DS Talk » s a tough match, Italy coach Antonio Conte said.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Justin Verlander showed some rust in his return. The results werent great, albeit against a hot-hitting opponent. That award-winning right shoulder looked relaxed, though, and the sight of Verlander on the mound gave the sputtering Detroit Tigers a spark. Verlander lasted into the sixth inning, Nick Castellanos had two hits and two RBIs, and the Tigers salvaged a doubleheader split by beating the Minnesota Twins 8-6 Saturday night. "He knows how to pitch. He knows what hes doing. He can kind of contain the situation, and I think he did that well," said Torii Hunter, who had three of Detroits 17 hits. Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez each had three hits, too, and Joe Nathan notched his 27th save in 32 attempts despite an RBI double by Brian Dozier in the ninth. Verlander (11-11) improved to 5-0 in seven career starts at Target Field. With two outs and two on in the sixth inning, manager Brad Ausmus came for the ball and was greeted with an icy stare as Blaine Hardy arrived from the bullpen. "I wanted to finish the game, but I knew what he was seeing. Obviously Ive been off for a while and fatigue was a factor there and we really couldnt let this game slip away from us," said Verlander, whose last turn was skipped because of shoulder soreness. He was removed after one inning the start before that Aug. 11 at Pittsburgh, when Ausmus said he looked like he was throwing darts to protect the joint. Here, his motion was free and easy, and his changeup was diving. "He wouldnt be Justin Verlander if he didnt push back when hes being taken out. He does not like to come out of games, and I think thats great," Ausmus said. Coupled with their 12-4 loss to the Twins in the afternoon, the Tigers dropped to a season-most three games behind first-place Kansas City in the AL Central. They also fell to a game behind Seattle for the second wild-card spot. In the opener, Twins rookie Kennys Vargas drove in five runs and starter Yohan Pino (2-5) struck out six in five innings. So after the Tigers gave up a total of 32 runs and 34 hits while throwing a whopping 398 pitches in losing the first two games of the series, they badly needed the old Verlander to come through in this one. "Im extremely happy he got a win in his first start back," Ausmus said. Minnesota rookie Trevor May (0-3) completed five innings for the first time in four career starts, but he didnt hold his 4-2 lead after a two-run double by Trevor Plouffe in the third inning. Eugenio Suarezs broken-bat, two-run single pushed the Tigers in front 5-4, and Jared Burton was summoned from the bullpen. Castellanos hit a two-out, two-strike, two-run single in the seventh off Burton to add to the lead. Vargas finished the day with six RBIs and has driven in 23 runs in his first 22 major league games, all this month. The Twins scored seven runs in the opener off Tigers starter Buck Farmer (0-1), who managed only four outs. He gave up six runs in the second, while the Twins batted around for the third time in a span of nine innings. TRAINERS ROOM Tigers: Miguel Cabreras bothersome right ankle flared up a bit near the end of the long day, and Ausmus said hed consider keeping the slugger out of the series finale to give him two straight days off with no game Monday. "Obviously wed prefer to have Miggy in the lineup, but his health is more important," Ausmus said. Twins: Joe Mauer is still receiving daily treatment for the strained muscle on his right side that kept him out for 34 games. He stretched his streak of reaching base, the longest active in the majors, to 25 games and drove in four runs for the day. "I feel good. Im seeing the ball well," said Mauer, whos hitting .327 with 11 RBIs in 13 games since coming off the DL. UP NEXT The Tigers will try to split the series by sending reigning Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (14-4, 3.07 ERA) to the mound Sunday afternoon. Kyle Gibson (11-9, 4.13 ERA) pitches for the Twins. Vapormax Plus Pas Cher Homme . And all things considered, the first 40 games have offered a little bit of everything from a hockey club that faced many questions in its first year under new management, with a new head coach and with a number of new faces in the lineup. However, with a recent dip in scoring, it seems some of the same old questions persist and several new ones have been raised after a somewhat troubling homestand. Vente Nike Air Max 270 .com) - P.K. Subbans power-play goal 4:08 into overtime sent the Montreal Canadiens into the All-Star break with a 2-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. http://www.nike720pascher.fr/pas-cher-ai...ormax-2019.html. Sure, Josh Browns 45-yard field goal on the third drive of overtime lifted the New York Giants to a 23-20 win over Detroit on Sunday. But the Lions (7-8) dropped themselves out of the NFC North race by losing five of their last six games, blowing fourth-quarter