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Tigers reward Verlander for gem with walk-off
- Updated: July 31, 2016
DETROIT — Justin Verlander and Mike Fiers dueled deep into Saturday night at Comerica Park. Dueling ninth-inning rallies overshadowed their work, from Carlos Correa’s lunging single in a two-run Astros comeback to Jose Iglesias’ walk-off infield single for a 3-2 Tigers win at Comerica Park.
Detroit’s fifth straight win pushed the Tigers a half-game ahead of the Astros in the American League Wild Card chase, trailing the Orioles and Red Sox. The Tigers remain 4 1/2 games behind the Indians in the AL Central.
Verlander (11-6) took a 1-0 lead into the ninth inning, having thrown just 96 pitches while holding Houston hitless from the second inning, before George Springer and Jose Altuve singled. Correa caught a 1-2 curveball off the plate and blooped it into center for a one-out single to tie the game. Altuve aggressively went from first to third on the play, setting up the go-ahead run on Colby Rasmus’ fielder’s-choice ground ball to short.
“You have to tip your cap,” Verlander said. “[Correa] hit a pitch that, I went and looked at it, it was in the other batter’s box.”
The rally got Fiers off the hook for a loss. He allowed an unearned run on four hits over 6 1/3 innings, but Will Harris (1-2) still had to close it out. He retired Victor Martinez and struck out Andrew Romine before a walk to Justin Upton sparked a two-out rally.
“Maybe the late-inning rally is contagious,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said, “and guys have some adrenaline. We seem to rally against some pretty good back-end relievers, including closers, and tonight was another one.”
After Tyler Collins’ single put the winning run on, McCann was down to his last strike before hitting a curveball for a line drive to left. Collins went from first to third on the play, putting him in position to dash home on Iglesias’ ground ball to first. Iglesias outran Harris to the bag, getting his foot in ahead of the throw from first baseman Jason Castro, who shifted to the position from …
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