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Jurrjens sharp as Tigers sweep Twins

Sep 16, 2007 - 11:31 PM By Brian Hall PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) - For years, the Minnesota Twins have taken advantage of their home-field turf in the Metrodome. This year, the Detroit Tigers had a little magic of their own at Minnesota's park.

Detroit earned its second straight three-game sweep at the Metrodome with a 6-4 victory against the Twins on Sunday.

Curtis Granderson led off the game with a home run and Jair Jurrjens carried a no-hitter through 5 1/3 innings for the Tigers (83-67), who trail the New York Yankees (84-64) by two games in the American League wild card race entering the Yankees' Sunday evening tilt at Boston.

With the victory, Detroit has won six straight games at the Metrodome, equaling their best overall winning streak in Minnesota, which previously was done spanning the 1999 and 2000 seasons. The Tigers are 10-5 against the defending Central champions this year, and have taken seven in a row against the Twins.

"If somebody would have told me that we'd win six straight in a row at the Metrodome, I would have told them they are crazy," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said.

"For many, many years since I have been here, they just crush us when we come in here," Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge said. "So, it is good to kind of even it out a little bit."

Granderson got it all started in the first inning with a 432-foot blast for his 12th career leadoff home run, and sixth of this season.

But Detroit's rookie righthander was the story.

Jurrjens (3-1) won his second straight start after coming off the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation. He retired 16 of the first 17 batters he faced, allowing just a walk to Brian Buscher in the second.

"Their starter pretty much shut us down locating the ball," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Great location today, in-and-out, shut us down for a long time."

Minnesota's Nick Punto broke up the no-hitter with one out in the sixth on a double to left field, and the shutout was gone after Punto scored on Jason Tyner's triple to right, ending Jurrjens' night.

He finished with 5 1/3 innings pitched, giving up one run and two hits, while striking out a career-high six.

"He pitched very well," Leyland said. "We extended him a little bit last time, he had 70-some pitches, maybe 71. We extended him a little bit today, maybe a little bit too long, but he pitched great."

Three relievers bridged the gap to closer Todd Jones, who allowed a run before escaping a bases loaded jam to earn his 37th save of the season. In doing so, he became the 20th pitcher in major league history to record 300 saves.

"It is a big deal to me," Jones said. "It is not that big around baseball, but it is important to me."

Detroit scored in each of the first three innings against Twins' starter Scott Baker (9-8), pushing a pair across in the second frame due to fielding miscues by the righthander, who turns 26 on Wednesday.

After Timo Perez reached with a single, Ramon Santiago hit a ball up the middle that Baker got a glove on and knocked down. He recovered to pick up the ball, but his throw to first went wide of the bag and allowed Perez to score all the way from first. Inge then scored Santiago, who made it to third on the previous play, with a squeeze bunt.

Granderson also reached in the inning after bunting back to Baker, with the righthander throwing high to first for another error.

Baker had won three of his past four starts, without giving up more than three runs since the beginning of August. He lasted seven innings on Sunday, allowing four runs - three earned and eight hits while striking out three and not issuing a walk

"I finally got in a little groove there," Baker said. "I was falling behind guys and had to throw fastballs in fastball counts and they were hammering it. I kind of had to mix it up a little bit, start throwing some breaking balls in fastball counts and that finally got me in a little groove."

The Twins put together a rally in the eighth, pushing across a run when Joel Zumaya walked in a run with the bases loaded. But the hard-throwing righthander struck out the reigning American League batting champion, Joe Mauer, to end the threat.

"We had lots of chances there, loading the bases up a few times," Gardenhire said. "We just couldn't come up with the final big hit to get it back in there. I think we pretty much gave them a ballgame with mistakes early."

Granderson and Magglio Ordonez each had two hits for the Tigers, who now travel to Cleveland. The Indians (87-62) lead the Central by 4 1/2 games over Detroit after a 4-3 loss to Kansas City.

"This is history already, we have to keep playing," Leyland said. "More than keep playing, we need to keep winning. We're behind the eight-ball obviously."