The Tigers are tied for first in the American League Central, thanks to a run of strong pitching.

Tigers starters are 8-4 with a 2.76 ERA in their past 14 games. Tonight, they’ll send RHP Armando Galarraga to the mound, followed by Dontrelle Willis on Wednesday and red-hot Justin Verlander on Thursday.

Galarraga is 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in two May starts, but he was solid after a rough first inning against Chicago in his last start. And in April, Galarraga went 3-0 with a 1.85 ERA. He struggled against the Twins last year, during his breakout season, and is 0-4 with a 5.23 career ERA against Minnesota.

But his run support average against the Twins is 1.93 over his past six starts. It will be up to Kevin Slowey to keep that success going for the Twins.

TIGERS (17-13)

1. Curtis Granderson, CF
2. Placido Polanco, 2B
3. Clete Thomas, LF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Jeff Larish, DH
6. Magglio Ordonez, RF
7. Brandon Inge, 3B
8. Gerald Laird, C
9. Ramon Santiago, SS

Starting pitcher: RH Armando Galarraga (3-2, 4.08 ERA)

TWINS (15-17)

1. Denard Span, CF
2. Matt Tolbert, 2B
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Jason Kubel, DH
6. Michael Cuddyer, RF
7. Joe Crede, 3B
8. Delmon Young, LF
9. Nick Punto, SS

Starting pitcher: RH Kevin Slowey (4-1, 5.50 ERA)

Metrodome. First pitch: 7:10 p.m.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 at 3:43 pm and is filed under Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.