One is the reigning American League Most Valuable Player. The other is one of the favorites to win this year's MVP award -- and could win baseball's first Triple Crown since 1967.
Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera are nightmares to hit off of and pitch to, respectively. On Saturday, the Twins were overwhelmed by the Tigers' potent combination in a 6-4 loss at Target Field.
Verlander shut down the Twins early and Cabrera put the game away late as Detroit increased its lead in the American League Central to two games over the White Sox with four to go.
The Twins got an eighth-inning grand slam from Ryan Doumit, who has eight RBI in the first two games of this series. But they got no closer, as Jose Valverde worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth inning for his 33rd save.
Playing in their second-to-last home game of the season, the Twins were facing a tough task in trying to score runs off Verlander (17-8).
The Twins didn't get their first hit until Ben Revere singled leading off the fourth inning. They tried to put together good at-bats, but Verlander was especially nasty to the meaty part of the batting order, striking out Justin Morneau three times, Doumit once and Chris Parmelee twice. He struck out the three in order in the fourth after Joe Mauer followed Revere's single with a walk.
Verlander hummed along at 95 and 96 miles per hour on the radar gun, but he got ahead 0-2 on Parmelee in the third, reached back and hit 100 mph on the stadium gun. That's vintage Verlander, climbing the velocity ladder as the game goes along.
"That's that extra he keeps in his tank," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He can do that -- 96, 97 in big situations. He knows how important that part of the game was. He really started to let it fly there for a couple innings. And that's what he brings to the table. That's why he's won a Cy Young and is probably up there again."
