Kenny Rogers was shelled again as he lost for the seventh time in his last eight starts.  He was knocked around for six runs and he left with nobody in the third inning.  You have to go all the way back to July 25, 2006 to find a start where Kenny Rogers lasted less then two innings and in that game, he gave up seven runs in the first inning against the Indians.  It’s also the seventh time he’s given up at least six runs in a start and three of those have come in his previous three times on the mound.

Aquilino Lopez’s relief appearances looks better then it really is.  Yeah, he threw four shutout innings and he gave up just four hits with five strikeouts but two of those hits came in the third and they allowed two inherited runners to score.  Nate Robertson threw three solid innings of mop up time to close out the game.

Curtis Granderson drove in the lone Tiger run with his seventh homer of the season.  Placido Polanco was the only Tiger with more then one hit (two singles) and Dusty Ryan made his major league debut with a strikeout to end the game and he spelled Brandon Inge behind the plate in the ninth inning.

Now the Tigers have the chance to play spoiler with three games against the Twins in Minnesota.  Armando Galarraga gets the ball tomorrow and the Tigers will face Francisco Liriano.  Ironically, the Tigers were the team that Liriano was pitching against when he came down with his arm troubles back in 2006.  He came back and pitched once in September, but then missed all of 2007.

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