DETROIT -- Two starting pitchers Detroit was counting on to be rotation mainstays entering the season have been relative non-contributors the last two months but the Tigers are counting on one of them, Mike Pelfrey, to give them a chance to win a game Thursday that will keep them in the playoff hunt.Pelfrey (4-9, 4.76 ERA) hasnt started since July 31 due to a bad back. He was activated to pitch out of the bullpen Sept. 5 but has not been in a game since his last start.He cant throw many more than 60 or so pitches, manager Brad Ausmus said Wednesday. So thatll definitely be a game that involves the bullpen.Pelfrey was signed by Detroit to a two-year deal worth $11 million as a free agent after Minnesota let him go last winter.He has faced the Twins three times in his career with a 1-0 record and 5.28 ERA. Two of those starts came with the Tigers this season but he didnt win or lose either game.Zimmermann has made just two starts for Detroit since the end of June and both were bad.But three pitchers acquired by former GM Dave Dombrowski at the trade deadline in 2015 -- Michael Fulmer, Daniel Norris and Matt Boyd -- have firmed up Detroits rotation.To me the most surprising part of our season, Ausmus said, is that for a good chunk of the year weve had three rookies in the rotation and we have 18 games left and were playing for a playoff spot.That is not a recipe, generally, for playing for a playoff spot, having three rookies in the rotation.Minnesota counters with left-hander Hector Santiago (11-8, 4.75 ERA). Santiago has made seven of his previous 29 starts this season with the Twins after being acquired from the Los Angeles Angels.He pitched against Detroit on May 31 while with Los Angeles, allowing six runs in 6 2/3 innings. Lifetime, Santiago is 1-4 with a 3.09 ERA in nine starts and seven relief appearances.The Twins hope to have first baseman Joe Mauer, a career .303 hitter against the Tigers, available for action for the afternoon game.Mauer hasnt played since Saturday due to a sore quad.Joe could have pinch-hit, Minnesota manager Paul Molitor said after the Twins blew a 5-2 lead and lost, 9-6, to Detroit on Wednesday. I was going to use him there in a one- or two-run game, depending on how it was going to come up.But when it got to three I decided to hold on just in case we got a couple baserunners. (Eddie) Rosario was available too.The last three or four weeks I have had to back off three or four times, Mauer said.Both Mauer and Rosario could be back in the lineup Thursday. Clearance Under Armour NZ . The 29-year-old from Port Colborne, Ont., has nothing but good things to say about former U.S. marine Liz (Girlrilla) Carmouche ahead of their co-main event Wednesday on the UFCs "Fight for the Troops" televised card in Fort Campbell, Ky. Wholesale Shoes NZ . Duchene scored two goals and had an assist, helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night to match the best 10-game start in team history. http://www.discountunderarmournz.com/ . A knee to the thigh might have stung him the most, but his sixth straight double-double made up for the brief burst of pain. Wholesale Under Armour NZ . Andrew Luck lost his favourite target and the Indianapolis locker room lost one of its most revered leaders when Reggie Wayne was diagnosed Monday with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that will cost him the rest of the season. Under Armour NZ Outlet . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. ATLANTA -- The San Diego Padres have put catcher Christian Bethancourt on the 15-day disabled list with a left intercostal strain.The Padres recalled catcher Hector Sanchez from Triple-A El Paso.Bethancourt left Tuesday nights 7-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves with the injury in the fourth inning. He was hurt on a swing in his last at-bat. He is hitting .228 with six homers and 25 RBI in 73 games.Sanchhez is making his second appearance with San Diego after being acquired off waivers from the Chicago White Sox on May 11.ddddddddddddHe hit .313 in 14 games in his first stint with the team.Derek Norris is the starting catcher in Wednesday nights game against the Braves. ' ' '