MINNEAPOLIS -- Down a couple of key cogs in their lineup, the Detroit Tigers didnt flinch.The all-around performance was well-timed, with little room left on the schedule for stumbles.Matt Boyd bounced back from a bad start by breezing through eight innings, backed by home runs from James McCann and Miguel Cabrera as the Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins 8-1 on Tuesday night to cut the deficit between them and the second AL wild card spot to 1 1/2 games with 12 to go.This is what you live for. I wouldnt want it any other way, said Boyd (6-4), who lost 8-1 to the Twins at home last week.Boyd gave up a homer to Robbie Grossman in the seventh among only three hits allowed. He matched his career best with seven strikeouts and walked just one, after being pounded by Minnesota for seven runs in 3 2/3 innings on Sept. 13.He was on tonight, and youve got to tip your hat to him, Minnesotas Byron Buxton said.Detroit played without Victor Martinez (bruised knee) and second baseman Ian Kinsler (concussion-like symptoms), both having been hit by pitches from Clevelands Trevor Bauer on Sunday.McCann, in the designated hitter role for Martinez, sent a three-run shot into second deck above left-center in a four-run sixth against Hector Santiago (12-9). Cabrera hit his 34th homer the following inning, a two-run drive against Michael Tonkin.Cabrera is batting .375 in 32 at-bats over seven games at Target Field this season, with five doubles, three homers, seven runs and six RBI.Cameron Maybin had an RBI triple, Justin Upton drove in two runs and everybody in the lineup had at least one hit for the Tigers, who damaged their playoff push with a four-game split against the worst-in-the-majors Twins last week. Theyre only 8-9 this month.Brian Dozier had a lonely leadoff single in the bottom of the first and stole second base with none out, only to be stranded by Boyd. Kepler walked in the second inning and was quickly caught stealing. Then Boyd retired 14 straight batters until Grossman went deep with one out in the seventh.Thats a sign of a guy thats getting more comfortable, Tigers catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said.MIGGY CAN MOVEThe significance of the situation wasnt lost on Cabrera, who started the fourth inning by crushing a double to right field and sliding in to beat the throw from Max Kepler. The hulking power hitter hustled to advance a base by tagging on a fly ball to Buxton in medium-range center field. Then he rumbled home for a 2-0 lead on a groundout to third, sliding underneath catcher John Ryan Murphys tag after the throw home to try to get the double play.We had three chances to throw out Cabrera. I dont know if you ever see that, Twins manager Paul Molitor said.Cabrera was initially called out, but the replay review brought a reversal and a rousing round of high-fives in the dugout.Anytime a big player does something like that, it pumps everybody up, Saltalamacchia said.Said manager Brad Aumsus: Hes got great instincts on the bases. Hes not 21 anymore, but he still has a pretty good idea of what he is and isnt capable of.STILL STREAKINGDozier stretched his hitting streak to 23 straight games, the longest for the Twins in nine years since Torii Hunter had one of the same length and the fourth-longest in the major leagues this season.MENDING ZIMMERMANNTigers right-hander Jordan Zimmerman threw another simulated game without physical trouble, trying to return from a neck injury that has limited him to two starts since June that didnt last past the second inning, but his mechanics arent not quite right enough yet to return to the rotation.TRAINERS ROOMTigers: The likelihood of 3B Nick Castellanos (broken hand) returning this season has lessened, after feeling discomfort on some swings during batting practice on Monday at the minor league complex in Lakeland, Florida.Twins: 3B Miguel Sano (sore back) missed his seventh straight game, but hes been taking groundballs and batting practice and should be able to play this week. 1B Joe Mauer was given another rest for his ailing quadriceps.UP NEXTTigers: RHP Buck Farmer (0-0, 4.07 ERA in 13 relief appearances) was chosen to make his first major league start of 2016 on Wednesday night, the latest to fill Zimmermanns spot with Mike Pelfrey and Anibal Sanchez struggling all season. Farmer has made seven starts over the last two seasons for the Tigers and 20 starts this year for Triple-A Toledo.Twins: RHP Jose Berrios (2-7, 8.88 ERA) will make his 13th start in the middle game of the series. He finished only four innings in his last turn, but the rookie allowed two runs to match a season low. Cheap Basketball Jerseys . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. NFL Jerseys Cheap China . Miller finished in two minutes, 6.09 seconds, one day before the first medal race on the Alpine schedule. The 36-year-old American also turned in the top time in Thursdays opening training session. http://www.wholesalejerseysnfl.com/ . In what the team had called a retirement, Ryan said Thursday that he is resigning as chief executive of the Rangers in a move effective at the end of this month. Cheap Jerseys . Just as Montreal was settling into the first full working week of a new year, the Impact announced the appointment of their new head coach. Wholesale NBA Jerseys China . He says so-called TRT is only one problem and he wants to go even further than the ban. "Its about time," St-Pierre told reporters at a promotional event in Montreal on Friday. "I think its a good thing. Hes the 6-foot-5 super-heavyweight boxer with a degree in fine art. A former lifeguard, rugby prospect and Sacramento State cheerleader whose most cherished work is a Muhammad Ali painting.Meet Team GBs Joe Joyce, one of the favourites to land a gold in the ring at the Rio Olympics.The 30-year-old is as happy waxing lyrical about Picassos Cubism as Cubas pugilists and appears to have lived a more-than-full life already. Hes almost as intriuiging as his inspiration, Ali, was, and a talented artist, in a very different way.I wasnt really a boxing fan as a kid but everyone loves Ali, dont they? Joyce said.It was the messages he brought across, the way he spoke, the courageous stances he took on things and then, of course, his boxing skills. To me, hes