Twins down Tigers, face Yankees

MINNEAPOLIS - Baseball's only real pennant race needed an extra game and extra innings to finish off an AL Central thriller that got better with every pitch.

Alexi Casilla singled home the winning run with one out in the 12th inning and the Minnesota Twins rallied past Detroit, 6-5, in their tiebreaker last night, completing a colossal collapse for the Tigers.

"This is the most unbelievable game I've ever played or seen," Twins shortstop Orlando Cabrera said.

As Carlos Gomez streaked home from second with the winning run, Homer Hankies spiraled around the Metrodome. The Twins celebrated and then scrambled - they had 21 hours to get ready for Game 1 of the division playoffs at Yankee Stadium tonight against New York ace CC Sabathia.

The Tigers became the third team in major league history to blow a three-game lead with four games left, but are the first to lose in a tiebreaker game.

"I guess it's fitting to say there was a loser in this game because we lost the game, but it's hard for me to believe there is a loser in this game," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "Both teams played their hearts out. You can't ask for anything more than that."

The Twins overcame a seven-game gap in the final month, went 17-4 to pull even on the final weekend, and won their fifth division title in 8 years.

"We just feel like we have nothing to lose, man," outfielder Denard Span said.

Both team had their chances to end the game earlier, and each club scored a run in the 10th. Casilla was thrown out at the plate to end that inning by Detroit leftfielder Ryan Raburn.

Had the Twins lost, it would've been the final baseball game at the Metrodome. Instead, the Twins get the Yankees, who were 7-0 against Minnesota this season.

"We're not afraid. I can guarantee you that," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.

Said Yankees manager Joe Girardi: "We're not going to have to face questions like, 'Can you beat them,' like we've had to answer during the course of the year. Once the playoffs start though, it's a new series and we know the importance of each game. You can pretty much throw everything else out the window."

Tigers reliever Fernando Rodney worked his longest appearance of the season, getting the last two outs of the ninth. He gave up a single to Gomez to start the 12th, and the speedy centerfielder, who came in for defense late in the game, moved up on a groundout. He came racing around for the winning run when Casilla's single made it through the right side of the infield.

"One of the best games I'll ever play in," said Twins catcher Joe Mauer, the AL batting champion who led his teammates in a parade around th field after the game.

According to sports researcher STATS LLC, only three teams since 1901 have blown a three-game lead in the standings with four games left. The Houston Astros lost three straight games to Los Angeles in 1980, but they recovered to defeat the Dodgers in a tiebreaker for the NL West title. The Milwaukee Brewers lost three in a row to Baltimore in 1982 to force a tie, but they beat the Orioles in the final regular-season game to win the AL East.

"We were dead and buried a couple times, and our team just kept coming back," Twins general manager Bill Smith said.

Before the game, Detroit star Miguel Cabrera apologized to his teammates for being drunk last weekend while the Tigers were trying to clinch the Central title, then delivered two big hits in last night's game, a double his first time up, then a two-run homer that put the Tigers ahead 3-0 in the third inning.

Cabrera said he was sorry for his actions and the stress he caused the organization. He insisted the alcohol consumption - between two games the Tigers lost - didn't negatively affect his performance.

Cabrera went 0-for-4 and stranded six runners in a 5-1 loss to Chicago on Saturday, a game that started about 12 hours after Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski picked him up at a police station following a fight with his wife Rosangel, apparently over his late arrival home from a night out.