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Justin Verlander Wins 100th Career Game, Tigers Fend Off Indians To Avoid Sweep

A lot of things happened in tonight's Tigers-Indians matchup, so here's some bullet points to help sort things out:

  • Most importantly, the Tigers won, 4-3. The win snapped a 13-game losing streak at Progressive Field and restored their AL Central lead to three games.
  • Justin Verlander won his MLB-leading 17th game and 100th game overall in his career. He got touched up in the second and third innings, but held on to pitch seven solid innings.
  • Jose Valverde pitched a flawless ninth to break Willie Hernandez's club record for consecutive saves. Valverde now is 33-for-33 on the season.
  • Jason Kipnis, meet Justin Verlander. Kipnis lit up the Tigers in the first two games but went hitless on Thursday. He did score a run though after drawing a walk from Verlander.
  • The Tigers scored three runs in the top of the second to give Verlander some support, which included a genius suicide squeeze bunt by Austin Jackson that scored Alex Avila from third base.
  • Verlander's final line: 7 innings, 3 hits, 3 runs, 3 walks and 10 strikeouts. It wasn't his best stuff, but man that's pretty good nonetheless.
  • The Indians didn't look very happy with the strike zone tonight. Both Travis Hafner and Shelley Duncan looked particularly perturbed after late-inning strikeouts. Perhaps it was just frustration: Duncan and Hafner struck out a combined five times against Tigers pitching.