jeremy Hellickson (11-9) allowed two runs on six hits over seven innings to take the hard-luck loss. He struck out seven and walked one.

The Tigers jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead, as Jackson led off the game with a homer to left.

Detroit added a run in the fifth. Ryan Raburn led off with a double to left, moved to third on Omir Santos' groundout and scored on Jackson's sac fly for a 2-0 margin.

Fister was perfect through four innings, but that came to an end in the home fifth. With one out, Kotchman hit a sharp liner to third. Wilson Betemit couldn't handle the ball and Kotchman reached on an infield single. Fuld's two-out single put men on first and second. Sean Rodriguez struck out swinging to end the inning.

The Tigers had a runner thrown out at home in the sixth. Victor Martinez hit a one-out double and tried to score on Betemit's bloop single to right. A strong throw home allowed catcher Kelly Shoppach to make a nice tag on Martinez.

Tampa Bay stranded men on second and third in the seventh.

The Rays put men on the corners in the ninth. Jose Valverde walked Kotchman and gave up a single to Matt Joyce with one out. Joyce took off running on Fuld's fly ball to right. Raburn made the catch and tossed to first for the easy game-ending double play. Valverde picked up his 38th save of the season.

The Tigers placed first baseman Miguel Cabrera on paternity leave and recalled catcher Santos from Triple-A Toledo...Detroit outfielder Brennan Boesch (thumb) missed the game...The Rays were without outfielder B.J. Upton (shoulder)...Fister improved to 2-2 in five career meetings with Tampa Bay...The Tigers have won six of seven.

Tigers, Rays Close Out 4-Game Series This Afternoon

(Sports Network) – Young right-hander Jeremy Hellickson can pitch the Tampa Bay Rays into a series split today when they conclude a four-game set with the Detroit Tigers at Tropicana Field.

The 24-year-old Iowa native, who debuted with four wins in 10 appearances last season, picked up win No. 11 of his first full year with eight innings of scoreless six-hit ball in an 8-0 defeat of Seattle in his last start on Aug. 20.

He’d previously gone two starts without a victory while allowing 14 hits and five runs in 11 2/3 innings against Kansas City and the New York Yankees.

Hellickson has split two career meetings with the Tigers, surrendering just two runs on seven hits in 13 1/3 innings with 11 strikeouts.

The Rays are 5-5 in his last 10 starts.

Losers in the initial two games of the series, the Rays got on the board Wednesday when Sean Rodriguez beat out a potential force play at second base and allowed Ben Zobrist to score the winning run in the 10th inning in a 3-2 victory.

Alex Avila went deep for the AL Central-leading Tigers, who had won five in a row.

Detroit starts 27-year-old Californian Doug Fister, who’ll appear for the fifth time with his new team after beginning the year with 21 starts for the Seattle Mariners.

The 6-foot-8, 210-pounder debuted with the Tigers with a 5-4 defeat of Texas on Aug. 3, then got a no-decision at Cleveland and a loss at Baltimore before rallying with a 10-1 win over Cleveland on Aug. 20.

After posting a 3.33 earned run average with the Mariners in 146 innings, he’s allowed 14 runs on 30 hits in 21 2/3 innings with Detroit.

He’s 1-2 in four career meetings with Tampa Bay.

The Tigers will be without first baseman Miguel Cabrera this afternoon, as he was placed on paternity leave on Thursday.

Brandon Inge On Walk-Off Fielder's Choice

Rays End Tigers' Winning Streak In 10th Inning

Tampa Bay ended Detroit’s winning streak at five games with a strange game-winning fielder’s choice in the bottom of the 10th inning for a 3-2 win.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Tigers reliever Duane Below induced a ground ball by Elliot Johnson to third baseman Brandon Inge. Inge took the short throw to second base, but Sean Rodriguez was called safe at the bag, allowing Ben Zobrist to score the winning run.

It was another low-scoring affair in Tampa, with the winning team scoring five runs or less in all three games during the four game series. Austin Jackson got the Tigers on the board first with a sacrifice fly in the third inning, but Evan Longoria homered again in the fourth — his second of the series — to tie the game.

Former Tiger Johnny Damon doubled in a run in the fifth to give the Rays the lead, but Alex Avila continued his scorching August with a solo homer down the right field line to tie it back up.

Wade Davis started for the Rays and went nine innings, yet was only able to earn a no-decision. He allowed four hits and two runs on just 102 pitches.

