Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins
· Major League Baseball8 - 7
Torkelson homers twice against the Twins again, leading the Tigers to an 8-7 victory
Torkelson lifted Griffin Jax's 1-1 sweeper into the left-field seats at Target Field to give the Tigers a 6-4 lead in a four-run seventh inning, giving the second-year first baseman his fourth career multi-homer game.
His previous one came last Wednesday against the Twins in Detroit.
Torkelson, who also homered Tuesday night and almost had a third in the ninth inning Wednesday, leads the Tigers with 20 home runs. He's the seventh player in club history with that many during his age-23 season.
Relievers Beau Brieske, Tyler Holton, Alex Lange and Will Vest combined for 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Holton (2-2) earned the win with by striking out five in 2 1/3 perfect innings.
“It was going to take a lot of resources,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “When you use (that many) guys in the pen, coming out with a win, that’s huge.”
Jason Foley gave up back-to-back homers in the ninth, and Matt Wallner, who delivered Minnesota a victory Tuesday, had a drive that was caught on the left-field warning track.
Donovan Solano grounded into a double play to end the game.
Following their final game this season against divisional foe Detroit, the Twins (63-59) remain four games ahead of Cleveland for the AL Central lead. The Tigers — 8-5 against Minnesota in 2023 — are eight back of the Guardians.
Minnesota's Kenta Maeda gave up three or fewer runs for a 10th straight outing, tying Cleveland's Tanner Bibee for the longest active streak among AL starters. Maeda recorded six strikeouts and allowed three earned runs on seven hits, including Riley Greene's two-run homer to the right-center field second deck in the top of the third inning.
Two batters later, Torkelson smacked Maeda's first-pitch curveball into the left-field bleachers to make it 4-3.
Jax (5-7) took the loss, surrendering four earned runs on three hits — including Torkelson's second homer and Kerry Carpenter's solo shot a batter later — in the seventh.
“It becomes, probably, a little more frustrating, when you start the game well and you put some runs on the board,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “In the middle of the game, we kind of fell into a little bit of a lull. We didn’t do enough.”
Carpenter went 2-for-4 with an RBI, extending his career-best hitting streak to 12 games.
Tigers rookie starter Reese Olson gave up four earned runs on eight hits while throwing just 2 2/3 innings.
Minnesota's Eduardo Julien hit three singles. His bases-loaded hit to right field in the second inning scored a pair of runs, and Jorge Polanco hit an RBI sacrifice fly as the Twins took a 4-0 lead.
Olson was pulled for reliever Brieske, who struck out Joey Gallo with two outs and runners on second and third to keep Minnesota from extending its then one-run lead. Brieske gave up one hit and two walks in one inning before Holton came in and and retired all seven batters he faced.
That included a bases-loaded strikeout of Wallner to end the fourth.
“We’re all asked to do our job,” Holton said. “I came in in the middle of the inning, and to get out of the inning was a big, big moment for us. (We’ve) just got to give your team a chance that we can to win, and the bats are going to wake up at some point.”
Torkelson put it more succinctly.
“Holton saved us,” he said.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Tigers: RHP Spencer Turnbull, on the injured list since May 15 with neck discomfort, made a rehab start Tuesday with Triple-A Toledo, allowing six runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and a walk in five innings.
Twins: SS Carlos Correa sat out to take advantage of Minnesota's off day Thursday in letting a sore foot heal. Manager Rocco Baldelli said Correa woke up sore Wednesday after legging out an infield single in the Twins' 5-3 win the night before.
UP NEXT
Detroit heads to Cleveland for a four-game series against the Guardians starting Thursday. Tigers LHP Tarik Skubal is scheduled to start against Cleveland's RHP Xzavion Curry (3-1, 3.39 ERA)
The Twins are off Thursday, then host Pittsburgh for a three-game series Friday-Sunday. RHP Pablo Lopez (8-6, 3.66 ERA) will start for Minnesota and Pirates RHP Andre Jackson (0-0, 5.47).
How can I watch Detroit Tigers vs. Minnesota Twins?
- TV Channel: Tigers at Twins 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.tv.
- Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.
Matchup Prediction
Scoring Summary
9th Inning | Solano grounded into double play, shortstop to second to first, Lewis out at second. | |
9th Inning | Wallner flied out to left. | |
9th Inning | Lewis singled to center. | |
9th Inning | Kepler homered to right center (416 feet). | |
9th Inning | Polanco homered to center (429 feet), Julien scored. | |
9th Inning | Julien singled to left. |
Statistics
DET | MIN | |
---|---|---|
1 | Games Played | 1 |
1 | Team Games Played | 1 |
0 | Hit By Pitch | 0 |
9 | Ground Balls | 9 |
8 | Strikeouts | 11 |
8 | Runs Batted In | 7 |
0 | Sacrifice Hit | 0 |
12 | Hits | 13 |
1 | Stolen Bases | 2 |
3 | Walks | 4 |
0 | Catcher Interference | 0 |
8 | Runs | 7 |
1 | Ground Into Double Play | 1 |
1 | Sacrifice Flies | 1 |
36 | At Bats | 37 |
4 | Home Runs | 2 |
0 | Grand Slam Home Runs | 0 |
13 | Runners Left On Base | 16 |
1 | Triples | 0 |
1 | Game Winning RBIs | 0 |
0 | Intentional Walks | 0 |
1 | Doubles | 1 |
20 | Fly Balls | 18 |
1 | Caught Stealing | 0 |
187 | Pitches | 162 |
0 | Games Started | 0 |
1 | Pinch At Bats | 0 |
0 | Pinch Hits | 0 |
0.0 | Player Rating | 0.0 |
1 | Is Qualified | 1 |
1 | Is Qualified In Steals | 1 |
27 | Total Bases | 20 |
40 | Plate Appearances | 42 |
648.0 | Projected Home Runs | 324.0 |
6 | Extra Base Hits | 3 |
9.0 | Runs Created | 8.1 |
.333 | Batting Average | .351 |
.000 | Pinch Hit Average | .000 |
.750 | Slugging Percentage | .541 |
.500 | Secondary Average | .351 |
.375 | On Base Percentage | .405 |
1.125 | OBP Pct + SLG Pct | .945 |
0.5 | Ground To Fly Ball Ratio | 0.5 |
9.0 | Runs Created Per 27 Outs | 8.4 |
61.5 | Batter Rating | 51.0 |
9.0 | At Bats Per Home Run | 18.5 |
0.50 | Stolen Base Percentage | 1.00 |
4.68 | Pitches Per Plate Appearance | 3.86 |
.417 | Isolated Power | .189 |
0.38 | Walk To Strikeout Ratio | 0.36 |
.075 | Walks Per Plate Appearance | .095 |
.167 | Secondary Average Minus Batting Average | .000 |
16.0 | Runs Produced | 14.0 |
1.0 | Runs Ratio | 1.0 |
0.8 | Patience Ratio | 0.6 |
0.3 | Balls In Play Average | 0.5 |
107.0 | MLB Rating | 99.0 |
0.0 | Offensive Wins Above Replacement | 0.0 |
0.0 | Wins Above Replacement | 0.0 |
Game Information
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Attendance: 26,716 | Capacity:
2024 American League Central Standings
TEAM | W | L | PCT | GB | STRK |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cleveland | 92 | 69 | .571 | - | L2 |
Kansas City | 86 | 76 | .531 | 6.5 | W1 |
Detroit | 86 | 76 | .531 | 6.5 | L2 |
Minnesota | 82 | 80 | .506 | 10.5 | L4 |
Chicago | 41 | 121 | .253 | 51.5 | W2 |