Wonderfulness, With Two Out

Rick Porcello stood the Pale Hose on their heads, scattering three singles over eight. He allowed one run, in the fifth,  plated via a single, two groundouts, and a dinker off the bat of Dayan Viciedo.

Austin Jackson, who's still The Man, doubled in two -- yes, with two out -- in the bottom of that inning. Bash's three-run homer -- yes, with two out -- in the sixth extended the Tigers' lead. Jackson -- that man again -- singled in two in the eighth; yes, with two out. 

Porcello came out for the ninth, and forty-two thousand Tiger partisans roared. The first two hitters singled, and Skipper Leyland came out to get him. He was greeted with a Serenade In Boo, that became a standing O for the young man from Morristown, New Jersey, who pitched the best game of his major league career. Five hits, one run, four whiffs, and no walks in eight-plus innings; Verlander-like numbers.

Wonderfulness -- the baseball state of being defined by having sole possession of first place -- comes in game number 95, with the Tigers playing their best ball since opening week, winning eleven of their last thirteen games.