Max Scherzer gave up four hits and two runs as well, but a high pitch count chased him after the fifth inning. Daniel Schlereth, Ryan Perry, David Pauley and Below (0-2) combined to finish the game.

Though Detroit dropped the game, they remained six games ahead of Cleveland, who lost earlier to Seattle. Chicago is also six games back and is in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Tigers' Miguel Cabrera To Miss Thursday's Game

The Detroit Tigers will be without first baseman Miguel Cabrera on Thursday when they wrap up their series against the Tampa Bay Rays. The reason? Cabrera's wife is being induced into labor and is set to give birth.

The Tigers will place Cabrera on the paternity list, but according to MLive's Chris Iott, Cabrera should be back with the team on Friday.

Miguel Cabrera will be on paternity list and will miss game Thursday. Expected back Friday in Minnesota.

With Cabrera headed to the paternity list, the Tigers will be able to call up a player for a day. Iott speculates that catcher Omir Santos will get the call, which would make a lot of sense since the Tigers would finally be able to give Alex Avila a day off. Because of Victor Martinez's injury issues as of late, he hasn't been able to catch. This has forced Avila to start 17 straight games at catcher (18 after Wednesday night). His hitting numbers have been unreal during this stretch, but I'm sure the Tigers would like to get him out from behind the plate for a day, and this could be their chance.

Tigers Look To Keep Winning Streak Going Against Rays

(Sports Network) - Right-hander Max Scherzer and the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers will resume a four-game series tonight with the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

The Tigers won their second straight in the series on Tuesday, when Alex Avila collected two hits and knocked in a run in a 2-1 triumph.

Brad Penny (9-9) allowed one run on eight hits and a walk in 6 1/3 innings in the Tigers' fifth straight win and their sixth in seven games.

Phil Coke tossed two scoreless innings to earn his first save of the year.

David Price (11-11) allowed two runs on six hits and two walks through eight innings as Tampa Bay dropped its second straight contest after a five-game win streak.

Ben Zobrist had two hits and an RBI for the Rays, but grounded out with the go-ahead run in scoring position in the ninth.

Detroit is six games ahead of Cleveland and 6 1/2 in front of Chicago for division bragging rights.

Meanwhile, Scherzer has won two straight starts since dropping a 4-3 decision at Kansas City on Aug. 7.

He beat Baltimore, 6-5, six days later and added a 4-1 defeat of the Indians on Aug. 19 while combining to allow 12 hits and six runs in 14 innings. The defeat of the Indians game him a career-high of 13 on the season, surpassing the 12 victories recorded in 31 starts with the Tigers in 2010.

Scherzer is 0-2 in a pair of starts against the Rays with a 2.84 earned run average in 12 2/3 innings.

Tampa Bay counters with Florida native Wade Davis, who's picked up three straight no-decisions since winning at Oakland on July 28.

The Lake Wales, Fla. product and third-round pick in 2004 has since tossed 21 innings and given up nine runs on 18 hits against Toronto, Kansas City and Seattle -- all three games won by the Rays.

His last loss came in Kansas City on July 22.

Davis has no decisions in a pair of career starts against Detroit, allowing five earned runs in 13 innings.

Tampa Bay is 8-2 in his last 10 outings.

Tigers Join 70-Win Club, Steal Second Game From Rays

With David Price on the mound it didn’t look good for the Detroit Tigers. After all, they had never beaten the Tampa lefty and had scored just five runs in five games against him.

Well, all that changed on Tuesday.

Runs were at a premium again, but they were enough as Brad Penny pitched 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball to help the Tigers beat Price and the Rays, 2-1.

Penny (9-9) gave up eight hits and struck out just two, but only allowed Ben Zobrist’s run-scoring double in the third inning to make it to the scoreboard. Phil Coke pitched the eighth and ninth innings to get the save, striking out five and get out of a two-on, two-out jam in the final frame.

Price (11-11) entered the game with a 3-0 record against Detroit and a 2.11 ERA. He had Tigers hitters batting .222 against him.

But Detroit got all the runs they’d need in the seventh on Alex Avila’s RBI double that tied the game and Jhonny Peralta’s sacrifice fly that scored the winning run.

Price was pretty effective despite the loss, pitching eight innings, giving up six hits and striking out six.

