Save for a single day on which they were tied with the White Sox, the Tigers held first place in the Central by themselves from May 16 until Oct. 2. The Twins, meanwhile, were seven games out on Sept. 6, but the Tigers lost 15 of their last 26 games and Minnesota won 16 of its final 20 to force a one-game playoff in the final regular-season baseball game at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. The Tigers took an early lead, but the Twins, who had lost a playoff for the division to the White Sox the year before, battled back, taking a one-run lead in the seventh, only to have the Tigers tie it up in the eighth. Both teams scored one run in the 10th, giving the impression that the division would never be decided, but the Twins finally settled the matter in the bottom of the 12th on singles by two of their worst hitters, center fielder Carlos Gomez and infielder Alexi Casilla, neither of whom had started the game.