Willkommen » ore," Rockets coach Kevin McHale

DETROIT -- If Justin Verlander is beginning to round into form, Detroits starting rotation may indeed be the envy of the rest of baseball. Verlander equaled his longest outing of the season, pitching eight solid innings to lift the Tigers to a 4-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night. A day after the AL Central-leading Tigers traded for star left-hander David Price, Verlander allowed two runs and eight hits, striking out five without a walk. "I was getting some big outs when I needed to," Verlander said. "I was able to limit the damage and keep us ahead." The Tigers now have the American Leagues last three Cy Young Award winners -- Verlander, Price and Max Scherzer. The catch is that Verlander (10-9) hasnt pitched particularly well this season, but he lowered his ERA to 4.66 with Fridays effort. Joe Nathan pitched the ninth for his 22nd save in 27 chances, retiring Charlie Blackmon on a flyout with two on to end it. Franklin Morales (5-6) allowed three runs and six hits in six innings. He walked four and struck out two. The Rockies have lost five of six. Colorado right fielder Carlos Gonzalez left the game after aggravating his sprained right ankle making a sliding catch in the fifth. Detroit scored three runs in the fifth, with Rajai Davis two-run single breaking a 0-0 tie. With Verlander pitching well, the Rockies brought the infield in with men on second and third and one out, but Davis single up the middle helped the Tigers to a big inning. "We cant play it safe. Were going to roll the dice," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "In some situations with two runners in scoring position, you concede the one run. But in the position were in, were going to go for it. Davis found a hole. Id do it again every time." Ian Kinsler added an RBI double to make it 3-0. Verlander has won 14 straight regular-season decisions against National League teams. He took a shutout into the seventh inning Friday before allowing an RBI single to Wilin Rosario. With men on first and third, Josh Rutledge hit a grounder to third, and Brandon Barnes scored on a close play at the plate. Verlander then struck out the next two hitters to end the threat, and Victor Martinez gave Detroit an insurance run with an RBI single in the bottom half. Barnes struck out swinging on Verlanders 101st and final pitch. Verlander had thrown eight innings only one other time this season, on April 6 against Baltimore. DEEP FLYBALLS: Verlander was fortunate early on. Left fielder J.D. Martinez reached up and made a catch at the wall on Nolan Arenados flyball in the first. In the second, Davis ran down Drew Stubbs drive near the 420-foot marker in centre. "Its a funny game the way it works," Verlander said. "They hit a few balls hard in the first couple innings, and then in the seventh, they didnt hit hardly any hard, and got like four or five hits that inning." TOUGH LOSS: Colorado has gone nine straight games with its starter allowing three runs or fewer, but Morales was done in by that fifth inning. "All my pitches I was locating," he said. "That fifth inning my good pitches led to groundballs and thats the way it goes. Sometimes you have no luck." TRAINERS ROOM Rockies: Gonzalez slid into the wall while making a terrific catch on Victor Martinezs foul flyball, then limped off the field. He was replaced by Barnes. Right-hander Jordan Lyles (broken left hand) is eligible to come off the disabled list Monday, and Weiss says he could be slotted in to pitch at some point next week. Tigers: Detroit activated left-handed reliever Patrick McCoy from the DL, but he did not pitch. He was sidelined since July 6 because of a pulled right hamstring. UP NEXT Rockies: Left-hander Tyler Matzek (2-5) will start Saturday night against Detroit. He pitched seven scoreless innings in his most recent start, July 26 against Pittsburgh. He also made a relief appearance Tuesday. Tigers: Rick Porcello (12-5) tries for his 13th win, which would match his total for all of 2013. Wholesale Shoes Free Shipping Worldwide . Louis, MO (SportsNetwork. Wholesale Shoes For Sale Online . Pospisil, whose season-ending goal is to improve his ATP Tour ranking enough to qualify for one of the 32 seedings at Januarys Australian Open, dominated Karlovic in 59 minutes. The world No. 40 never faced a break point and limited the big mans threatening ace count to a mere eight, while striking five key aces of his own. http://www.wholesaleshoesfreeshipping.com/.J. -- Tom Coughlin doesnt have many options at halfback for the winless New York