The Detroit Tigers erupted for a five-run eighth inning against the Twins yesterday afternoon and beat Minnesota 7-to-3 to earn a split of the four-game series at Comerica Park. The big blow in the 8^th that broke a 3-3 tie came off the bat of Prince Fielder.                                     

After Fielder’s 3-run blast, Delmon Young added a solo shot in the inning to finish off the scoring for the day. Detroit's rally was sparked by Austin Jackson's one-out triple to the right field corner and he scored the tying run on Miguel Cabrera's single, just after pinch-hitter Quintin Berry walked. Tiger’s starter Rick Porcello yielded 12 hits and three runs in just 3-and-two-third innings. Struggling anyway, he came out after being hit by a line drive. Octavio Dotel threw an inning and a third for the win and Jose Valverde pitched the ninth to lock it up.

The start of the game was delayed 82 minutes by rain after Wednesday's game was pushed back nearly 2 1/2 hours because of the wet stuff. And a long series it was since Tuesday night’s contest also started 90-minutes late because of rain. Last night’s victory again pushed the Tigers to the brink of .500 as they’ll take a 41-and-42 record into tonight’s game at home against Kansas City in the opener of a 3-game series with the Royals. It will be the ninth time that Detroit will attempt to return to .500 since last having an even record back on May 15^th. The Tigers remain 4-and-a-half games behind the Central Division leading White Sox, who nipped Texas 2-to-1 to wrap up a 3-game sweep at U.S. Cellular Field. And the Cubs lost 7-to-3 to the Braves last night in Atlanta.