Minnesota Twins beat ace; Detroit Tigers lose to journeyman

The Minnesota Twins needed to score five runs in a game started by likely Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke. They did.

The Detroit Tigers could barely even score one run in a game started by Freddy Garcia, who has struggled to find a major league job after arm problems.

That sums up the day.

Kansas City Royal Zack Greinke should be ahead of Detroit Tiger Justin Verlander in Cy Young race

Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander is one of six American League pitchers who still have a legitimate shot at the Cy Young Award with less than a month left in the season.

I would pick Kansas City's Zack Greinke and Seattle's Felix Hernandez ahead of Verlander based on their performances so far.

It's anyone's guess who would actually win the award if the vote was today. Baseball writers who pick the Cy Young winners are typically enamored with victories. New York's CC Sabathia leads the league in victories with 16, but lags behind Greinke, Hernandez and Verlander in other categories.

Greinke's league-best 2.32 ERA and league-leading 6 complete games and 3 shutouts makes him the AL's best pitcher in my eyes. He also trails only Verlander in strikeouts. Greinke also will be helped by a hot start that resulted in a Sports Illustrated cover story that declared him baseball's best pitcher.

Greinke may have only 13 wins, good for just sixth in the league, but he pitches for a team with a poor offense. Cy Young voters too often hold that against pitchers.

While Sabathia has three more wins than Greinke, his ERA is more than a run higher. And Sabathia pitches for the best team in the league, so he doesn't have to shut down his opponents as Greinke does to get victories.

Verlander's main problem is a relatively high ERA of 3.38, also more than a run higher than Greinke's.

Hernandez is second in ERA and tied for third in wins.

Toronto's Roy Halladay and Boston's Josh Beckett also have an outside shot at the award for the league's best pitcher.