video thumbnail

MIN@CWS: Walters goes the distance for the win

After scuffling for much of the last month, the Tigers have turned it on for Memorial Day weekend, and have won back-to-back games for the first time since they won four straight in mid-April. P.J. Walters and the division rival Twins stand in their way from making it three in a row on Sunday.

The Tigers have earned the series victory, taking the first two games in the three-game set, including a 6-3 win on Saturday. The Twins have lost five of their last six overall.

After scoring a total of six runs when they were swept by the Indians in a three-game series in Cleveland, the Tigers have combined to score 16 in the first two games of the Minnesota series.

Walters, 2-1 with a 2.95 ERA this year, will be tasked with slowing down Detroit's powerful lineup. He's 1-0 with a 4.32 ERA in his career against the defending American League Central champs, and beat the Tigers on May 17.

After getting called up to the Major League roster earlier this month, Walters has been Minnesota's most reliable option of late. In his win against the Tigers, he limited Detroit to four hits, though three of them were home runs. More recently, he's coming off of a complete-game win over Chicago on May 22, the first complete game by a Twins pitcher this season.

"You always feel like you can pitch up here, but until you actually get up here and do it, it's still a question mark," Walters said. "That's one of those question marks we can check off the list."

He'll go head-to-head with Detroit's Rick Porcello, who has struggled over his last few outings after tossing back-to-back gems in the first week of May. Porcello has surrendered 15 runs (10 earned) on 23 hits over 14 1/3 innings -- including six runs (two earned) over four innings and 100 pitches against the Twins on May 16.

In his last outing, he used power fastballs and changeups effectively to strike out six Indians hitters in 5 1/3 innings.

"He did something different against us today that he hadn't done in the past: He threw a lot of four-seam fastballs," Cleveland manager Manny Acta said. "I mean, he was throwing harder than in the past because of that. Instead of just going through his two-seam and sinking the ball a lot, he was going inside with 93, 94, and he hit 95 a couple of times, too. He did a good job."

Tigers: Putting runs on the board
• The Tigers have struggled to put up a lot of runs recently, but they've managed at least one in 114 consecutive games. The club has not been shut out since July 17, 2011 -- the longest stretch in club history.

• Sunday will be the 20th game of a 24-game stretch in which 19 of Detroit's games will be played on the road. Detroit has a 28-18 road record since Aug. 11, 2011.

Twins: Span crushing Tigers pitchers
• The Twins are hoping Denard Span continues to do damage against the Tigers. Through the first two games of the series, he is 5-for-9, including his 23rd and 24th career multi-hit games against Detroit.

In his career against the Tigers, Span is hitting .361 (82-for-227) with 11 doubles, eight triples, 24 RBIs, 24 walks, and 44 runs (55 career games). Entering Saturday, his batting average was tops among active players against the Tigers.

• Minnesota general manager Terry Ryan spoke about the difficulty of finding a groove without stability in the rotation, saying the Twins are battling through a situation that is not ideal.

"Every guy likes to have a role and a schedule and some sort of a routine," Ryan said. "We've been flip-flopping some. That's no excuse though. The ideal is to have five starters that you can put out there every fifth day that can give you a chance. We don't have that right now."

Worth noting
• The Tigers have won 20 of their last 26 games against Minnesota, dating back to Sept. 2, 2010. In that stretch, the Tigers have won 10 of 12 at Target Field.

• Over his last 14 games, Minnesota's Joe Mauer is batting .351 (19-for-54) with six doubles, one home run, five RBIs and 12 walks.

• Minnesota hitters struck out 16 times on Saturday, the team's highest total since Sept. 28, 2000.

MLB.com Comments