But the struggling Twins made Verlander earn his 20th victory of the season in a 6-4 loss to the Tigers on Saturday.

Verlander (20-5) gave up four runs on eight hits with six strikeouts and three walks to become the first pitcher to win 20 games before the end of August since Arizona’s Curt Schilling in 2002.

Minnesota’s abysmal offense made it tougher on the flamethrower than expected. Luke Hughes had a home run, a double and three RBIs and Jason Repko put one of Verlander’s vaunted fastballs into the upper deck in left field for his first homer of the season.

“You can get after him,” Hughes said. “He comes at you with a fastball. You know he’s going to come at you. He’s got electrifying stuff. He’s no easy task, going up against a guy like that. He’s going to be battling for a Cy Young every year he pitches. So there’s a lot of positives we can take from today into tomorrow.”

In a year when no position player in the AL seems to be running away from the pack, Verlander may actually have a chance to become the first pitcher to win the award since Oakland closer Dennis Eckersley in 1992.

Verlander threw his second career no-hitter in May and has taken two more into the eighth inning. He is 11-1 against division opponents and is the biggest reason the Tigers started the day with a 6½-game lead over Cleveland.

No-hitter No. 3 seemed to be a distinct possibility when he took the mound against a Twins offense that had scored one run or fewer in six straight games. With Mauer (neck) and Cuddyer (wrist) on the bench, the injury plagued Twins sent out a lineup with eight of their nine players hitting .255 or worse.

But Ben Revere started the game with an infield single and it was apparent early that Verlander didn’t have his best stuff. He needed 28 pitches to get through the first inning and gave up back-to-back homers to Hughes and Repko to start the fifth.

“There’s been times I’ve picked these guys up and there’s been times they’ve picked me up,” Verlander said. “To get to 20 at this point in the season, obviously you can’t do it all on your own. These guys have helped me along the way and today was a good example of that.”

The bottom of the Twins order — Hughes (.240), Repko (.248) and Drew Butera (.170) — went 5 for 8 with two homers, a double and four RBIs against Verlander.

“We were battling pretty hard there,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “Again, like last time, we made him throw a lot of pitches early in the game. We got his pitch count up. That just tells you a little bit about him. He’s a warrior.”

Hughes added a two-run double that tied the game 4-all in the sixth and Verlander’s pitch count finished at 120.

But former Twin Delmon Young’s RBI single in the seventh gave the Tigers the lead for good and put Verlander in position for the win.

The six innings pitched tied a season low for Verlander, a 20-game winner for the first time — and the first time by a Tigers pitcher since Bill Gullickson in 1991.

Carl Pavano (6-11) gave up six runs — five earned — on nine hits with four strikeouts and a walk in 6 2-3 innings.

Alex Avila and Miguel Cabrera hit solo homers for the Tigers in the second inning and Cabrera added an RBI single in the seventh for a 6-4 lead.

The Twins lost their seventh straight game and ninth in the last 10. They have lost 15 of their last 17 home games.

“Guys were playing. The guys were intense in the dugout and were getting after it pretty good,” Gardenhire said. “Unfortunately, another loss. Nothing really good comes out of losses.”

NOTES: Gardenhire said CF Denard Span (head), returned home to Tampa, Fla., to rest and planned to return to the Twin Cities to start working out when the Twins hit the road next week. It’s still unclear if Span will play again this season. … Mauer and Cuddyer will be evaluated on Sunday with a DL stint likely for one, if not both, of them if significant improvement isn’t shown, Gardenhire said. … Official scorer Stew Thornley announced a scoring change from Friday night’s ballgame. He changed an infield single from Delmon Young to a fielder’s choice and error on 2B Matt Tolbert, meaning LHP Scott Diamond now had four earned runs charged to him from the start rather than five. … LHP Brian Duensing (8-13, 5.12) takes the mound for the Twins on Sunday in the series finale against RHP Brad Penny (9-9, 4.82). Duensing has had a horrendous August, going 0-5 with an 8.65 ERA. He lasted just two innings in his previous start, an 8-1 loss to the Orioles. … Penny has been improving lately, going 2-0 with a 4.04 ERA in his last three starts.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Minnesota’s abysmal offense made it tougher on Verlander than expected. Luke Hughes had a home run, a double and three RBIs and Jason Repko put one of Verlander’s vaunted fastballs into the upper deck in left field for his first homer of the season.

But former Twin Delmon Young’s RBI single in the seventh gave the Tigers the lead for good and put Verlander in position for the win.

The six innings pitched tied a season low for Verlander, a 20-game winner for the first time — and the first time by a Tigers pitcher since Bill Gullickson in 1991.

Verlander left after giving up the second single of the day to .170-hitting Drew Butera in the seventh. Jose Valverde picked up his 39th save.

Alex Avila and Miguel Cabrera hit solo homers for the Tigers in the second inning off of Carl Pavano (6-11) and Cabrera added an RBI single in the seventh for a 6-4 lead.

