The Tigers scraped together a solid win and gave Tiger fans some relief as they added to their AL Central Division lead with a 6-2 win over the Twins.  Nate Robertson was good enough through five and the bullpen was very solid as the Tigers took the finale in Minnesota.  Robertson improved to 2-2 and he gave up two runs in five frames while Zach Miner threw two shutout innings of relief.  Fernando Rodney even got it done in a non-save situation in what may have been the Tigers most important game of the season.

Placido Polanco gave the Tigers the lead for good with a two run single in the fifth inning.  He finished with two hits, three RBIs and a run.  Ryan Raburn had a  solo home run while Magglio Ordonez went two for four with a run and an RBI.  The Tigers left eleven men on base, so this one could have been a lot worse.

The win gives the Tigers a three game lead as they go into the middle series of their final road trip of the season.  The magic number is eleven so the Tigers could hypothetically clinch the division before the Twins come to Detroit the following week but they’d need an excellent week to go with a train wreck by the Twins.  The Tigers do have tomorrow off before they head to Cleveland for three games.  It’ll be Edwin Jackson versus Aaron Laffey in the opener.  The Twins take on the White Sox starting tomorrow in Chicago.

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