General manager John Ricco told reporters

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Daniel Norris was as effective as he has been all year in his last start. The next step for the Detroit Tigers left-hander is to get a win before the season ends.Norris will have two more shots at that http://www.twinsfanproshop.com/authentic-zach-duke-jersey , including the finale of a four-game series against Kansas City on Sunday afternoon. The game will also serve as Detroit’s home finale.Norris (0-5, 5.71 ERA) held Minnesota scoreless for five innings Tuesday before coming out in the sixth after allowing two runs. He spent much of the season on the disabled list after undergoing groin surgery.Article continues below ...“I felt I located my fastball. I changed speeds, and I was spinning my curveball pretty well,” Norris told the Detroit News afterward. “I got a little tired there in the sixth, leaving the ball up. But I didn’t want to come out.”The Tigers hope that Norris can get a little boost of confidence heading into the offseason and claim a rotation spot next spring. He was regarded as one of the majors’ top pitching prospects when he was acquired in 2015 during a trade deadline swap with Toronto.Injuries have prevented Norris from fulfilling that potential and he’s still trying to regain his fastball velocity. He has been throwing fastballs in the low 90s after reaching the mid-90s earlier in his career.His outing Sunday will be his fifth start since being activated.“I like the way he competes. I like his stuff,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire told MLB.com. “He’s missed a lot of baseball, so he’s about where you normally are in the first few weeks out of spring training as a pitcher. He’s been working very hard to get back, and he’s got good stuff.“He’s got all the pitches that you need to get people out in this league. I like the way he competes. I’m excited about this kid.”Norris is 1-2 with a 3.89 ERA in eight career starts against Kansas City.He’ll be opposed by rookie right-hander Brad Keller (8-6, 3.17 ERA), who has won four of his last five decisions. He wound up with a no-decision Monday after surrendering four runs and 10 hits in six innings at Pittsburgh, though he also struck out seven.“I obviously didn’t have my best command today Michael Pineda Jersey , especially early on,” Keller told MLB.com afterward. “But the changeup started to come on late, so I tried to roll with that. I felt like I had a few more innings, and then that seventh inning — base hit up the middle and then kind of a cheap hit right there got me out of that game. But definitely a grind one.”The Tigers haven’t seen him since he was moved into the rotation in late May. He made four relief appearances against them in the spring, going 0-1 while allowing one run in a combined three innings.Detroit designated hitter Victor Martinez closed out his career with an infield single in the Tigers’ 5-4 win Saturday. Martinez, 39, announced Friday that Saturday’s game would be his last. Tigers second baseman Niko Goodrum returned to the lineup after being sidelined since Sept. 12 with a quad contusion. He had three hits, a run scored and two RBIs. CHICAGO — On a day when a national report suggested that his job might be in jeopardy should his Chicago Cubs not make a lengthy postseason run this fall, manager Joe Maddon characterized the lineup he has planned for Wednesday as “interesting.”But before Maddon can unveil that lineup, his team heads into Wednesday with some unfinished business against the New York Mets. Heavy rains suspended Tuesday’s game with the Cubs and Mets knotted 1-1 in the top of the 10th inning. The game was suspended following a 53-minute delay and will resume at noon CT on Wednesday. The originally scheduled series finale will begin 45 minutes following the conclusion of the suspended game. Article continues below ...The Cubs will enter Wednesday having won six straight games and in position to maintain their current lead in the National League Central. Chicago’s success made Tuesday’s news surrounding Maddon’s future even more head-scratching. Maddon characterized a USA Today report surrounding his job security as “dumb” and told reporters he would like to continue with the Cubs beyond 2019 when his current contract is up. For now, Maddon is focused on the business at hand and called the conjecture in the USA Today report “uninteresting.”“I’m under contract Fernando Rodney Jersey ,” Maddon told reporters Tuesday, according to the Chicago Tribune. “I’m very happy with what I’m doing. When the time is appropriate, I’m sure we’ll discuss it further, but I don’t really understand (the report).”Once Tuesday’s game is concluded, Cubs’ right-hander Alec Mills (0-0, 1.71) will make his second major league start in the series finale. Mills was solid in his big-league debut when he allowed just one run and three hits in 5 2/3 innings against the Cincinnati Reds. Now, with the pressure of pitching in the majors out of the way, Mills will attempt to settle in Wednesday against the Mets. “Any time you can get something under your belt and get more used to it, it’s better,” Mills said this week, according to the Tribune. “…The guys here are very welcoming. It makes it easier to feel like you fit in and deserve to be here.”Mills admitted to reporters that nerves were a factor in his starting debut last week. And although his stuff many not be overpowering http://www.twinsfanproshop.com/authentic-addison-reed-jersey , he has to work with what he has.“I got to beat (hitters) early,” Mills said.On Tuesday, the Mets shipped outfielder Jose Bautista the Phillies to allow the veteran slugger to go to a contending team. General manager John Ricco told reporters that the deal was done more to “do right by Jose” rather than about what the Mets got in return. After New York signed Bautista in May, he hit .204 with nine home runs in 83 games. Now, after dealing him on Tuesday, the Mets will give Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto and Dominic Smith more consistent playing time in the outfield.But they do so without losing sight of what Bautista did.“He came to us when we had some injuries and needed some stability,” Ricco told reporters, according to the team’s official website. “He’s not only provided that but did a lot more.”Jason Vargas (4-8, 6.96) will start for the Mets. Vargas has won his last two starts and is coming off an impressive six-inning outing against the Washington Nationals in which he did not allow a run and surrendered just three hits while striking out eight. Vargas is 2-0 with a 4.35 ERA in five career starts against the Cubs.
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