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Tigers face Santana in the midst of playoff push

Sep 15, 2007 - 12:56 PM Detroit (81-67) at Minnesota (72-75) 7:10 pm EDT

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) - The Detroit Tigers are in the midst of a playoff chase, so the last pitcher they want to face is the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner.

The Tigers aim to win their fourth straight as they face Johan Santana and the Minnesota Twins on Saturday.

Detroit, which trails the New York Yankees (84-63) by 3 1/2 games in the wild card race, earned a 4-2 victory on Friday as Timo Perez drove in three runs and Nate Robertson threw seven solid innings.

Now the Tigers face Santana (15-11, 3.09 ERA), who snapped a personal two-game skid by limiting the Chicago White Sox to one run and five hits in seven innings of a 5-2 win on Sunday.

Santana is 11-4 with a 2.69 ERA lifetime agains the Tigers. The lefthander is 1-2 with a 3.12 ERA against them this season.|

The Tigers can feel a little better about their chances against Santana since Magglio Ordonez is one of the few hitters to have great success against the lefthander. Ordonez, whose .357 average leads the AL, is hitting .417 (18-for-43) with five home runs and 17 RBI vs. Santana.

Detroit, which has won eight of 11, may need him to continue that success since it is sending rookie Yorman Bazardo (1-1, 3.00) to the mound. Bazardo is making his first career start after making nine appearance out of the bullpen. The righthander was 10-6 with a 3.75 ERA in 23 appearance - 21 starts - for Class AAA Toledo.