At the break, he had walked 51 times and struck out only 46 times in 359 plate appearances. His walk rate (14.2 percent) was the best of his career, while his strikeout rate (12.8 percent) was the lowest. Since the break, his strikeout rate has crept back toward his career norm of about 20 percent.

Detroit is in a good spot for a first-round bye, but there are still too many teams within shouting distance to fully relax. In the National League, the Brewers are a full five games ahead of the Tigers, while the Phillies, Cubs, and Dodgers are all within two games of Detroit.

The Tigers hammered Houston for six runs in the first inning to set up a 7-2 victory and a series sweep of the AL West leaders.

The Tigers' ace struck out 10 batters across seven scoreless innings in another strong outing for the reigning AL Cy Young winner.

Tigers first. Jahmai Jones walks. Gleyber Torres walks. Jahmai Jones to second. Andy Ibanez singles to center field. Gleyber Torres to second. Jahmai Jones scores. Spencer Torkelson doubles to

The Detroit Tigers' special season continued on Tuesday night as they walked off the Houston Astros in the bottom of the 10th inning. It was the team's fourth shutout victory in their last seven games and preserved the best record in the American League.

Houston Astros outfielder Taylor Trammell left Wednesday’s game against the Detroit Tigers on a cart after crashing into the center field fence in the first inning