The Tigers (80-74) fell to one game behind the Twins (81-72) in the battle for the final wild-card berth in the American League.

Rookie David Festa pitched well for the Twins, going five innings while giving up one run on four hits, three walks and striking out six. Minnesota's bullpen was the difference, as they went seven innings while giving up only one run off of five hits.

With the Minnesota Twins' loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday afternoon, the Tigers (80-73) and Twins have identical records for the third wild-card position. However, the Twins own the season head-to-head tiebreaker over the Tigers, so the Tigers will need to finish with a better record.

Tarik Skubal allowed three hits over five innings for his 17th win and the streaking Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Wednesday night to move within a half game of a playoff spot.

Detroit and Minnesota are deadlocked in the fight for the final AL Wild Card spot, with only nine games left and the pressure mounting.

Wednesday couldn't have gone much better for the Detroit Tigers. When the day started, the Minnesota Twins led the Tigers by 1.5 games in the AL Wild Card race.

Tarik Skubal allowed three hits over five innings for his 17th win and the streaking Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Wednesday night to move within a half game of a playoff spot with 10 games remaining.

Tarik Skubal allowed three hits in five innings Wednesday night for his 17th win and the streaking Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 to move within a half game of a playoff spot with 10 games remaining.

The Detroit Tigers are the hottest team in baseball right now. They are riding a four-game winning streak, that includes a three-game sweep of their American League Central rivals the Kansas City Royals.