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DET@BAL: Fister strikes out eight over seven innings

When Tigers starter Doug Fister takes the mound for Wednesday's game, he'll be doing so against an all-so-suddenly-hot Angels offense.

Fister will be facing a lineup that has scored 29 runs in its last three games, including a 13-0 blowout of the Tigers on Tuesday.

"This whole lineup, top to bottom, is very good. It doesn't give us any breaks," Fister said of the Angels. "There aren't any pitches we can take off. It's really a focus that we have to stay on top of our game from the first pitch on. They've got some great hitters and they got different aspects to the game where they want to bunt, they can hit and run, they can do the different things. We really have to be on our toes."

In 12 starts this season, Fister is 3-6 with a 4.39 ERA. Before his superb start on Friday, the right-hander had allowed a combined 18 earned runs in his previous three starts.

He surrendered just one run on three hits in seven innings against the Orioles his last time out and said he felt more like himself.

"[I'm] looking back at Baltimore as more of just kind of a step in the right direction, but it's really just kind of me feeling like me again," Fister said. "Being able to forget about mechanics, be able to forget about any sort of physical thing and just kind of focus on hitting the glove and just getting out there and doing it and trusting my stuff."

Opposing Fister will be C.J. Wilson, who's coming off a fairly solid outing against the Yankees. In seven innings in New York, Wilson allowed just a two-run homer to Mark Teixeira in the no-decision.

Pitching on the road bodes well for the lefty, as well, considering he has given up two runs or fewer in 11 of his 12 road starts this season.

Angels: Offensive trio leading offense
Mark Trumbo, Albert Pujols and Mike Trout were the main threats in the offense for most of the Angels' drastic turnaround after their slow start.

And the second half has proven no different.

Trumbo, Pujols and Trout all homered for the Angels on Tuesday and now have 16 of the team's 24 home runs so far this month. Trumbo leads the league with seven homers this month, while Trout and Pujols aren't far behind with five and four homers, respectively.

Since May 25, Trumbo leads the Majors with 20 home runs and 46 RBIs and leads the American League in slugging percentage. He has six homers in his last eight games, as well.

Trout's 4-for-6 night earned him a .355 batting average on the season, padding his lead in the AL batting-title race.

Pujols' homer was the 461st of his career, tying him with Chipper Jones for 33rd all-time.

Tigers: Villarreal good to go
After experiencing neck cramps since waking up Friday in Baltimore, Brayan Villarreal on Monday saw a specialist, who said he saw no serious problems with the reliever.

"I'm ready to go," Villarreal said. "It was just muscular."

Villarreal tossed 1 2/3 innings in Tuesday's loss to the Angels, allowing one hit while striking out two.

• The Tigers' shutout at the hands of the Angels on Tuesday was their first since last July 16. It ended a 158-game streak without a shutout, the longest in franchise history.

Worth noting
• After a combined five RBIs on Tuesday night from Pujols and Trumbo, the two teammates have tied the Tigers' Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder with 105 combined RBIs since May 6, which leads all of baseball.

• With their win on Tuesday, the Angels tied the season series with the Tigers at a game apiece. The Angels won last year's season series against the Tigers, 4-3.

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