CHICAGO -- The Detroit Tigers remain in control of their own destiny in the American League Central Division race. Max Scherzer still seems to have the inside track on winning his first Cy Young Award.

But neither the Tigers nor Scherzer did anything to advance their cause Monday night in

.

The Tigers were outplayed by the last-place White Sox and saw their division lead over the Cleveland Indians shrink to 4 1/2 games. Scherzer was outdone by White Sox left-hander Chris Sale and has pitched just nine innings combined in his most recent two starts, both losses.

Tigers fans might be driving with one eye on the Indians in the rearview mirror, but Tigers manager Jim Leyland said he's not going about his business in that manner.

"We've got to take care of our own business," he said. "If we do that, we'll be fine. If we don't, we won't win. It's pretty simple. I don't mean that disrespectful to Cleveland or Kansas City. I don't mean it that way at all. What I mean is, I don't worry about the other teams. I worry about my team."

The two absolute constants for the Tigers throughout the ups and downs of the 2013 season have been Scherzer and Miguel Cabrera. Scherzer did not pitch well, not well enough to give the Tigers a chance to win against Sale, who was excellent.

Scherzer has had a bit of a rough go of it recently. He had a 2.73 ERA through 26 starts this season but has allowed 11 earned runs in 16 innings in his three most recent outings. He is 0-2 with a 6.19 ERA during that stretch and has seen his ERA climb back above 3.00.

"It was frustrating," said Scherzer, who allowed five runs, four of them earned, in just four innings of work, which made it his shortest outing of the season. "It was not an effective start for me. I just made too many mistakes. I left the ball up, elevated the ball, the ball was too high, I wasn't able to get it down and it cost me."

Cabrera didn't hang around long enough to make an impact in this one. He was ejected during his first at-bat of the game. But he has been battling injuries for some time now and has struggled at the plate in recent weeks. Cabrera has not had an extra-base hit since Aug. 26 and is 5-for-22 (.227) during that stretch.

Cabrera is running out of time to win the Triple Crown, but he is still the clear leader in his attempt to repeat as the American League Most Valuable Player. Scherzer, despite his 19-2 record, has less of a stranglehold on what is an extremely tight and very interesting race to win the AL Cy Young Award. Sale is a contender. So is Yu Darvish as well as a handful of others.

But the focus on individual achievements has faded a bit as the Tigers' lead in the division has shrunk. Detroit held a commanding 8 1/2-game lead over the Indians on Sept. 2 but have seen that lead shrink by four games in just more than a week. The Tigers have won just one of their past six games.

"Right now, we're in a little bit of a funk and we're not doing enough things to win the game," Leyland. "It's simple. I throw us all into the same barrel. You've got to manage better, you've got to pitch better and you've got to play better. We're all in this together. We're a tough team. We're a resilient team. I have a lot of confidence in this team, so we'll see how it plays out."

The Tigers are still the most talented team in the Central Division. They should make the playoffs. But they need Scherzer and Cabrera to return to form. They might manage to hold off the Indians for the division title without strong finishes by those two, but they cannot win it all if Scherzer and Cabrera are not at their best.

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