MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Twins right-hander Joe Ryan, one of the best up-and-coming pitchers in baseball, has owned the Detroit Tigers over his first two seasons in the big leagues.
Entering Friday, the 27-year-old had a 2.54 ERA — allowing eight runs in 28⅓ innings — in five starts against the Tigers.
A different version of the Tigers, a better version, showed up to Target Field on Friday and crushed Ryan for six runs across seven innings. A five-run third inning, fueled by Javier Báez’s fifth home run of the season, propelled the Tigers to a 7-1 victory in the second of four games in the series.
“He played a huge role today,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said of Báez. “He came up with probably the biggest swing of the night against Joe Ryan with a two-strike homer. It’s a big contribution from him, but I think he also thrives on what his teammates are doing. He doesn’t need to carry the whole workload, but when he does things like tonight, it helps us separate, and we’re a completely different team.”
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The Tigers (29-39) won back-to-back games for the first time since May 27-28 against the Chicago White Sox.
The offense has scored at least five runs in each of the past six games.
After falling behind 1-0, the Tigers responded by scoring five times in the third. Ryan retired the first six batters he faced, then allowed four straight singles to Matt Vierling, Eric Haase, Jonathan Schoop and Zach McKinstry.
The single from Schoop drove in a run to tie the game, 1-1, and although Spencer Torkelson hit an infield fly with the bases loaded, Kerry Carpenter followed with a sacrifice fly to put the Tigers ahead, 2-1.
Báez then blasted Ryan’s two-strike, two-out splitter for a three-run home run to left field, just inside the foul pole. His fifth homer of the season, and his second homer in June, extended the Tigers’ advantage to 5-1.
“It’s only been a couple of games, but I feel like we’re just playing our game back to what we were earlier in the year,” Vierling said. “It was just a little skid. I almost feel like we know how good we can be, and we know there’s a lot of talent that can really play baseball. We know it’s in there. We just got to find it, and I feel like we’re finding it again.”
In his past 10 games, Báez is hitting .302 (13-for-43) with four extra-base hits, one walk and 14 strikeouts.
Matt Vierling stays hot
In the fourth inning, Vierling added to Ryan’s troubles with one of the most impressive home runs in his 202-game career in the big leagues. The 26-year-old blasted a third-pitch slider into the second deck in left-center field.
The ball — hit with a 104 mph exit velocity — traveled 428 feet.
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The solo home run from Vierling put the Tigers ahead, 6-1.
“He’s got a couple of homers,” Hinch said, “but also some really key base hits the other way and on the ground, and he’s played good defense. It’s great to have him back. It balances out our lineup a ton and gives another good at-bat.”
Ryan collected himself and lasted seven innings, throwing 74 of 99 pitches for strikes while collecting seven strikeouts. The Tigers beat him without drawing a walk.
In the ninth, Vierling hit a third-pitch slider from right-handed reliever Josh Winder for his second home run of the game, making the score 7-1. He produced a 105.6 mph exit velocity and sent the ball 430 feet to left field.
Once again, it landed in the second deck.
“Not sitting on (sliders), just trying to hit something hard,” Vierling said after the second multi-homer game of his career. “I was looking for a fastball for the most part, but I was able to adjust and hit both those balls, so it was good.”
Vierling, one of seven Tigers to record a hit, finished 3-for-4 with two homers. He returned from the injured list June 12 after recovering from low back soreness. Since then, Vierling is hitting .529 (9-for-17) with three home runs, two walks and three strikeouts in five games.
He has a .268 batting average with seven homers in 51 games in his first season with the Tigers.
Oh, that bullpen!
The Tigers navigated Friday’s bullpen-only game with six relievers, beginning with right-hander Will Vest in the first inning.
Vest, making his second start as an opener in the past week, retired all three batters he faced, including strikeouts of Edouard Julien and Byron Buxton, on 11 pitches. He threw nine strikes.
“He did a nice job of setting the tonight against quality hitters,” Hinch said.
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The next five relievers: Right-hander Mason Englert (two innings), left-hander Tyler Holton (2⅔ innings), righty Brendan White (1⅓ innings) and righty José Cisnero (one inning) and lefty Chasen Shreve (one inning).
The Twins scored their only run in the second inning when Alex Kirilloff fell behind 0-2 in the count but hit a solo home run off Englert’s fourth-pitch slider at the bottom of the strike zone.
Cisnero, who has a 2.45 ERA, struck out two batters in the eighth inning.
“I think everybody (gets credit),” Hinch said. “In games like that, where you get positive at-bats all the way through the order, tremendous pitching from the beginning of the game through the entirety of the game, and some really big two-out hits and some balls out of the ballpark. A lot to like today.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.