tons Rick Porcello in voting for the AL Cy Young Award. Verla

DETROIT -- Chris Tillman is back from the disabled list -- and looks ready to help the Baltimore Orioles in their push for the playoffs.Tillman pitched six impressive innings, and Michael Bourn and Jonathan Schoop homered off Justin Verlander to lead the Orioles to a 3-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday. The Baltimore right-hander hadnt pitched since Aug. 20 because of right shoulder bursitis.He didnt look very rusty, Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. Its a really good lineup, too, he went through.Baltimore and the Toronto Blue Jays are now tied in the standings and occupy both wild-card spots in the American League. Theyre two games behind first-place Boston in the AL East, and the Orioles are now headed to Fenway Park for a three-game series with the Red Sox.Detroit fell two games behind the wild cards. The New York Yankees are also two back of the Orioles and Blue Jays.Tillman (16-5) allowed a run and four hits after being activated before the game. He struck out four and walked one.It was definitely a little bit of rust there, but I feel like we were able to work through it, Tillman said. You get kind of bored and frustrated sitting on the bench that long, and not being able to help the team.Three relievers finished for the Orioles, with Zach Britton pitching the ninth for his 41st save in 41 chances. Britton retired pinch-hitter Casey McGehee with two on for the final out, taking sole possession of the AL saves lead.Verlander (14-8) lasted only five innings, ending his streak of 11 straight quality starts.The Orioles lead the majors with 226 home runs, but Bourn has only two of them. His two-run shot off Verlander in the third opened the scoring.Bourn is 14 for 37 (.378) in his career off Verlander, but this was the first time hed gone deep against the Detroit right-hander.Schoops 23rd homer of the season made it 3-0 in the fourth, and Detroits only run came on Ian Kinslers RBI single in the fifth.The Tigers put runners on first and second in the eighth before Miguel Cabrera bounced into an inning-ending double play against Mychal Givens. They had runners at first and second in the ninth when James McCann struck out and McGehee grounded out to end it.Cabrera went 0 for 4 and failed to hit the ball out of the infield.Verlander allowed three runs and seven hits in his second loss since the All-Star break.BACK AND FORTHMark Trumbo grounded out to the shortstop to lead off the second, and Cabrera had to position himself awkwardly at first to receive a bouncing throw from Jose Iglesias. Trumbo and Cabrera appeared to exchange words after the play.Miggy was like, `What am I supposed to do? His job is to catch the ball and be on the base, Verlander said. I dont really know what their issue was on that.Trumbo didnt have much to say about it after the game.He had given me a restaurant recommendation, Trumbo said.TRAINERS ROOMTigers: Jordan Zimmermann, hit hard Saturday in his return from a neck injury, will not make his next start Thursday against Minnesota. Manager Brad Ausmus said hell throw an 80-pitch simulated game Wednesday.I definitely understand the reasoning, Zimmermann said. We cant afford to lose games right now.UP NEXTOrioles: Baltimore heads to Boston, and LHP Wade Miley (8-12) starts Monday night for the Orioles against David Price (15-8).Tigers: Detroit hosts a four-game set against Minnesota. LHP Daniel Norris (2-2) takes the mound for the Tigers on Monday night against Ervin Santana (7-10). Brandon Knight Jersey . 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CHICAGO -- Commissioner Rob Manfred says baseball wants to study high-profile positions within the sport to see if certain qualifications predict success, a step that has everything to do with minority hiring.Baseball had no Latino managers before Rick Renteria took over the Chicago White Sox last month. Dusty Baker of the Washington Nationals and Dave Roberts from the Los Angeles Dodgers are the only black skippers among the leagues 30 teams.But there were 10 minority managers as recently as 2009, according to Richard Lapchick of The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.Certain perceptions develop as to what people are looking for in particular positions and then people write stories saying, `Oh, thats a problem on the minority front because, you know, maybe minorities are less likely to share these characteristics, Manfred said Thursday at the conclusion of two days of owners meetings.I think a first step in addressing those concerns is identifying which ones really matter and then you start to identify candidates who have all those qualifications and say, hey this may be the perfect guy for you and I have some science behind it in order to demonstrate that he is the best candidate, or she.Major League Baseball hired Korn Ferry last year in part to help top minority candidates in their interviews for positions in baseball operations. But Manfred said the search firm is going to focus on openings for individual clubs when its retained because of the potential for conflicts when it works for the central office and teams at the same time.When the White Sox announced Renterias promotion, they highlighted his ability to communicate in English and Spanish. But Manfred said there are all sorts of factors that could be considered.You could name probably 20 things off the top of your head, he said. The question is, once youve named them, do any of them really predict success on the field?While MLB briefed the owners on baseballs highly successful postseason and the upcoming World Baseball Classic, the ongoing labor talks with the players occupied a significant portion of the meetings at a downtown Chicago hotel, already decked out in its best Christmas decorations.The collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1. Negotiators for owners and players have been meeting since spring training.I remain optimistic that were going to make a deal, Manfred said. This process is not predictable in terms of time.dddddddddddd I said there were certain natural deadlines out there. The beginning of the market was one and the expiration of the agreements another, and Im hopeful that were going to get a deal done before that latter deadline.Manfred declined to address any details from the bargaining sessions, but he said an international amateur draft remains on the table.Manfred also touched on several other fronts with the sport and the owners quarterly meetings:-The owners approved changes with the leadership structures in Oakland and Philadelphia, with John Fisher becoming the control person of the Athletics and John Middleton taking over the same position with the Phillies. The As announced that Lew Wolff will be transitioning from managing partner to chairman emeritus, and that he had agreed to sell most of his interest to the remaining owners.Fisher and Middleton each controlled the biggest stake in their specific teams before taking over their new roles.I think the ownership committee has a strong preference that the individuals who are either the largest or one of the largest equity owners in clubs be the individual who is the baseball control person, Manfred said.-Manfred also reacted to supermodel Kate Uptons online support of fiance Justin Verlander after the Detroit Tigers ace finished second to Bostons Rick Porcello in voting for the AL Cy Young Award. Verlander was left off the ballot by two voters, prompting a series of tweets by Upton that were widely circulated on social media.The particular content of the tweet Im not going to comment on, a chuckling Manfred said. I do think that engagement on social media by players and people close to players is important in todays world. I think that it brings attention to the sport at a point during the year when its our offseason and we have less going on.-The Cubs first World Series title since 1908 helped generate great ratings during the playoffs, and there is talk around the sport about how to build on the success from the postseason.Were not going to have the Cubs and 108 years every year, Manfred said. But I think there are lots of compelling baseball stories that can help us produce the kind of postseason popularity that we enjoyed this year.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap ' ' '