CHICAGO — Justin Verlander always picks up the victory. Victor Martinez always gets the big hit. The Detroit Tigers always win.

Those three statements are not entirely true, but that certainly seems to be the case lately.

It was again Tuesday night, when Verlander picked up his 23rd victory, Martinez hit a three-run home run and the Tigers shut out the Chicago White Sox 5-0.

Verlander (23-5) has earned victories in 11 consecutive starts and has more wins than any Tigers pitcher has had in a single season since Joe Coleman went 23-15 in 1973.

The Tigers also won their 11th in a row. That makes the current winning streak the longest since they won 11 consecutive games in September of the 1968 season.

“They’re doing a good job,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “They’re into it. I think they’re having fun with it. But the most important thing to me is, up to this point, they’re being very professional about it, and that’s what I like. They’re going about their business like pros.”

The Tigers will go for their 12th consecutive victory in the series finale today. The last time the Tigers won more than 11 consecutive games was in 1934. They won 14 consecutive games at one point that season.

The Tigers have won 21 times in the past 25 games and continue to leave the White Sox and the Indians in their dust in the race to win the division. The Tigers lead those two teams by 12 1/2 games and now have the largest lead in their division of any first-place team in the majors.

Even if the Indians go on a winning streak, the Tigers could wrap up the division as early as Saturday with four more victories. If they win their next two and the Indians lose the next two, the Tigers would wrap it up Thursday night.

The day Sports Illustrated debuted its latest issue with Verlander on the cover next to “MVP” in large letters, the Tigers ace threw seven shutout innings. He allowed six hits, walked two and struck out six.

Still, Verlander — as he has after many of his recent starts — was critical of his outing and said he still has things to work on. But he said he feels as if he is moving back toward getting in the groove he was in mid-season.

“My location on my fastball wasn’t great tonight, but it was really close,” he said. “I really felt like I was in a rhythm where I was just off. It hasn’t quite felt like that the last four or five starts. So I think today was a step in the right direction.”

Verlander moved into seventh place on the franchise’s career strikeouts list with 1,203, passing Dizzy Trout (1,199) and Hooks Dauss (1,201) during the game.

Verlander started the season 15th among Tigers pitchers in career strikeouts and — barring an injury — should move into fifth on the list by the end of the 2012 season.

The White Sox had their chances Tuesday night. They stranded one in the first and two in the second, then loaded the bases in the fourth inning. But Verlander caught Gordon Beckham looking at a nasty curveball for strike three to end that inning and strand three more White Sox runners.

“He threw a couple unhittable pitches,” Leyland said with a grin when someone mentioned that curveball.

The Tigers scored a single run in the second, and Verlander made certain the 1-0 lead stood up until the Tigers tacked on three runs in the top of the sixth. Gavin Floyd intentionally walked Miguel Cabrera with one out and Will Rhymes on third, but Martinez made them pay with a home run — his 11th of the season — to right field. That made it 4-0.

“He made some tough pitches to me,” Martinez said. “He just left one up over the plate and I just put a good swing on it.”

Magic number: 4

Any combination of Tigers wins and Cleveland Indians losses that add up to four AND any combination of Tigers wins and White Sox losses that add up to three will make the Tigers division champions.

Fuzzy math: If the Tigers win their next two games and the Indians lose their next two, the Tigers would clinch the division Thursday night at Oakland. Even if it doesn't happen that soon, it seems likely the Tigers will wrap things up sometime during their four-game weekend series against the A's.

Martinez entered the game hitting .394 with runners in scoring position this season, which puts him among the league leaders.

“It’s huge,” Verlander said of the home run. “One-nothing is a lot different than 4-0. It’s not too hard to score one run, but four is a little bit different.”

In his previous start, Verlander earned the win after Martinez hit a grand slam to put the Tigers in the lead after Verlander had thrown his final pitch of the game. When Martinez returned to the dugout, Verlander gave him a couple celebratory slaps to the face.

This time, the celebration was more subdued.

“It wasn’t quite the same,” Verlander said. “We made eye contact, but it was different last time because I was out of the game. We were a little more animated. This time I still had some work to do.”

Verlander stayed focused on the task at hand, just like the rest of his teammates.

“That’s the one thing I’m really impressed with, the way they’re handling it,” Leyland said. “They’re just going about their business and, right now, winning games. That’s what it’s all about.”

-- Follow Chris Iott on Twitter.