Tigers suffer as National League shuts out the AL, 8-0

San Francisco's Melky Cabrera homered & won the MVP award in the ballpark where he played last season and Matt Cain got the win in the NL's most-lopsided All-Star victory as the National League rolled to an 8-0 shutout victory over the American League. With the win, the NL will have home field advantage in the World Series.

Detroit's Justin Verlander started the game for the American League, but gave up five earned runs in his only inning of work, including included four hits, two walks and two strikeouts on 35 pitches.



Miguel Cabrera entered the game at third base in the 6th inning and faced N.Y. Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey, only to ground out into an inning-ending double play. It was his only at-bat in his three innings played.

2012 HomeRun Derby champion Prince Fielder started at first base and played five innings, but went 0-for-2 for the night.



With the All-Star break now officially over, the Tigers can focus on making a run for the playoffs. At the current moment, the top four teams in the American League that would make the playoffs would be the N.Y. Yankees (52-33), Texas (52-34), the Chicago White Sox (47-38), and the wild card L.A. Angels (48-38). For the National League, it would be Washington (49-34), Pittsburgh (48-37), the L.A. Dodgers (47-40), and Cincinnati (47-38) as a wild card.

With a record of 44-42, the Detroit Tigers are only 3 1/2 games behind the White Sox for the AL Central lead and only a half game behind 2nd-place Cleveland. The Tigers will have two more days of rest before visiting Baltimore for a 3-game series this Friday night at 7 pm to kick off the 2nd half of the season.