Despite a great performance from starter Liam Hendriks and a good day at the plate from Joe Mauer, the Minnesota Twins lost, 2-1, to the Detroit Tigers on Sunday afternoon. With Detroit looking to put away the Chicago White Sox and win the AL Central, the Twins weren't able to spoil the Tigers' efforts, losing two of three this weekend.
Hendriks did deliver a gem in his final start of the season, though, rebounding nicely from a rough outing against the New York Yankees a few days ago. The 23-year-old pitched seven shutout innings against Detroit on Sunday, allowing just five hits and two walks while striking out three.
Anibal Sanchez was similarly good for Detroit, allowing one run on seven hits over 6⅓ innings. That lone run appeared to be costly at first, but Prince Fielder put the Tigers ahead with a two-run homer in the eighth inning off reliever Jared Burton.
There was some good news in this game, though, coming in the form of Mauer's pursuit of the AL batting title. After going 3-for-4 today while Miguel Cabrera went 0-for-3, Mauer now trails Cabrera by just two points for the batting title, .325 to .323.