Pavano gave up six runs — five earned — on nine hits with four strikeouts and a walk in 6 2-3 innings.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland has been quoted as saying he doesn’t think a pitcher should be eligible to win the MVP award, a stance that raised some eyebrows considering the incredible season by his own ace.

He tried to clarify his position before the game.

“I want everyone in here to know and please print that I support Justin Verlander for MVP to the hilt,” Leyland said. “I want to make that perfectly clear. The question was asked to me if I thought a pitcher should be the MVP and my answer to that is no, I do not. But under the way the system is, I will certainly support Verlander to the hilt as a possible candidate for the MVP.”

Leyland said he thinks there should be a most valuable player and most valuable pitcher award. But in the absence of that, he is supporting Verlander.

In a year when no position player in the AL seems to be running away from the pack, Verlander may actually have a chance to become the first pitcher to win the award since Oakland closer Dennis Eckersley in 1992.

Verlander threw his second career no-hitter in May and has taken two more into the eighth inning. He is 11-1 against division opponents and is the biggest reason the Tigers started the day with a 6½-game lead over Cleveland.

No-hitter No. 3 seemed to be a distinct possibility when he took the mound against a Twins offense that had scored one run or fewer in six straight games. With Joe Mauer (neck) and Michael Cuddyer (wrist) on the bench, the injury plagued Twins sent out a lineup with eight of their nine players hitting .255 or worse.

But Ben Revere started the game with an infield single and it was apparent early that Verlander didn’t have his best stuff. He needed 28 pitches to get through the first inning and gave up back-to-back homers to Hughes and Repko to start the fifth.

Hughes added a two-run double that tied the game 4-all in the sixth and Verlander’s pitch count finished at 120.

NOTES: Toronto’s Roger Clemens in 1997 is the last AL pitcher to win 20 games before September. … Valverde made his 500th career appearance. … Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said CF Denard Span (head), returned home to Tampa, Fla., to rest and planned to return to the Twin Cities to start working out when the Twins hit the road next week. It’s still unclear if Span will play again this season. … Official scorer Stew Thornley announced a scoring change from Friday night’s ballgame. He changed an infield single from Delmon Young to a fielder’s choice and error on 2B Matt Tolbert, meaning LHP Scott Diamond now had four earned runs charged to him from the start rather than five. … LHP Brian Duensing (8-13, 5.12) takes the mound for the Twins on Sunday in the series finale against RHP Brad Penny (9-9, 4.82). Duensing has had a horrendous August, going 0-5 with an 8.65 ERA. He lasted just two innings in his previous start, an 8-1 loss to the Orioles. … Penny has been improving lately, going 2-0 with a 4.04 ERA in his last three starts.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP)—The Minnesota Twins placed pitcher Nick Blackburn(notes) on the
15-day disabled list with a strained right forearm and recalled reliever Lester
Oliveros(notes) from Triple-A Rochester before Monday’s game against the Baltimore
Orioles.

Blackburn left his start on Sunday against the Yankees after 1 2-3 innings.
He had an MRI on Monday and will meet with a specialist on Tuesday.

Anthony Swarzak(notes) will take Blackburn’s spot in the rotation and start on
Friday when the Twins play Detroit.

Oliveros was one of two pitchers the Twins acquired in a trade that sent
Delmon Young(notes) to Detroit on Aug. 16. The right-hander made three appearances in
Rochester before getting recalled.

The Twins have used the disabled list 23 times this season and have fallen
to fourth in the AL Central after briefly getting back into contention at the
All-Star break.

Justin Morneau(notes) fouled a ball off his right foot on Saturday and hasn’t
played since. Morneau said he could pinch-hit on Monday if needed.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka(notes) continues to have pain in his lower-back/oblique area and
was not in the starting lineup.

Denard Span(notes) is spending a week away from the team to rest and recover from
migraine symptoms. Span missed 56 games with a concussion, then briefly returned
before having to go back on the DL Aug. 18.

Starting pitcher Scott Baker(notes) (right flexor strain) and second-baseman Alexi
Casilla(notes) (hamstring) will begin workouts on Tuesday.

DETROIT — Trevor Plouffe plays for the Minnesota Twins. He and Delmon Young have been friends for 15 years, since they began playing baseball together when they were about 10.

“He really is a great guy,” Plouffe said. “I feel fortunate not only to have been his teammate, but to have grown up with him. Not many people can say they got to play in the big leagues with one of their childhood friends.”

Plouffe and Young had their big-league reunion when Minnesota brought up Plouffe last season. The two became former teammates Monday when the Twins traded Young to the Tigers for two minor leaguers. Young received the news in a phone call when he and Plouffe were in a cab, hours before the Tigers-Twins series opener.

This was surprising for Young — he thought the call was a joke — but it ranked as low-profile compared with the way he joined his two previous big-league teams.