Tigers' Justin Verlander: Strikes out 11 en route to 15th win

Verlander set down 11 hitters on strikes while allowing two runs on four hits over six innings in Thursday's doubleheader-sweeping win over the Twins.

Analysis:

Verlander's 15th win of 2016 was actually his first in nearly a month, dating back to Aug. 26; the fault for that lies more with the Tigers' offense than with the 33-year-old fireballer. Indeed, despite having blown past his previous career high in homers allowed (24) with a whopping 30 this year, Verlander's had a great year by virtually every other metric. His strikeout rate has rebounded unbelievably from a disappointing past couple years -- in fact, his current 9.89 K/9 is the second-highest of his career. That's why even with all the long balls, he owns his best ERA (3.21) since 2012 and his best WHIP (1.01) since 2011.