Full of good signs.

Tigers 7, Indians 5

Up 2.5 in the Central and looking to burn the candle at both ends, the Tigers welcomed the Indians to Comerica Park hoping to pad their lead. They did so with a solid outing from Justin Verlander (8-4, 80 IP, 3.71 ERA, 2.57 FIP, 2.8 WAR) who went 7 innings, only allowing 3 runs that all came in the same inning that featured two infield hits and a botched flyball. The stat lines haven’t looked VERLANDERISH, but he does look to be past the three or four start run of iffy command and bad results. Both Hunter and Martinez both had 3 hit games and the only Tigers not to register a hit were Cabrera and Fielder. Martinez’s 3 hits featured one of each variety of which he is capable – a single, double, and homerun – indicating that his luck is starting to turn. Jose Valverde did his best to spoil it, but he was only able to turn a four run lead into a 2 run victory after two 9th inning homers and a single. The win moves the Tigers to 33-26 and gives them a shot to win the set with Cleveland tomorrow afternoon behind breakout pitcher Rick Porcello (2-3, 57 IP, 5.21 ERA, 3.88 FIP, 0.8 WAR). Of note, below is a list of pitchers with lower xFIPs than Porcello (min. 50 IP):

1. Sanchez, 2.41
2. Hernandez, 2.50
3. Darvish, 2.54
4. Wainwright, 2.54
5. Scherzer, 2.80
6. Cobb, 2.91
7. Harvey, 2.92
8. Porcello, 3.03

The Moment: Verlander attempts to avoid the Handshake of Doom by trying to enter the dugout via the auxiliary entrance.