Minnesota Twins: Hit parade leads Twins to rout over Tigers
By Chris Schad
The Minnesota Twins racked up 14 hits as they picked up a blowout victory in the series opener against the Detroit Tigers.
The Minnesota Twins are starting to build momentum heading into the final month of the season. If Friday night’s series opener against the Detroit Tigers is any indication of what this team can do once the calendar turns to September, opposing teams could be in real trouble.
While the Twins have dominated opposing teams thanks to their muscle at the plate, their last two wins have come via death by a 1,000 singles. OK, perhaps the Twins didn’t rack up 1,000 hits in their victory over the Tigers, but thanks to several balls that found grass, the Twins were able to accumulate 14 hits in their 13-5 victory.
Using a patient approach against Tigers starter Edwin Jackson, Nelson Cruz and Eddie Rosario would collect RBI singles to open the scoring for the Twins in the first inning. With Jackson unable to get an out, the Twins would get two more runs on a fielder’s choice by Miguel Sano and a ground out by Luis Arraez to jump out to a 4-0 lead.
Kyle Gibson would battle through a tough start to the game in the bottom of the first, giving up an RBI double to Ronny Rodriguez and an RBI single to Dawel Lugo to cut the lead down to 4-2.
The Twins would quickly make that up in the top of the second thanks to a Max Kepler RBI double and a sacrifice fly from Cruz to jump ahead 6-2. After another ineffective inning from Gibson cut the lead back down 6-3, the Twins would blow the game open adding two runs in the top of the third and four in the top of the fourth highlighted by C.J. Cron‘s 23rd home run of the year to take a 9-3 lead.
Gibson would settle down after allowing John Hicks‘ 11th home run of the season in the bottom of the fourth and would battle through five innings while allowing four earned runs.
The Twins were on cruise control from there, adding another run from a Rosario single in the eighth inning and enjoying a strong night from the bullpen outside of a Rodriguez homer off Sam Dyson.
Regardless, the 13-5 victory was huge for the Twins, who added to their lead in the American League Central making it 4 1/2 games after the Cleveland Indians lost to the Tampa Bay Rays. The win also ran the Twins’ winning streak up to six games in a crucial part of the season.
The Twins will try to clinch the series on Saturday night when they send Martin Perez to the mound opposite Matthew Boyd for a first pitch of 5:10 p.m. CT.