Jim Leyland Alters Tigers Rotation To Match Up Justin Verlander Against White Sox

Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland will start Justin Verlander on Tuesday against the Kansas City Royals, a day ahead of his next scheduled start in the rotation, so that Verlander will be able to pitch in next weekend's series against the first place Chicago White Sox, Jason Beck of MLB.com reports.

Verlander picked up a no-decision today after allowing two runs in nine innings in an extra innings win over the Toronto Blue Jays. He will be pitching on normal rest Tuesday against the Royals, but the team has an off-day on Monday, allowing Leyland to skip someone in the rotation. If Verlander took his normal turn on Wednesday, he'd miss next weekend's series with the White Sox, who lead the Tigers by 1.5 games in the AL Central standings.

Verlander, the reigning AL MVP and Cy Young winner, is 12-7 with a 2.50 ERA and 1.00 WHIP this season. He's received no-decisions in his last three starts, despite giving up three runs or fewer each time. The Tigers are 2-1 in those games, however. The Tigers open a three-game series at home against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim tomorrow.

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Tigers Vs. Blue Jays Final Score: Alex Avila's Walk-Off Single Caps Off Sweep As Detroit Wins, 3-2

The Detroit Tigers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by a final score of 3-2 in Thursday's series finale at Comerica Park, which capped off a sweep for the hometown team.

Alex Avila hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning, scoring Quintin Berry, who entered the game as a pinch runner in place of Delmon Young earlier in the inning. The win preserved a terrific outing from Justin Verlander, who struck out 12 batters in a nine-inning effort.

The Blue Jays led 2-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning on the strength of a two-run homer off the bat of Edwin Encarnacion, which was his 33rd of the season. However, the resilient Tigers were able to tie the game on an RBI single by Brennan Boesch and a run-scoring wild pitch by Toronto reliever Darren Oliver.

In the 11th, Jhonny Peralta led off the inning with a single, but was forced out at second on Young's groundball. Jeff Baker drew a walk in the next at-bat, but Andy Dirks failed to capitalize as he struck out swinging for the second out. That set the stage for Avila, who came through with the big two-out hit.

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Miguel Cabrera Injury: Tigers Star Leaves Game With Ankle Soreness

Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera left Thursday's game with right ankle soreness.

Tigers To Start Drew Smyly In Place Of Doug Fister On Saturday

The Detroit Tigers have moved starting pitcher Doug Fister out of his rotation spot for Saturday's game against the Los Angles Angels, replacing Fister with left-hander Drew Smyly.

Fister is dealing with a groin injury that he suffered in last Sunday's start, and it apparently hasn't healed enough for him to make his next start. The Tigers are expected to recall Smyly from AAA Toledo on Friday and not right away, which could mean that Fister's injury isn't too serious that he needs to be placed on the disabled list to open a roster spot.

Smyly, a rookie who made his major-league debut this season, was 4-3 with a 4.22 earned run average for the Tigers through July 6, the last time he made a major-league start before being sent down. He gave up a home run about every seven innings and struck out 75 compared to 21 walks when with the Tigers earlier in the year.

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Tigers Vs. Blue Jays Preview: Detroit Goes For Sweep Of Toronto

With the Chicago White Sox completing a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees on Wednesday night, the Detroit Tigers need to keep place with the first place South Siders with a sweep of their own. They can accomplish that with a victory on Thursday night over the Toronto Blue Jays, who the Tigers have managed to scrape by in the first two games.

There's good news for Detroit: on the hill will be reigning Cy Young Justin Verlander, who has been more or less untouchable at home this season, posting a 1.72 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP in 11 starts. He'll be opposed by Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ who has pitched deceptively well for the Blue Jays since they acquired him from the Houston Astros. Happ's ERA is 5.09, but his WHIP (1.17) and batting average against (.238) suggest that he's been pitching better than his ERA indicates.

Game date/time: Thursday, Aug. 23, 1:05 p.m. ET

Location: Comerica Park, Detroit, Mich.

TV: FSN Detroit

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Tigers Vs. Blue Jays Final Score: Detroit Notches 3-2 Victory Over Toronto

On Wednesday night, Anibal Sanchez threw just his second quality start since being acquired by the Detroit Tigers, and it was just enough to power his team to victory. Toronto Blue Jays starter Aaron Laffey gave up three earned runs in six innings, but he was out-dueled by Sanchez and the Tigers bullpen.

Detroit went up 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning when Jeff Baker singled to right to score Delmon Young, putting another run on the board after Omar Infante scored on a wild pitch in the fourth inning. Toronto shaved the lead back to one on a Edwin Encarnacion single to left that scored Rajai Davis, but Detroit's Prince Fielder extended the lead back to two, plating Austin Jackson with a single of his own to make it 3-1 after six innings. Blue Jays shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria's seventh-inning sacrifice fly cut the lead to 3-2, but that would be it for Toronto.

The Tigers will go for the sweep Thursday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. ET.

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Tigers Lefty Drew Smyly To Pitch Saturday If Injured Starter Doug Fister Can't Go

As the Detroit Tigers continue to play things safe with injured starter Doug Fister, MLive.com's James Schmehl is reporting that the team already has tabbed left-hander Drew Smyly as a fill-in for Saturday's game if Fister can't take the mound.

The Tigers yanked Smyly after just one inning in his start with Triple-A Toledo on Tuesday in what appeared to be an odd development, as they plan to keep him as ready as possible for a potential spot-start on Saturday with the Angels. Why Smyly went out to throw a mere inning is anyone's guess, but it's clear that there's a good deal of concern over Fister's injury if the team would make such a knee-jerk mid-game move like this.