Detroit (70-58) moved six games ahead of second-place Chicago (playing Tuesday night in Los Angeles) and Cleveland, who split a double-header Tuesday with Seattle.

Power Outage At Tropicana Field Delays Start Of Tigers-Rays

Ah, the life of a domed stadium.

Due to a power outage, the start of the Tigers-Rays game was pushed back to approximately 7:30, according to Fox Sports Detroit.

Jason Beck tweeted that the scoreboard lights remained on, so it wasn’t a complete outage.

The lights are now on and it appears the game will indeed be starting shortly.

It’s not clear what caused the outage, but there are storms in the area. However, since “The Trop” is a domed venue that won’t affect the game, assuming the power stays on.

Hurricane Irene is also looming off the coast of Cuba, but it doesn’t appear that the storms were were caused by the hurricane. However, future games in Florida could be adversely affected if the storm stays on it’s current path. The storm is expected to make landfall in the U.S. by Saturday near the Carolina coast and could make it all the way up to New England.

In Search Of 5th Straight Win, Tigers Face David Price

(Sports Network) – Lefty David Price can begin another win streak for the host Tampa Bay Rays tonight when they entertain the American League Central Division-leading Detroit Tigers in the second game of a four-game set at Tropicana Field.

The Tigers stretched their Central lead to 5 1/2 games over both Cleveland and Chicago and ended the Rays’ five-game win streak Monday night, as Alex Avila’s two-run homer backed seven strong innings by Justin Verlander in a 5-2 win.

Verlander (19-5) allowed one run on three hits and three walks while fanning eight in the right-hander’s seventh consecutive victory. He also tied his career-high in wins with his major league-leading 19th victory.

Don Kelly added a solo shot in Detroit’s fourth straight win. The Tigers lead both the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians by 5 1/2 games.

Jeff Niemann (8-5) gave up four runs on six hits and three walks in 7 1/3 innings. He had won his previous seven decisions prior to the loss, his first since May 4 against Toronto.

Matt Joyce and Evan Longoria went deep for the Rays.

Price, who’ll turn 26 Friday, has won two straight decisions in three starts since dropping a 3-1 verdict to Toronto on Aug. 2.

He won road games at New York and Boston to improve to 11-10 on the season while allowing a combined nine hits and one run in 16 innings against the Yankees and Red Sox.

The Nashville native is 3-0 in five career meetings with the Tigers, having given up just five runs and struck out 25 batters in 21 1/3 innings.

Tampa Bay is 4-6 in his last 10 starts.

Veteran righty Brad Penny makes the 313th appearance of his big-league career for Detroit and aims for a second straight win.

The 33-year-old Oklahoman is 2-4 in seven meetings with the Rays with a 5.45 earned run average and 25 strikeouts in 38 innings.

He beat Baltimore, 5-4, on Aug. 12 for his last decision, the 116th win of his career against 97 losses.

Detroit is 4-6 in his last 10 starts.

Justin Verlander Picks Up 19th Win In 5-2 Tigers Victory Over Rays

Justin Verlander frustrated the Tampa Bay Rays with seven innings of three-hit ball to pick up his major league-leading 19th win in a 5-2 Tigers victory.

Verlander (19-5) gave up a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first to Matt Joyce, but would surrender no more runs the rest of the way. Verlander struck out eight and walked three batters on 116 pitches.

Cleveland lost 3-2 on Monday against Seattle to push the Tigers’ lead in the AL Central to a season-high 5 1/2 games. Detroit (69-58) is 11 games over .500 for the first time all year and no longer holds the worst winning percentage among MLB division leaders — a distinction that now belongs at least temporarily to Arizona (69-59).

The idle Chicago White Sox moved into second place.

Alex Avila hit a two-run homer in the top of the second to give Detroit a 2-1 lead that almost was enough for the win. The Tigers scored two runs in the eighth and got a Don Kelly solo home run in the ninth to give Verlander some insurance, just in case.

The runs were needed after Tigers closer Jose Valverde started off the bottom of the ninth with a solo homer to Evan Longoria that cut the lead to 5-2. Valverde put the tying run at the plate after a single and a walk, but was able to retire the side without further damage.

Delmon Young and Jhonny Peralta had two hits apiece for Detroit, including Peralta’s two-out RBI single in the eighth that pushed two runs across with the bases loaded.

Justin Verlander Goes For 19th Win As Tigers Take On Rays

For more on the Tigers, check out Bless You Boys.