had good pressure in the third period, but Raanta shut the

DETROIT -- As one of the games top pitchers, Justin Verlander can accept a little more scrutiny. He welcomes it, in fact. So there was no grousing from the Detroit ace when he took some heat after three straight ragged starts. Instead, Verlander went back to work, and on Monday he returned to form a bit, striking out 13 in seven innings to lead the Tigers to a 6-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Detroits Jhonny Peralta had four hits, and the Tigers held on for their sixth win in seven games. "I expect the bar to be high," Verlander said. "Thats where I set it for myself." Verlander (6-4) hadnt pitched more than five innings in any of his previous three starts, struggling at times with his location. But he was sharp for the most part against Pittsburgh, allowing three runs and seven hits with two walks. Joaquin Benoit allowed two runs -- one earned -- in the eighth. Jose Valverde finished for his sixth save in seven chances, striking out a swinging Andrew McCutchen with a runner on first to end it. Verlander set a season high for strikeouts, although he said his fastball control still wasnt quite good enough. "Better? Yes. Where I want it? No," he said. "You have a couple bad starts, and the worlds on your shoulder -- Whats wrong? Whats wrong? -- but hey, that comes with the territory. Im OK with that. I can deal with it." Francisco Liriano (3-1) allowed four runs and eight hits in five innings. Pittsburgh third baseman Brandon Inge, who played for the Tigers for over a decade, was a late addition to the starting lineup. Outfielder Starling Marte was removed shortly before the game because of migraine-like symptoms, and the ensuing shuffling of the lineup gave Inge his first chance to play at Comerica Park as a member of the visiting team. Inge fielded Omar Infantes grounder with his bare hand and threw him out in the first inning, but he went 0 for 4 at the plate with three strikeouts. The Pirates had pulled within one in the eighth when Inge came to the plate, but pinch-runner Josh Harrison was picked off second, and Inge struck out looking against Benoit. Pittsburghs Neil Walker tripled in the first and scored on a sacrifice fly by McCutchen. Liriano was cruising along until Prince Fielder, Victor Martinez and Peralta opened the Detroit fourth with consecutive singles to tie it at 1. Liriano allowed no more than a run in each of his first three starts -- the Pirates had to wait for him to return after he broke his right (non-throwing) arm in a freak accident on Christmas Day. He allowed three runs in the fifth Monday. Martinez came to the plate with two on and two out. His double down the line bounced weirdly off the short fence in foul territory, and both runners came in to score for a 3-1 lead. Martinez then scored on Peraltas double. Travis Snider hit an RBI triple in the seventh and Walker followed with a double to make it 4-3, but McCutchen struck out swinging on Verlanders final pitch. The Tigers added two runs in the seventh against Jose Contreras, who retired only one batter while allowing a hit and four walks. "We battled back against the best pitcher in the game, and then we battled back against one of the best eighth-inning men in the game," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "I just didnt plan for Contreras going out there and walking four guys. We need him to pitch that inning -- we cant use the same guys every day -- and he couldnt do it. That really hurt us." Benoit gave up a double to Garrett Jones to start the eighth, and Russell Martins hard grounder got past Fielder at first for an error, allowing a run to score. Gaby Sanchez hit a one-out RBI double to make it 6-5 with Inge coming to the plate, but Harrison was picked off and Inge struck out. It was Peraltas first four-hit game since June 4, 2010, when he was playing for Cleveland. The Detroit shortstop is now hitting .341 -- 102 points higher than where he finished 2012. "Hes swinging a magic wand right now," Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter said. "He can poke the bat out and get a hit. He can swing hard and get a hit. Its a lot of fun to play the game like that." NOTES: Verlander is 20-2 in interleague play. ... Detroits Miguel Cabrera struck out three times and had his hitting streak snapped at 12 games. ... It started raining around the end of the fifth, but there were no delays. ... Detroits Rick Porcello (2-2) faces Pittsburghs Jeanmar Gomez (2-0) on Tuesday night. Adidas Gazelle Sale Deutschland .C. -- Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Bobcats got off to a fast start, and the Sacramento Kings were never quite able to catch up. Adidas Nmd Outlet http://www.nmdschuhesale.de/ultra-boost-schuhe-deutschland.html . P.A. Parenteau scored early in the third period to help the Avs edge Toronto 2-1 on Tuesday night. Cory Sarich also scored for Colorado (3-0-0), which is off to its best ever start. Adidas Nmd r2 Deutschland . Cuban testified Thursday that he was upset when the companys CEO told him news that would reduce the value of his shares, for which hed paid $7.5 million. But he said he did nothing improper when he sold those shares over the next two days. Adidas Nmd r2 Herren Sale . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. EDMONTON, Alberta -- Michael Grabner is coming up big for the New York Rangers.Grabner scored twice, Antti Raanta stopped 38 shots, and the Rangers beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 Sunday night.After signing with the Rangers during the offseason, Grabner now has 10 goals in 16 games to eclipse the nine he scored in 80 games with Toronto last year.Im just trying to go out there and play my role, he said. Its just been going good from the start, from the first game on. I think thats a big part of hockey, when you get confidence, it seems to be going out there and not thinking and good things happen.Dan Girardi also scored to help the Rangers win for the seventh time in eight games -- including two victories against the Oilers.I thought we came out real well, moved the puck, got some quality opportunities and scored a couple of goals, New York coach Alain Vigneault said. After that, there was no doubt they had a real strong push and I thought for the most part our goaltender made some big saves and our guys battled through back-to-back games.Andrej Sekera scored for Edmonton and Cam Talbot finished with 24 saves. The Oilers have lost three straight to fall to 2-5-1 since starting the season 7-1-0.That confidence and swagger we had in the first eight games seems to get away from us a little bit, Oilers forward Milan Lucic said. We havent had it in the last eight games.Things arent always going to go smoothly. We have to stick together as a team and go back to having fun playing the right way.Grabner got New York on the scoreboard just 1:20 in, getting to a big rebound and scoring his ninth of the season. It was the fifth time in seven games the Oilers allowed a goal in the first two minutes.Girardi made it 2-0 with 6:42 left in the firrst as the Rangers had an extra attacker on for a delayed penalty and the defenseman redirected Kevin Hayes pass past Talbot from in front of the net.ddddddddddddEdmonton pulled within one with 1:15 left in the opening period when Connor McDavid spotted a pinching Sekera swooping past the Rangers net and he deflected a shot past Raanta.Grabner scored again with five minutes left in the second when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins gave up the puck at the New York blue line. Talbot made the initial stop, but Grabner was able to swat in the rebound.Edmonton had good pressure in the third period, but Raanta shut the door.We had a lot of players missing in action, Oilers coach Todd McLellan said.Game notes It was the second and final meeting of the season between the two teams. The Rangers won 5-3 in the previous meeting at home on Nov. ... Raanta got the start in net for the Rangers after Henrik Lundqvist played the night before in a 4-1 win at Calgary. Raanta made his fifth start and improved to 4-0-0. He won his first four starts last year before going 0-4-2 in his next eight appearances before finishing 11-6-2. ... The Rangers were without F Chris Kreider, who suffered an upper-body injury against the Flames. F Pavel Buchnevich also missed the game. ... New York already has 10 players with at least 10 points. ... F Zack Kassian returned to Edmontons lineup after missing the last three games with an injury. ... Oilers F Benoit Pouliot played his 500th NHL game.UP NEXTRangers: At Vancouver on Tuesday night in the third game of a four-game trip.Oilers: At Anaheim on Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game trip. ' ' '