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Verlander, Cabrera help Tigers top Twins

Jul 5, 2012 - 5:56 AM Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Justin Verlander threw his fifth complete game of the season and Miguel Cabrera homered in back-to-back innings in Detroit's 5-1 win over Minnesota Wednesday night.

Verlander (9-5) allowed four hits, including a fifth-inning homer to Chris Parmelee, and had seven strikeouts. The right-hander, who has won each of his last six decisions against Minnesota, has 19 career complete games.

"That's just what we needed. We needed a lot of innings. That's a blessing for us," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "He used all his pitches. He was terrific."

Verlander threw 75 of his 115 pitches for strikes.

Cabrera belted a solo homer in the sixth and added a two-run shot in the seventh. He also doubled in the first and scored on Prince Fielder's two-run double.

The Tigers, who will go for a split of this four-game series Thursday afternoon, won at home over the Twins for the first time in five tries this season.

Twins starting pitcher Brian Duensing (1-5) left the contest with one out in the fifth inning with a bruised left ankle. Alex Avila led off the inning by sending a line drive that deflected off Duensing's ankle. Catcher Joe Mauer picked up the ball and threw to first base for the out, but Duensing remained on the ground grimacing in pain. X-rays turned up negative, and Duensing was replaced by Kyle Waldrop.

"It's a shame, because he was throwing the ball really well," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Luckily, nothing is broken, so we'll just take it day- by-day."

Denard Span had two hits for the Twins, who had their season-high five-game winning streak snapped.

The contest was delayed 2 hours, 26 minutes at the start by rain. Temperatures cooled off considerably after the storms went through. It was around 100 degrees when the game was supposed to take place at 7:05 p.m. (et), but then was 78 when the official first pitch was thrown.

"I changed things a little bit," Verlander said of his routine due to the rain delay. "It was hot and humid out there."

Austin Jackson singled to start the bottom of the first. Cabrera laced a one- out double to left, and Fielder followed with a pop-up to left-center field. Span seemed to get a late start on the ball and he couldn't come up with it after making a sliding attempt, creating the 2-0 margin.

Span singled to lead off the fourth for Minnesota's first base runner, but Joe Mauer grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Parmelee homered to right with one out in the fifth, but Cabrera went deep off Waldrop to center to start the sixth. Jackson legged out an infield hit in the next inning, and Cabrera cranked a two-out blast to left off Cole De Vries for his 18th homer of the year.

Game Notes

Jackson extended his hitting streak to 11 games...The Tigers have won 22 of the last 30 meetings...Verlander has worked six-or-more innings in each of his last 60 starts.