Giants. Wholesale Shoes Free Shipping Online . Pearce had a career-high four hits and drove in two runs, and Wei-Yin Chen shut down Texas again as the Orioles completed a four-game sweep of the Rangers with a 5-2 victory on Thursday night. Wholesale Cheap Shoes Free Shipping . Nowitzki scored 28 points, Harris had a season-high 14 for the second straight game and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Detroit Pistons 116-106 Sunday night.NEW ORLEANS -- Tyreke Evans sore right knee -- and long-term contract -- gave him every reason to sit out the final two games of a losing season with the Pelicans. Yet even as coaches and trainers encouraged him to rest, Evans was having none of it. Instead, he played some of his most relentless, productive and crowd-pleasing basketball of the season. He capped it off with 25 points and 10 assists on Wednesday night, and New Orleans closed out a difficult, injury riddled season with a 105-100 victory over the playoff-bound Houston Rockets. "I just want to have fun, man," Evans said. "It was my last game this year. ... I was hurt. I could have easily sat out, taken the back seat, but coach talked to us about finishing strong and thats what I wanted to do." Two nights earlier, Evans scored a career-high 41 points in a stunning victory over Oklahoma City. Against Houston, he enlivened the crowd with end-to-end drives, high razzle-dazzle dribbles and an array of midair contortions in order to get off shots in traffic near the basket. "He drove me crazy with some of his uh-oh plays, but these last two games, I hope he gets player of the week," coach Monty Williams said. "We needed these two games to go into the summer. He stepped up big-time and carried the team." The Rockets, who had already locked up the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference, rested James Harden, Chandler Parsons and Jeremy Lin. Still, the game was competitive as a number of role players sought to make the most of extended action. Troy Daniels, a rookie guard out of VCU whod scored only 20 points in 31 minutes all season, hit 6 3s and finished with a career-high 22 points. "I was ready to get out there," Daniels said. "It shows the coach has a lot of faith in me. Obviously I have a lot of work to do and a lot of progress to make, but it was a good start for me to get my confidence up." Evans gave New Orleans the lead for good with a driving layup with 2:35 left, then sealed it with a powerful move in which he wedged his way between Jordan Hamilton and Josh Poweell for a running, right-handed hook from the lane.dddddddddddd "It wasnt just about, We aint making the playoffs; lets pack it up," said guard Anthony Morrow, nodding at Evans. "When a guy who signs a long-term deal still plays the last two games of the season the way he did, it says a lot about him." Austin Rivers added 18 points and Morrow 15 for the Pelicans, who shot 52.4 per cent. Neither team led by more than single digits. New Orleans had the largest lead at 90-81, but Houston responded with a late 11-4 run that included 3s by Hamilton and Daniels, then took a brief 100-99 lead when Hamilton stole the ball and converted a fast-break lay-in with 2:51 left. Regular Houston starters Terrence Jones, who had 17 points and eight rebounds, and Patrick Beverly, who had 14 points, also played as if it mattered. Hamilton hit four 3s on his way to 14 points and Donatas Motiejunas had 11 points and 10 rebounds. "We werent going to change in the standings, so we played a bunch of guys that we hadnt played before," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "Its time to get some guys comfortable." Dwight Howard was among a minority of players who looked like as if he was merely going through the motions. He was 1 of 5 shooting, including a missed 3 after which he allowed a smirk, and grabbed four rebounds while turning the ball over three times. But Howard had more important things to think about with the fourth-seeded Rockets, who won 54 games this season, starting a playoff series against Portland on Sunday. Notes: After missing the past two games with a left ankle injury, Pelicans guard Brian Roberts played 4 minutes, long enough to make three free throws. That got him to 125 made foul shots this season, qualifying him for the official NBA lead in free throw shooting percentage at 93.9 per cent. "To have that, thats something thats special and something Ill never forget," Roberts said. ... Pelicans rookie C Jeff Withey tied a career high with five blocks. ... The loss was Houstons first against the Pelicans in four meetings this season. ' ' '