Tigers 3, Twins 2
Brandon Inge belted a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Detroit Tigers to their eight consecutive victory with a 3-2 triumph over the visiting Minnesota Twins on Saturday.
Wilson Betemit also hit a solo homer and Victor Martinez drove in a run for the Tigers, who lowered their magic number to clinch the American League Central to nine.
The Twins brought in lefthander Glen Perkins (4-4) for the ninth inning. Perkins retired the first two batters easily but left a 2-1 pitch over the plate to Inge, who blasted it over the wall in left for his third home run.
Al Alburquerque (6-1) got the win for Detroit in relief of Max Scherzer, who pitched seven strong innings.
Minnesota tied it up in the sixth on Danny Valencia’s sacrifice fly and had a chance to take the lead in the seventh after a leadoff double by rookie Joe Benson. But Scherzer induced a flyout and struck out two to keep the game knotted at 2-2.