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Twins have luxury of facing Cabrera, Tigers at Comerica

Aug 20, 2013 - 2:48 PM (Sports Network) - The Minnesota Twins will try to slow down the amazing Miguel Cabrera on Tuesday when they begin a three-game series with the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.

Cabrera has belted eight home runs and has driven in 20 runs over his last 13 games. The American League's reigning MVP and Triple Crown winner is hitting .360 and has 40 homers and 120 RBI on the year, making him just the third player since 1921 (Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx) to reach those numbers through 116 games.

"I mean, I've never seen anything like it, and this is 50 (years in baseball) for me," manager Jim Leyland said.

Cabrera helped Detroit win the final two games of their four-game set with the Kansas City Royals over the weekend. The Tigers, though, had lost five of seven before that.

Still and all, Detroit owns a 6 1/2-game advantage over the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central.

Hoping to add to that on Tuesday will be righty Rick Porcello, who has won his last five decisions. Porcello beat the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday, limiting them to three runs in six innings, as he improved to 9-6 to go along with a 4.33 ERA.

Porcello tossed seven scoreless innings to beat the Twins the last time he faced them and is 7-5 against them with a 3.40 ERA in 18 starts.

Minnesota, meanwhile, will counter with righty Mike Pelfrey, who is 4-10 with a 5.26 ERA. Pelfrey did not get a decision on Thursday against the White Sox, as he surrendered three runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings of his team's 4-3 win.

Pelfrey is 1-3 lifetime versus the Tigers with a 5.57 ERA in four starts.

Minnesota enters this series riding a four-game losing streak after dropping a 6-1 decision to the New York Mets on Monday.

Kyle Gibson (2-4) allowed four runs on 10 hits and two walks over 3 2/3 innings for Minnesota, which has lost six of its last seven.

"Obviously that's not good enough. There's a lot of stuff I need to work on," said Gibson, who was optioned to Triple-A after the loss. "Obviously I didn't take advantage of it like I wanted to. I didn't come up here and have the success I wanted to."

Detroit is 8-5 against the Twins this season.