DETROIT – The Detroit Tigers made up ground in the playoff race for the fourth night in a row.
Spencer Torkelson obliterated a 408-foot homer and four pitchers combined to allow just two unearned runs as the Tigers took a second-straight game from the Los Angeles Angels.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota Twins lost their final game against the Atlanta Braves. So the Tigers pulled a game closer in the wild card race.
Detroit now sits just 4.5 games behind Minnesota for the final AL playoff spot. The Red Sox beat the Blue Jays on Wednesday night, so they remained 1.5 games ahead of the Tigers.
You’ll rarely see a team’s playoff picture change as rapidly as it has for the Tigers over the past week. When we woke up last Thursday, the Tigers were 9.5 games behind the Twins, with the Red Sox, Rays, and Mariners also in the way.
They’ve erased more than half of that deficit in the span of six days, thanks to a six-game winning streak against the White Sox and Angels that coincided with a 1-5 week from the Twins.
In the past four days, the Tigers went 4-0 while the Twins went 0-4.
Minnesota is off Thursday, so the Tigers will either claw to within four games or fall behind by five.
Detroit hosts the series finale against the Angels on Thursday afternoon, with Keider Montero squaring off against Jack Kochanowicz.
