After a frustrating 4-3 loss to the worst team in baseball on Thursday, the Detroit Tigers officially fell to two games below .500, and are now making that runaway AL Central champion pick look like a cruel joke.
Even after scoring seven runs on the Twins in Wednesday's game, Tigers hitters could only muster four hits against Minnesota starter J.P. Walters in game two, and were plagued by a severe lack of baserunners all day. Detroit pitcher Doug Fister did not have his best stuff in the least and scattered nine hits, but settled down after a pair of home runs to Justin Morneau and Trevor Plouffe in the third inning quickly gave the Twins a 3-0 lead. Fister struck out five through six innings to drop to 0-2 on the year.
Detroit did pick up a trio of solo home runs from Brennan Boesch, Andy Dirks and Prince Fielder in the fifth and sixth innings, but still could not find a way to make things happen against a tricky Twins bullpen down the stretch. The biggest culprit was none other than Delmon Young, who finished 0-for-4 with five men left on base. Still a day-to-day player in Jim Leyland's DH slot, Young is batting just .226 on the season after today's performance.
Next up for the Tigers is a must-win three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates at Comerica Park over the weekend. Ace Justin Verlander should get things going in the right direction when he takes the mound for Detroit in Friday's opener.
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