Looking to avoid the culmination of a mini-collapse, the Tigers entered the second game of a day-night doubleheader with the Twins needing a win to avoid falling into a tie with Minnesota in the AL Central.

Detroit brought their ace to the hill, looking to stop Minnesota’s momentum after a huge 3-2 win in game one of the twinbill.

“I basically told him, ‘I don’t have anybody better than you,’” Tigers Manager Jim Leyland said. “That’s the line I usually use and with him, I mean it.”

And though he wasn’t spectacular, allowing four runs, he pitched eight innings and 129 pitches, an ace-like, gutsy performance that your team needs in the most desperate of situations.

Aces save their best for the biggest situations, and though the results looked mediocre in the box score, he got the win and poured everything he had into the game. Verlander stuck out eight and walked no one, and after a turbulent ninth inning by Fernando Rodney, the Tigers held on for a 6-5 game two win, prompting a collective exhale from Comerica Park and giving Detroit a two game lead in the quest for their first division title since 1987.

“There were innings where we didn’t have much of a chance,” Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire said. “And, he was still winging it at 98 after 120-some pitches. That guy’s a stud.”

 It was the 18th win of Verlander’s bounce-back season after a disastrous 11-17 record in 2008.

“After the first game, this win was huge,” Verlander said.

Verlander put everything he had into the biggest game of Detroit’s season, and that attribute he has bodes extremely well for the postseason. Verlander is 3-2 with a 4.36 ERA lifetime against the Yankees, the team he would be facing in game one of the ALDS. Expect the eye of the Tigers to put everything he has in every start going forward.