Scherzer lurches but Tigers top Twins

Detroit pitcher Max Scherzer, who started the season a perfect 6-0, struggled for the second game in a row on Tuesday but the Tigers still scratched and clawed their way to an 8-7 victory over division rivals Minnesota. Brennan Boesch broke a 7-7 tie with a sacrifice-fly RBI in the eighth inning to nose the Tigers (28-26) across the line and give them their third straight win. “In that situation, I’m looking to be patient to get a pitch to hit, but I’m not trying to guide a sacrifice-fly,” Boesch told reporters of his game-winning swing. “You just have to identify a pitch that you can get the job done with, any way you can.” In a game of momentum swings and lead changes, Detroit had six runs in the fifth to erase a 3-0 deficit, only to fall behind 7-6 in the top of the seventh when Minnesota’s Justin Morneau hit a two-run homer with his second blast of the game. Scherzer left the game in the seventh after allowing all seven runs. The right-hander has surrendered seven runs in each of his last two starts and is 6-2 after the no-decision. Jhonny Peralta’s sacrifice-fly RBI in the bottom of the seventh tied it 7-7 for the Tigers, who let winning pitcher Al Alburquerque work the eighth while reliever Joaquin Benoit closed out the ninth. Peralta also had a two-run double in the fifth that gave the home team a short-lived 6-3 lead. Minnesota scored a run in the sixth, and three in the seventh to move ahead. Phil Dumatrait pitched the final one-and-a-third innings for the Twins, taking the loss. Minnesota, who hold the worst record in the Major Leagues at 17-36, have lost three straight and nine of their past 11 games. “The good part of it is that we’re battling our tails off,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “But unfortunately for us, it’s another loss.”