DETROIT 3, MINNESOTA 0
DETROIT -- David Price pitched Detroit to its fourth consecutive American League Central title with the type of performance the Tigers acquired him for, taking a shutout into the eighth inning of a 3-0 victory over Minnesota on Sunday that wrapped up the division on the regular season's final day.
The Tigers face the Orioles in one AL division series. Game 1 is in Baltimore on Thursday.
Ian Kinsler hit a solo homer in the third, and the Tigers added two more runs in the eighth off Kyle Gibson (13-12).
"We're in. We're in," Kinsler said. "A lot of hard work was put into this, from every single one of the guys."
Detroit entered the game with a postseason berth already wrapped up, but the Tigers led the division by only one game over Kansas City. The victory gave Detroit a division championship under first-year Manager Brad Ausmus -- regardless of what the Royals were doing in Chicago against the White Sox.
Detroit got Price (15-12) in a blockbuster deal moments before the trade deadline, and he allowed four hits in 7 1/3 innings in the finale. Joba Chamberlain pitched the rest of the eighth, and Joe Nathan finished for his 35th save in 42 chances.
Nathan, Detroit's maligned closer, retired Oswaldo Arcia on a foul popup to end it, and the Tigers spilled onto the field to celebrate in front of a delighted crowd at Comerica Park. Detroit hadn't clinched a division title at home since 1987, and this game was eerily similar to that one for a while.
Detroit won 1-0 in that 1987 clincher at Tiger Stadium, with Frank Tanana pitching a shutout. Price throws nothing like the soft-tossing Tanana, but the 29-year-old left-hander etched his own name into Tigers lore Sunday at Comerica Park.
He struck out eight with two walks and passed Cleveland's Corey Kluber for this year's major-league lead in strikeouts with 271.
Sports on 09/29/2014