Tigers, Cabrera closing in on prize

Miguel Cabrera continued his bid for baseball's rare triple crown and helped the Detroit Tigers close the gap on the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central with a 6-2 victory over Oakland on Wednesday.

Ace pitcher Justin Verlander tossed six scoreless innings to make it an easy night at home for the Tigers (79-69) as they pulled within two games of first place Chicago (81-67), which lost 3-0 at Kansas City.

Cabrera's bid to become the first man to lead the league in batting, home runs and RBI since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski in 1967 is becoming a gripping subplot to the league-wide race for the playoffs.

The Venezuelan infielder, already pacing the AL in hitting (.333) and RBIs (130), blasted his 41st home run to put him one behind leader Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers with just 14 games remaining.

"It's amazing," Cabrera said. "I feel very good right now, I'm trying to see my pitches and go out there and battle.

"(But) we have to focus on winning games right now."

In the National League, Washington and the Los Angeles Dodgers split a pair of games. The Nationals took the early game 3-1, while the Dodgers bounced back to win the nightcap 7-6 behind a ninth-inning home run from Matt Kemp.

The win helped the Dodgers (77-72) stay just two games out of the second wild card spot held by St. Louis (79-70).

Reuters