Raburn, who was sent out 10 days ago, was pounding the ball in AAA. In the minors because the Tigers had needed an extra arm, Raburn batted .444 (12-for-27) while on assignment including two doubles and two runs batted in.

The fact that he spent only the minimum amount of time in Toledo means that he has yet to burn his final option year. A player must spend at least 20 days in the minor leagues in order to technically use an option.

Wells played in two games for Detroit over the past week, going 2-for-9 with a double and two RBI. The Tigers had originally planned to keep him up for only two games, but that became a week when Scott Sizemore and Max Scherzer were sent out instead last Saturday.

Raburn will likely join the mix of players filling in at second base until Carlos Guillen makes his return to action, likely next weekend. He would join Ramon Santiago and Danny Worth in handling those duties, but could see some time in the outfield as well.

His versatility should come in handy during Interleague Play, when the Tigers are more likely to make moves during the game, thanks to the archaic lack of a designated hitter in National League parks.

A classic pitcher’s duel took place at the Oakland Coliseum last night. Tigers ace Justin Verlander and the recently perfect Dallas Braden hooked up in one of the quickest games of the year.

The Tigers threatened early against Braden, but couldn’t score in the first when Cliff Pennington made a sparkling over the shoulder catch on a would-be base-hit by Brennan Boesch. That was the last best scoring chance either team had until the seventh.

Both pitchers were on cruise control throughout the game. Verlander was throwing gas right from the jump, but mixed his pitches well and kept the A’s hitters completely off balance. Entering the eighth inning, Verlander had thrown only 82 pitches and had given up just two hits, with only one ball really hit hard.

Braden was equally as effective in keeping the Tigers hitter from squaring him up. He gave up a few more hits than his counterpart, but was able to wiggle off the hook on the few occasions he did have runners on.

All that changed in the seven, when Brandon Inge sat on a Braden change-up and lofted a deep fly ball to left that barely cleared the wall and put the Tigers up 1-0. The next batter, Gerald Laird, tried to push a bunt past the mound and Braden was unable to corral the ball, which was ruled a hit. Braden (4-4) left the game at that point, still suffering the effects of an illness he was trying to play through.

The A’s bullpen provided no relief however. Micheal Wuertz retired the first two batters he faced, but Austin Jackson brought Laird home with an RBI single, Jackson taking second when the throw home sailed too high to be cut off. After an intentional walk to Johnny Damon, rookie Casper Wells brought both runners home with a double. The Tigers would add another run in the eighth.

At the end of the seventh, the game was no longer in doubt, not with the way Verlander (5-2) was pitching. Oakland scored a run in the eighth after the Tigers failed to turn a double play that would have been the second out. Instead of ending the inning, Adam Rosales‘ fly ball became a sacrifice to put the A’s on the board. The wouldn’t get any closer as Verlander cruised to the finish line.

Cheers and Jeers after the jump.

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Cheers for

• Danny Worth- Playing in just his second game, Worth recorded his first career three-hit day, and drove in the Tigers fifth run, his second RBI of the season.
• Casper Wells- Wells, also making his second start, singled in the third for his first career hit. He became the fifth Tiger already this year to record his first big league base hit. His two-run double in the seventh put the game out of reach.
• Justin Verlander- JV walked only one and fanned just five in his four-hit complete game. It was his first complete game of the year and the seventh of his career. After the game, Verlander joked that next season, he should put a May calendar up instead of the April version to start the year. Since the start of this month, he is 4-0 in four starts, with an ERA of 1.50.

Jeers for

• No Jeers today, this game was a complete team effort. Any miscues by the Tigers, such as Miguel Cabrera pulling his foot on the botched double play ball, or his 0-for-4 are swept under the rug.

What’s on tap

The Tigers will go for the sweep of this brief two-game set this afternoon. Jeremy Bonderman takes the ball against the team that drafted him. He will be opposed by Tyson Ross, a former college teammate of Boesch. They played together at Cal.

Bonderman (1-2, 4.93) is 3-3 career against the A’s, including a 1-2 record in four starts at the Coliseum. He went seven strong innings, allowing just two earned runs in his last start, a loss, against the Yankees in Detroit. He hasn’t won since April 10.

Ross (1-1, 3.97) is making just his second career start. He’s in the rotation taking the place of the injured Justin Duchscherer. After starting his big league career as a reliever, Ross made his first start on Saturday, working just 3.2 innings while yielding 3 runs in a loss to the Angels.

• At Tiger Tales, Lee has a quote from Casper Wells concerning his rumored promotion. Spoiler alert: he’s as surprised as anyone. Casper Wells is on the Way
• Billfer does a great job working through the implications of such as move, going so far as to include as many as two additional moves, all of which could happen by Monday. The Detroit Tigers Weblog
• Over at Big League Stew, ‘Duk asks the unthinkable question (if you’re a Royals fan that is). BLS
• Speaking of the Royals, what did Joe Posnanski think of the firing of Trey Hillman? JoeBlog
• Craig Calcaterra takes the next step, showing us what to expect from new Royals skipper Ned Yost. For the record, I expect an immediate improvement. They can start by cutting Yuniesky Betancourt. Hardball Talk
• Remeber when Stephen Strasburg made his Spring Training debut against the Tigers? Well Rob Neyer thinks he has Strasburg’s ML debut date pinpointed. I hope he’s right, Stasburg is taking up valuable space on my fantasy team right now. The Sweet Spot
• Back to the Tigers- they made a slew of minor league moves yesterday and Matt Wallace gives us the skinny. Take 75 North

That’s all I got for now baseball-wise, but Posnanski also had a fantastic write up about the Cavs/Celtics game last night. On a personal note, I loved every second of watching LeBron and the Cavs give up in this series. Joe didn’t agree of course, but then he is from Cleveland. One Last Bitter Moment