Thursday’s results

Tigers 7, Twins 2: At Minneapolis, Justin Verlander breezed past Minnesota, giving struggling Detroit a bit more room in the three-team Central race. Verlander gave up one run in seven innings, helping the Tigers extend their division lead to five games. Curtis Granderson hit a tone-setting homer on the third pitch of the night against Scott Baker, and Marcus Thames took him deep in the second, a two-run shot that put Detroit up 3-0.

Indians 9, White Sox 1: At Chicago, Cliff Lee gave up one run in six strong innings and Grady Sizemore and Victor Martinez homered off Mark Buehrle to lead Cleveland over the slumping White Sox. Chicago has lost six of eight and remained one-half game behind Minnesota for the wild card. Chicago dropped 5 1/2 games behind Detroit in the Central.