After four dominating games by Detroit, John Danks was forced to practically concede the AL Central to the Tigers.
Jhonny Peralta and Ryan Raburn ignited the Detroit Tigers offence with back-to-back homers in the second inning as the Detroit Tigers routed the Chicago White Sox 14-4 for their 10th straight win on Monday night.
“They have played better down the stretch, that is just being blatantly honest,” Danks said. “Coming into the year I thought we were the team to beat. I’m sure they felt the same way but they have played better. That’s the way it is. We’re going to finish on a strong note. We haven’t given up, obviously our playoff hopes are pretty dim,” Danks said. “We’re signed up to play 162 and hopefully more but it looks like 162 and we’re going to try to win everyone we can.”
Raburn finished the game with four hits and three RBIs and Peralta added two hits and three RBIs for the Tigers, who reduced their magic number to six in the AL Central.
The Tigers began their win streak with a sweep of the White Sox during a lopsided three-game series Sept. 3-5 in Detroit. The Tigers outscored Chicago 35-11 to sweep that series and continued to embarrass their divisional rival with a 14-run explosion on Tuesday night.
The game was eerily familiar to the 18-2 loss on Sept. 4 for the White Sox. Chicago pitching allowed 21 hits Monday night compared to the 24 in the 18-2 loss.
Elsewhere in the AL it was: New York 9 Seattle 3; Oakland 6 Los Angeles 3; and Tampa Bay 5 Baltimore 2.
At Chicago, Danks (6-12) lasted five innings allowing eight runs, seven earned on 11 hits.
It’s the Tigers’ first 10-game streak since they won 11 in a row in September 1968 before going on to win the World Series that year.
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“The last 10 games we’ve been pitching well, playing defence, running the bases well and obviously having great at-bats. As long as we can keep that same feel throughout the rest of the season and playoffs, we have a chance,” Delmon Young said.
Detroit starter Rick Porcello (14-8) coasted to an easy victory. He allowed three runs on six hits in 6 2-3 innings. He was tagged for one of Brent Morel’s two home runs.
“We got that cushion and he got some balls on the ground and did a good job,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “I think that relaxed him a little bit when we got the lead and he pitched very well, but he’s got to continue working to get the breaking stuff better and the changeup more strikes. He was sick, too. He had a temperature last night, he had a fever. I was really worried about him going into the game, how strong he would be. I’m sure getting the lead helped relax him a little bit, he didn’t have to go max effort.”
Trailing 1-0 in the second inning, Victor Martinez led off with a single against Danks. One out later, Peralta hit a two-run shot to left giving the Tigers lead. On the next pitch, Raburn hit another ball into left-field seats to make it 3-1.
Leading 3-2 in the third, Young led off with a single and advanced to third on Miguel Cabrera’s ground-rule double to right. Young scored on Alex Avila’s groundout and Cabrera scored on Peralta’s single. It was Peralta’s 19th of the season and Raburn’s 13th.
The Tigers added to their lead in the fourth and fifth innings. Jackson walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch then scored on Young’s RBI single. After a leadoff double by Avila, Raburn doubled off the wall in left-centre to score Avila. Raburn advanced to third after centre-fielder Alejandro De Aza bobbled the ball and ended up scoring on Danks’ wild pitch to make it 8-2.
The Tigers didn’t stop against reliever Josh Kinney. Kinney was tagged for five consecutive singles in the sixth, including RBI singles by Cabrera, Martinez and Avila to give the Tigers a 11-2 lead. After Peralta’s double play ball, Raburn followed with an RBI single for his fourth hit of the night. With bases loaded and two outs, Ramon Santiago, who came in the game in same inning to pinch-run for Magglio Ordonez, hit an RBI single to make it 14-2. The Tigers batter 11 in the inning and scored six runs on eight hits. Kinney somehow lasted the entire inning despite taking a liner off his back from Brandon Inge and giving up six runs on eight hits.
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen is unsure what his team has left in the final weeks.
“You have to ask them. After you lose again like that and I say yes (do) I’m lying,” Guillen said. “You lose again like this and get beat up again I’m not going to say yeah, we have fire because … We look at each, what is going on, what happened, and only one thing happened, they beat us and I’m not going to take any credit from them.”
Juan Pierre scored on Dayan Viciedo’s groundout in the first inning and De Aza scored on Gordon Beckham’s groundout in the second inning.
Morel hit his seventh homer of the season off reliever David Pauley in the ninth.
Yankees 9 Mariners 3
At Seattle, Robinson Cano hit a three-run double, Mark Teixeira and Chris Dickerson homered and New York rolled past Felix Hernandez and the Mariners.
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Athletics 6 Angels 3
At Oakland, Calif., Josh Willingham hit his 25th home run and drove in four runs to help the Athletics again chase Los Angeles starter Joel Pineiro early.
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Rays 5 Orioles 2
At Baltimore, B.J. Upton doubled twice and took two walks to set a Tampa Bay record by reaching base in nine straight plate appearances, and the Rays won their fifth straight.
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