leads in each setback. Vente Air Max 720 . Louis Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia will have surgery on his left shoulder this week and is expected to miss the rest of the season. Air Max 720 Blanche Sortie . Each day, TSN.ca provides the latest rumours, reports and speculation from around the NHL beat. Keeping The Captain? Brian Giontas agent Steve Bartlett told La Presse on Tuesday that the Montreal Canadiens want to keep their captain - an unrestricted free agent on July 1 - in the fold, while sources tell the paper that the two sides will start talks this week.MILAN - Italy drew 1-1 against Croatia in a trouble-filled European Championship qualifier at the San Siro on Sunday, to leave both teams level at the top of their group.The match had to be suspended for 10 minutes after Croatia fans threw fireworks onto the pitch. Riot police waded into the stands and eventually the final 17 minutes were played.Play had also been halted in the first half for a few minutes under similar circumstances.Im saddened by the fans behaviour, Croatia coach Niko Kovac said. I already apologized on the pitch and I apologize again, to everyone. Im sorry.I didnt know what to do. I dont have words now. There were kids there. This is not football. This is not a fair image of our country or our people.Antonio Candreva scored his first Italy goal against the run of play in the 11th minute but Croatia levelled just four minutes later through Ivan Perisic following a rare howler from Italy goalkeeper and captain Gianluigi Buffon.I think we had the game under control for 90 minutes, Kovac added. They were good in defence but we had more opportunities and could have scored to take the three points home. Im disappointed we didnt.Croatia was also guilty of several glaring misses, while Italy struggled to carve out clear goal-scoring opportunities.It was a tough match, Italy coach Antonio Conte said. We knew we were facing a strong and experienced team, with a lot of talented players. The positive aspect is that when we were under difficulty the lads showed spirit and conviction. Im very happy with that.Both remained level on 10 points, one ahead of Norway, which won 1-0 in Azerbaijan, thanks to Havard Nordtveits first-half header.Azerbaijan was still without a point but Malta picked up its first point with a 1-1 draw away to Bulgaria, which moved onto four points.Andrej Galabinov gave Bulgaria the perfect start in the sixth minute but Clayton Failla levelled from the spot in the 49th after Veselin Minev fouled Jean-Paul Farrugia.There had been some concerns that Italys match would be called off but the torrential rain in Milan stopped overnight and the pitch dried out.Instead it was the fans which interrupted the match and, despite several public aannouncements, fireworks continued to rain down onto the pitch in the 73rd minute.ddddddddddddThe referee ordered the players off the pitch and while the Italy team went back into the changing rooms, their opponents remained on the sidelines with coach Niko Kovac walking part of the way over to the fans throwing the fireworks.After a delay of around 10 minutes, during which there also appeared to be a small fire in the stands, play was able to continue after riot police cleared a sector of fans.I feared the match wouldnt be able to continue, Conte said. I saw the referee very convinced after the last suspension and I knew that if one more thing happened he would call it off. We hope that in the future this doesnt happen again.Croatia had only ever lost once to Italy, their first meeting in 1942, winning three and drawing three.It was all Croatia in the opening stages as Italy struggled to get out of its own half but it was the home side which took the lead when Simone Zazas shot was charged down and, seeing his path blocked, the Sassuolo striker rolled it back for Candreva to drive into the bottom left corner.Croatia levelled almost immediately after Perisic cut inside the left side of the area and fired under Buffon.Play had to be temporarily halted for 90 seconds as Croatia fans threw flares onto the pitch and a public announcement was made shortly afterwards warning them not to repeat the incident.There was a blow for Croatia as Luka Modric, one of its star players, was forced off injured and he was replaced by Inter Milan midfielder Mateo Kovacic.Manuel Pasqual also hobbled off, paving the way for Sampdorias Roberto Soriano to make his Italy debut.Italy had a couple of half chances but it was Croatia which went closest on the stroke of halftime when Andrea Ranocchia cleared Ivica Olics header off the line after Buffon flapped at a cross, with the Italy goalkeeper furiously complaining he had been fouled.Stephan El Shaarawy almost marked his first Italy appearance since June 2013 with a great effort which scraped the top of the crossbar.Croatia could have snatched the win three minutes from time when Perisic fired just wide of the far post. 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