The Minnesota Twins (55-70) will take on the Detroit Tigers (74-52) in a 1:05 p.m. matinee today at Comerica Park and have a chance to take two out of three from the American League Central leaders. The game can be live streamed here; Tigers fans can listen to the game on 97.1 The Ticket, while Twins fans can do likewise by turning their dials to 96.3 K-TWIN.
The Twins have a chance to pick up a series win against the Tigers but could have a rough go of it today. The Tigers have two-time Cy Young winner Justin Verlander (12-9, 3.51 ERA) on the hill and the Twins will be without their best player, catcher Joe Mauer, who is on the seven-day concussion disabled list.
The Tigers, on the other hand, averted disaster with their slugger Miguel Cabrera. He seemed to hurt himself a few days ago, and has battled several scrapes during the year but none have been serious. He is second in the American League in home runs (40), and leads in batting average and RBI.
If Cabrera can make up the ground in the home run chase on Baltimore Orioles outfielder Chris Davis he could make history by winning two consecutive Triple Crowns. That may be tough, though, with Cabrera likely to get more rest down the stretch so he can be healthy for the postseason.
"We may have to give him days here, days there, and then we have the comfort to give him three or four days -- obviously we do and we have," Kevin Rand, Tigers head athletic trainer said.
The Twins will counter Verlander with Andrew Albers (2-1, 1.85 ERA). Albers has shown promise, beginning his major league career with 17.1 scoreless innings before being roughed up a little in his last start by the White Sox.
"The streak was great while it was going on," Albers said. "It was awesome to have those two nights. They're pretty special, and who knows if that will ever happen again. You see how quickly things can change, and it's one of those things where you've got to get some breaks for it to happen like that."
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