Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

Even on a day when Justin Verlander said he couldn’t find a single pitch that was working for him, he still managed to do just enough to secure the first 20-victory season of his career.

It was the kind of outing that exemplified what a special season Verlander is having, and the kind of outing that has the Detroit Tigers thinking they have all the pieces for a deep October run.

Verlander became the majors’ first 20-game winner, grinding through six innings in the Detroit Tigers’ 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday.

Verlander (20-5) gave up four runs on eight hits with six strikeouts and three walks to become the first pitcher to win 20 games before the end of August since Arizona’s Curt Schilling in 2002.

“There’s been times I’ve picked these guys up and there’s been times they’ve picked me up,” Verlander said. “To get to 20 at this point in the season, obviously you can’t do it all on your own. These guys have helped me along the way and today was a good example of that.”

Minnesota’s abysmal offense made it tougher on Verlander than expected. Luke Hughes had a home run, a double and three RBIs and Jason Repko put one of Verlander’s vaunted fastballs into the upper deck in left field for his first homer of the season.

“Name a pitch, I had trouble finding consistency with anything,” Verlander said.

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