been a great icon to look up to, a real role model.Talking at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, Joyce was among the British Olympians preparing for the Rio Games in a boxing gym dominated by two vast photographs of Ali.One features the young Cassius Clay receiving his light-heavyweight gold medal in Rome 1960. Joyces own portrait of the Greatest is a fiery image of him holding up his hand swathed in boxing tape, with passion in his eyes and a mouth in overdrive.To me, that [guy is a] real inspiration. Every day, said the Englishman.Ali would have liked Joyce, you suspect, even if personality-wise, they would have taken up opposite corners.Celebratory back flips in the ring apart, there is little of the Americans outrageous showmanship in Joyces make-up.However, there is a quiet charisma and the sort of imposing presence that only a 17-stone colossus can radiate.Reflective and laid back when interviewed, Joyce the fighter was called a beast by?Anthony Joshua, Britains holder of the Olympic super-heavyweight title who has gone on as a professional to own the IBF version of the world heavyweight title.Outside the ring I can be very laid back, he said. Yet if youre trying to beat me, to take away what Ive got, my success, Ill want to beat you and Ill leave it all out there in the ring. Im all business there.Theres no great artistic flair with me in the ring. Im probably more mechanical than Ali but Ive only been boxing since I was 22. Sometimes I wish maybe Id started at 18.The reason Joyce didnt start 12 years ago was because his intelligent, artistic bent and all-round sporting talent sent him on so many other journeys of experimentation.Oh, you heard about the cheerleader stuff? he said, when asked to reflect on the semester, during his final year studying at Middlesex University, when he went on exchange to Sacramento State.I wasnt waving pom-poms! he promptly protested. I was chatting to this cheerleader there and she said, Oh, you should come to practice with us.It turned out they were looking for strong blokes and it was a bit like gymnastics. I learned about tumbling and I had to throw the girl up in the air and catch her by her feet.The worst thing about cheerleading is the actual cheerleading bit, all the clapping and cheering lets go team and all that. At the basketball, the players on court were all looking at me, this tall English guy, like, Mate, shouldnt you be out here with us?Joyce probably could have been a decent basketball player, too, such has been his all-round sporting prowess. He was good at karate and kung fu -- Bruce Lee was another of his best paintings -- played under-18s county rugby for Surrey as a lock forward, long jumped and triple jumped to a high standard. He also acted as a swimming instructor.WWhen he saw some guys playing American Football at Londons Lee Valley athletics track during his track and field training, he couldnt resist having a go at that, too, until he got bored with chasing balls around.ddddddddddddNothing on the sporting front, though, tickled Joyce like the moment he had a go at thumping a punchbag in the Middlesex University gym; it was love at first thwack.Asked whether he believes he really is a talented artist, Joyce shrugged: Yeah, Im pretty good actually.Artistically, he is into abstract works and symbolism. The work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the young American street artist became a pop icon before his death at 27 from a heroin overdose, he admires.Joyce is fascinated by iconography, too. Indeed, he once painted a series of portraits of modern-day icons. As well as Ali and Lee, he chose Beyonce, Michael Jackson and the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena.The common thread? They got to the very peak of their professions, he said. Boxings the vehicle to take me to the top of a profession.Good judges believe he has a chance. Hes won gold in the Commonwealth Games and European Games; hes beaten Cubas best in Cuba and has stood on the podium at the world championships.Like Joshua and so many others before him, Joyce sees an Olympic gold as the last stop before a lucrative pro career in the heavyweight division.Heavyweights peak in their late 30s so it might be the ideal time to start a pro career after the Games, he said. Ill be well-experienced then, ready to take on the pros and as its a really exciting time for the heavyweight division at the moment -- it could be perfect timing.Inevitably, and maybe a bit tiresomely for Joyce, his name always has seemingly always been linked to that of Joshua, with whom he has enjoyed plenty of lively sparring sessions.Maybe he can punch his way out of the brilliant young world champs shadow, especially after he qualified for Rio by defeating Azerbaijans Magomedrasul Majidov, the last man to beat Joshua, in the European qualifying tournament in Turkey.For the moment, Joyces art ambitions are on hold. He would normally work from a little studio at the flat he shares with his art-loving mum in south London.While he was training and living in the northern English city of Sheffield, though, he admitted: I get ideas for painting and sketches and I even bought a canvas and some paints the other day but then thought, Nah ... I cant have oil paint going on the carpet when Im renting a place!I can continue my career in boxing while Im still young but when thats over and my body cant take the punishment any more, I could still do my masters degree to get my art back going again. Even a beaten up old boxer, he added with a shrug, is able to lift a paint brush.Joyce only had one of his oil paintings put on public display when he was at university. But there was a gallery interested in exhibiting my work somewhere in Europe; it would have been too much to get the paintings there and take myself there too, he said. But, one day, who knows?Its quite hard to make something of yourself in art, sell paintings, make the big bucks. So maybe I could use the success I have in boxing as a vehicle to promote my art.Masterpieces from the hand that knocked over opponents on the road to Olympic and world titles? Maybe people might want to own a Joyce, he said. I might be able to auction it off to the highest bidder. 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