DETROIT -- The Detroit Tigers looked dormant with the bats until a pitch from Chicagos Chris Sale hit Victor Martinez around the back of his left shoulder. Authentic Larry Bird Jersey . Then tempers flared, the benches and bullpens emptied -- and Sales shutout didnt last much longer. Martinez came around to score the tying run in the sixth inning, and after Sale came out of the game, Chicagos bullpen was no match for the Tigers. Detroit won 6-1 on Wednesday -- and clinched a spot in the post-season when Seattle lost to Toronto. The worst the Tigers can end up with now is a wild card. Detroit is trying for its fourth straight AL Central crown, and the Tigers took a two-game lead over second-place Kansas City, which lost at Cleveland. Detroits magic number to clinch the division is three. With one out in the sixth and Chicago up 1-0, Sales first pitch to Martinez hit the Detroit slugger. Martinez walked slowly to first, and the two started jawing at each other. Sale appeared to point out toward centre field in agitated fashion as Martinez went to first. "They were claiming that someone with binoculars in centre field was giving signs to Victor," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. "I think its a little weak that they would hit him. If they injure Victor there and were in the playoff hunt, thats bad news. That just cant happen. "He clearly did it on purpose. He made it obvious." Sale didnt accuse the Tigers of stealing signs afterward, and he said he wasnt specifically gesturing toward centre field. "I was just throwing my arms up, like you do when you are upset," the left-hander said. "I wasnt really trying to control where they pointed." Sale appeared to tip his hat toward the outfield in the third inning after striking out Martinez. "There was a fan that was just wearing me out in the bullpen before the game, telling me that I wasnt any good, and telling me how much Victor was going to hit me," Sale said. "So that was just having some fun with him." Justin Verlander (15-12) allowed a run in eight innings for Detroit. Sale allowed a run and four hits in six innings. He struck out 10 and walked three, becoming his franchises career leader with his 18th game of at least 10 strikeouts. Ed Walsh had 17. But Chicagos slim lead slipped away after he hit Martinez. "I think he just woke the whole team up," said Martinez, who is 15 of 29 for his career off Sale. The benches and bullpens emptied, but order was quickly restored. J.D. Martinez followed with a double and Nick Castellanos hit a sacrifice fly to tie it at 1. Ian Kinslers RBI double the following inning off Javy Guerra (2-4) put Detroit ahead, and when Kinsler reached second, he put his hands up in front of his eyes, pantomiming someone looking through binoculars. Miguel Cabrera added a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Detroit scored three runs in the eighth on a well-executed squeeze play by Andrew Romine and RBI singles by Rajai Davis and Kinsler. Cabrera struck out four times, only the third time in his career thats happened and the first time since Sept. 17, 2010. QUALITY START The brouhaha involving Sale and Martinez overshadowed another fine outing by Verlander, who allowed seven hits and struck out six. Verlander (15-12) has not been at his best this year, but the former Cy Young Award winner has made it to the eighth inning in back-to-back starts. "I think I was getting ahead of guys -- good fastball control, good life on the fastball," Verlander said. AMONG THE LEADERS This was Sales last start of the season, and he finishes with a 2.17 ERA, which will almost surely be good enough to win the American League ERA title. Seattles Felix Hernandez is at 2.34. TRAINERS ROOM White Sox: After the bench-clearing incident, Sale pitched the rest of the sixth before being pulled after 101 pitches. Manager Robin Ventura was already trying to ease the left-hander into the off-season. Sale finishes the year at 174 innings after missing a month early on with a muscle strain near his left elbow. Tigers: Detroit RHP Anibal Sanchez (pectoral strain) still has not pitched since being activated from the disabled list before Tuesdays game. Hes now part of the Tigers bullpen but was not used Wednesday. UP NEXT White Sox: After losing two of three to the Tigers, Chicago has another chance to play spoiler in a four-game series against the Royals. White Sox LHP Jose Quintana (9-10) faces Kansas City RHP James Shields (14-8) on Thursday night. Tigers: Detroit hosts four games against Minnesota. Tigers RHP Max Scherzer (17-5) takes the mound against Twins RHP Trevor May (3-5) on Thursday night. Wholesale Celtics Jerseys . Watch the game live on TSN and TSN GO at 9pm et/6pm pt. Serge Ibaka returned to the Thunder lineup from a calf injury that was supposed to sideline him for the remainder of the postseason and the results were sparkling. Authentic Red Auerbach Jersey . Sources tell TSN that union executives travelled to select CFL cities Monday to open dialogue with players and answer questions. After the tentative deal was reached Saturday night, several players posted messages of frustration and disappointment on social media - and that carried over into Sunday on both the web and the field. http://www.cheapcelticsjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-marcus-smart-jersey . -- A year ago, Flavia Pennetta was close to retiring from tennis.Rob Blake remembers what it was like to get the call from Hockey Canada to play in the world championship the day after his season with the Los Angeles Kings ended. Blake donned the red-and-white Maple Leaf five times at the tournament over his career, winning gold twice. This spring hell be making those calls as Canadas general manager for the world championship that takes place in May in Minsk, Belarus. Because its an Olympic year, Blake and his staff -- Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers, Brad Treliving of the Phoenix Coyotes and Brad Pascall of Hockey Canada -- might have some different challenges convincing players to commit. But the 44-year-old Kings assistant GM knows what to sell. "I cant stress how important the opportunity to win is," Blake said in a phone interview Wednesday. "I convey to them what the world championships is all about. ... You look at your career and it goes by pretty fast. Theres not a lot of opportunities you have to win something." Blake represented Canada at the world championship in 1998, months after playing in the Nagano Olympics. "Being in that position and having won a couple of those tournaments, you can relate those stories to (potential players)," Blake said. Canada, like many other teams at the world championship, is expected to have a young roster in Minsk because its an Olympic year. Not only does that likely rule out the players who won gold in Sochi (Corey Perry was the only 2010 Olympian to play at the worlds), but Treliving said there are other complications. "Its a little bit unique in the sense not only from an Olympic year and the guys that went over and played, but even from the NHL schedule and the compactness of the NHL schedule, for everybody, including those who didnt go over and play," he said in a phone interview. Four years ago, Canadas group at the world championships included 18-year-old Evander Kane, 19-year-olds Matt Duchene and John Tavares and 20-year-old Steven Stamkos. Expect similar youth this time around. "I think its going to be very similar to the teams in the past," Blake said. "The young guys are the ones that make an easy commitment. They dont have the family commitment, the kids commitment and different things that as you get older you might have involved in this type of decision. I think, typically, younger guys are the ones and then you surround them with the right veterans and you can have some success." One thing Blake, Hextall and Treliving have in common is theyre all general managers of their organizations AHL affiliate, giving them some experience with younger players. Blake is in his first season as Kings assistant GM, replacing Hextall, who took the same job in Philadelphia. Treliving is in his seventh season as the Coyotes assistant GM. "Blakeys been around the game a long time," Hextall said. "Hes a very patient guy, hes methodical and hes very sharp. I know he had a hand in a world championship team in the past, so Im sure that little bit of experience helps him." Along with Pascall, Hockey Canadas vice president of hockey operations and national teams, those men will have conference calls over the next few weeks to discuss putting together a coaching staaff and then a projected roster. Authentic Aron Baynes Jersey. That process has already begun. "I think youve got to look at teams that are not likely to make the playoffs and see whats available and at least get your mind going and start thinking about line combinations and checkers and energy guys and scorers," Hextall said in a phone interview. "Its never too early to start thinking." The immediate next step for the management team is to zero in on coaches. Ralph Krueger, who served as a coaching consultant in Sochi, and Kevin Dineen, who coached the womens team to gold and will be behind the bench for the mens under-18 world championships next month, have been speculated as possible options. Either would fit with what Blake said in general terms hes looking for. "I think part of that staff should have some experience overseas, whether it be coaching over there, coaching an international tournament at some time or being involved on a staff," he said. "Its a different tournament, its not the same as over here. I think some of that experience in scheduling wise, knowing some of the teams and tendencies of those countries and obviously with the setup and that all being different than North America, its nice to have somebody with some experience on that." Part of this tournament is getting experience, for the players, coaches and members of the management staff. Blake, Hextall and Treliving are all legitimate candidates for head GM jobs in the not-too-distant future. Experience already gained in NHL front offices is key now. "I think you learn, its one thing to build a team over a long haul and what you have to do is use everything youve learned over the long haul to try and put a team together for the short term," said Hextall, who played in the 1987 Canada Cup and the 1992 world championship. "I think its more lessons Ive learned from NHL experience that Ill be able to lend a hand in trying to help Blake and Brad build this team." Getting this job also raises the possibility that Blake could be GM of Team Canada at the 2018 Olympics, if NHL players participate. Steve Yzerman has already said its time for someone else to fill that role after winning back-to-back gold medals. "Thats a long ways down the line," Blake said. This tournament is not a long ways down the line, as Canada opens play May 9 against France. Blake already has some preliminary lists of potential players and will go through the process in the next few weeks of scouting and evaluating for those spots. Hell get some help in that regard not only from Hextall, Treliving and Pascall, but former NHL defenceman Steve Staios, who is the teams director of player development. Staios is then expected to assist the coaching staff on and off the ice in Minsk, perhaps similar to what Kruegers job was in the Olympics. Everything worked for Canada there, and even though the worlds in an Olympic year tend to be something of an afterthought, theyre far from that for those in charge of trying to win gold. "Any time you go and compete as Team Canada, the expectation is to win," Treliving said. 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