The Detroit Tigers (45-38) will look to take three out of four from the Toronto Blue Jays (41-43) tonight at 7:07 p.m. at Rogers Centre in Toronto. The game can be live streamed here; Tigers fans can listen in on 97.1 The Ticket, while Blue Jays fans can listen to their team try to salvage a split on SN590.
The Tigers will send ace Justin Verlander (8-5, 3.77 ERA) to the mound, and he will try to justify still being referred to as their top gun. Verlander's been badly outpitched by staff mate Max Scherzer, and even Anibal Sanchez is having a better 2013.
After back-to-back five-inning outings in which he gave up five and four runs, Verlander regained some of his form in his latest outing. Verlander pitched eight innings, giving up three runs (two earned) while striking out four. Tigers manager Jim Leyland said, "I thought that was the best that he's thrown in a long time."
Another thing to watch in this games is for tempers to boil over in the Independence Day heat. Last night Torii Hunter was plunked by a Todd Redmond pitch and had several choice words for the pitcher. Hunter, though, claims his anger was more directed at Jays outfielder Colby Rasmus, who slid hard and late into Omar Infante with his spikes up.
"Trust me, it's nothing against Redmond," Hunter said. "It was all Rasmus sliding late with his spikes up."
Rasmus did not apologize for his slide, but said he wasn't aiming to hurt Infante. "I go in hard every time," he said. "My intention is never to hurt anybody or nothing like that."
The Blue Jays will send Esmil Rogers (3-3, 3.12 ERA) to the mound to oppose Verlander. He will have to deal with Miguel Cabrera, a man shooting for a second straight Triple Crown season.
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