Minnesota Twins Defeat Justin Verlander and Detroit Tigers

Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

A Jason Kubel outfield miscue in the ninth inning ruined a perfect line of mine comparing baseball to soccer. Kubel playing defense ruins everything including all of my fun. At least he is technically an outfielder playing the outfield.

The Minnesota Twins flew into Detroit to take on the Tigers and of course they drew the ever so mighty Justin Verlander for their first matchup of the series. The funny thing is that Verlander didn’t win or get a no-decision, he got a loss. A 2-1 loss against the Twins!

Verlander faced  off against Phil Hughes and both matched each other throughout the night. Both pitched seven innings of work, Hughes gave up eight hits and Verlander gave up seven, Hughes notched two strikeouts and Verlander got five, Hughes gave up no runs but Verlander gave up two.

The Twins got the two runs on one swing and that’s all the scoring they needed. Kurt Suzuki hit a  two-out two-run RBI single to center that scored the freshly called up Chris Parmelee and Danny Santana. The Detroit Tigers tried to rally against Twins’ closer Glen Perkins and scored one on a Alex Avila double that bounced out of left fielder Jason Kubel’s glove. Perkins shut the door then, getting two of his outs on the inning via the strikeout.

Minnesota claimed victory for the evening without hitting for any extra-bases. Brian Dozier, Kurt Suzuki and Chris Parmelee were the only Twins to notch multiple hits on the night with two each. Dozier also drew two walks on the night.

Phil Hughes now has a 4-1 record for the Twins. Glen Perkins has nine saves on the year.

The Twins and Tigers face off again tomorrow afternoon.