Though Fister himself told the media he was improving on Wednesday, Tigers athletic trainer Kevin Rand stressed that his 6'8" hurler still has not been able to throw off a mound just yet. "There's still some soreness in there," Rand said, "so we've got to be smart with it."

Until the final verdict comes back on Fister's status for the weekend, Detroit looks prepared to keep their 23-year-old prospect stashed away at the Triple-A level as an emergency plan. Smyly churned out a rather impressive 8.5 strikeouts per nine innings over 15 starts earlier in the year, however, and would definitely be a solid option if Fister is forced to miss significant time.

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Tigers Vs. Blue Jays: Starting Lineups For Wednesday's Game

Sporting a frustratingly-high 7.97 earned-run average in four starts with the Tigers since being acquired from the Marlins, Detroit right-hander Anibal Sanchez hopes to get his season back on track on Wednesday evening, in game two of his team's series with Toronto.

Facing the exact same opponent that roughed him up for five earned runs on eight hits back in his July 28th Tigers debut, Sanchez will need to have much better command of his pitches in order pull himself out of this bothersome slump. Instead of featuring a near-identical lineup to the one that Sanchez struggled with only weeks ago however, Blue Jays manager John Farrell has opted to send out just four hitters from the team's win over Detroit back in July. Rajai Davis, Colby Rasmus, Edwin Encarnacion and Kelly Johnson are the only holdovers.

Here are the starting lineups for game two:

Tigers
1. Austin Jackson - CF
2. Omar Infante - 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera - 3B
4. Prince Fielder - 1B
5. Jhonny Peralta - SS
6. Delmon Young - DH
7. Andy Dirks - LF
8. Jeff Baker - RF
9. Alex Avila - C
Anibal Sanchez - SP

Blue Jays
1. Rajai Davis - LF
2. Colby Rasmus - CF
3. Edwin Encarnacion - DH
4. David Cooper - 1B
5. Moises Sierra - RF
6. Yorvit Torrealba - C
7. Kelly Johnson - 2B
8. Mike McCoy - 3B
9. Adeiny Hechavarria - SS
Aaron Laffey - SP

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Jordyn Wieber And A Robot To Throw Out First Pitches At Wednesday's Tigers Game

Max Scherzer Leads Majors In Strikeouts

Tigers Vs. Blue Jays: Anibal Sanchez Tries To Put Struggles Behind, Keep Tigers Winning

The Detroit Tigers host the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night as the two teams resume their three-game series at Comerica Park.

Right-hander Anibal Sanchez is scheduled to start for Detroit as he continues trying to adjust to pitching in the American League. After arriving in Detroit following a trade from Miami, Sanchez is just 1-3 with an 8.41 ERA for the Tigers and is coming off of a loss in his last start at Minnesota in which he gave up 12 hits and five runs in just five and a third innings.

The Blue Jays are expected to counter with left-hander Aaron Laffey on the mound to start the game. Laffey is 3-4 with a 4.70 ERA that includes losses in his last two starts.

Detroit remains two games behind the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central race after opening the series on Tuesday with a 5-3 win. The Tigers did pick up some ground in the AL Wild Card race where they sit one game behind Tampa Bay and Baltimore and a half game behind Oakland.

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Tigers Vs. Blue Jays: Max Scherzer Strong As Detroit Opens Series With 5-3 Win

The Detroit Tigers held off a late rally to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 on Tuesday night to open a three-game series at Comerica Park.

Detroit starter Max Scherzer (13-6) allowed just one run in seven innings while logging eight strikeouts to earn the win. Closer Jose Valverde held on for a scoreless ninth inning to record his 24th save of the season.

The Tigers took advantage of some control problems by Toronto starting pitcher Ricky Romero to jump out to an early lead. Romero walked eight batters in 5.1 innings. Romero walked Delmon Young with the bases loaded in the first inning to give Detroit the lead, then gave up another bases-loaded walk in the second inning.

Second baseman Omar Infante singled in a run in the sixth inning, followed by a sacrifice fly by Miguel Cabrera to score another run to extend the lead to 5-1.

The Blue Jays rallied for two runs in the top of the eighth inning before Joaquin Benoit came out of the bullpen to stop the rally.

With the win, Detroit keeps pace with the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central as well as the four-team AL Wild Card race. The two teams resume the series on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. ET.

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Doug Fister Groin Strain Might Keep Him From Starting Saturday

Detroit Tigers pitcher Doug Fister has strained his right groin, an injury that might keep him from starting Saturday against the Los Angeles Angels. Asked Tuesday about the probability of him staying in the rotation, Fister sounded unsure:

"You know, I can’t guess that (whether he’d make next start)," Fister said. "It’s tight today, so we’re treating it as we need to, and we’re going to kind of play it by ear."

Fister, who had been stellar in his seven starts since the All-Star break, gave up seven runs in 3.2 innings on Sunday to the Baltimore Orioles in a 7-5 loss. Fister said he began to feel tightness in the affected area shortly after he was replaced on Sunday. A side strain had put Fister on the disabled list twice before the break this season.

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Tigers Vs. Blue Jays Lineups: Scherzer Faces Romero In Series Opener

The Detroit Tigers, two games back in the AL Central, open a three-game home set with the Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday night. Max Scherzer (12-6, 4.41) will take the hill for Detroit against Ricky Romero (8-10, 5.53).

Lineups as follows:

Blue Jays (56-65)

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Tigers Vs. Blue Jays: Max Scherzer Takes Mound To Start Series

The Detroit Tigers continue their homestand Tuesday night with a game against the Toronto Blue Jays.