Detroit — It was a snapshot of what the foundation of the next playoff-contending Tigers team might look like.
Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson and Kerry Carpenter, all drafted and home-grown, combined to hit four home runs and drive in seven runs in the Tigers’ come-from-behind 8-7 win over the Twins at Target Field on Wednesday afternoon.
What a show.
Greene had a single, triple, a 448-foot home run and a sacrifice fly with four RBI and two runs scored. Torkelson had a pair of solo home runs, a 432-footer and a 405-footer, both off breaking balls and both into the second deck in left field. And Carpenter had a single and an opposite-field solo homer.
Torkelson has a team-high 21 home runs, making him one of seven Tigers hitters who have hit at least 20 dingers in their age-23 season or younger. He also leads the team with 66 RBI.
Akil Baddoo, who turned 25 on Wednesday, celebrated with a single, three walks, a stolen base and three runs scored.
All that firepower came after the Twins broke on top, 4-0, against rookie starter Reese Olson.
Olson allowed just one run and six hits in his first two starts against the Twins this season, covering 11.1 innings with 17 strikeouts and four walks. This one went differently.
He only lasted 2.2 innings Wednesday and was tagged with four runs and eight hits. His slider wasn’t nearly as crisp as it was in those previous starts. Also, the Twins made a commitment to attack pitches down in the zone.
Royce Lewis ripped an RBI double in the first inning and then the Twins strung four singles together in a three-run second.
After leaving runners at second base in the first two innings against Twins starter Kenta Maeda, the Tigers got back in the game with the long ball.
As he did in Detroit last week, Greene hit a monster home run off Maeda. In fact, he’s now hit the two farthest homers in his big-league career against Maeda: 453 feet at Comerica Park and then, Wednesday, a 448-footer into the second deck in right-center.
Greene’s two-run homer was followed one batter later by a 432-foot shot into the second deck in left by Torkelson.
That skinny Twins lead held up into the seventh inning, thanks to a pair of Tigers relievers who got huge outs.
The Twins loaded the bases with two outs against Olson in the bottom of the inning.
Manager AJ Hinch went to right-hander Beau Brieske against left-handed-hitting Joey Gallo, knowing Brieske’s changeup would be a good tool to use against the big-swinging, fastball-hunting slugger. Sure enough, Brieske punched out Gallo throwing four straight changeups, the last a swinging strike on a 3-2 pitch.
Brieske needed a similar bailout in the fourth, after he loaded the bases with a single and a pair of walks. Hinch called on lefty Tyler Holton to face lefty-swinging Matt Wallner, who hit the game-flipping grand slam on Tuesday.
Holton struck him out with a slider.
Holton retired all seven hitters he faced, punching out five of them. Since giving up the game-winning home run to Garrett Cooper in Miami, Holton has allowed one hit in 7.2 innings with 12 strikeouts and one walk.
And that set the stage for the barrage in the seventh against right-handed reliever Griffin Jax.
Baddoo started the rally with a one-out walk and scored on Greene’s triple to the gap in right-center. With two outs, Torkelson and Carpenter went back-to-back.
It was the fourth multi-homer game for Torkelson this season.
After Holton, Alex Lange and Will Vest kept the Twins off the board, the Twins made it interesting against right-hander Jason Foley in the ninth.
Jorge Polanco, two-run shot, and Max Kepler hit back-to-back homers and the Twins were within a run with nobody out. After Lewis singled, Wallner hit a ball that Baddoo caught at the wall in left. That was the last gasp. Foley got Donovan Solano to hit into a game-ending 6-4-3 double-play.
On deck: Guardians
▶ Series: Four games at Progressive Field, Cleveland
▶ First pitch: Thursday – 7:15 p.m.; Friday-Saturday – 7:10 p.m.; Sunday – 1:40 p.m.
▶ TV/radio: Thursday – FOX, 97.1; Friday-Sunday – Bally Sports Detroit / 97.1
▶ Probables: Thursday – LHP Tarik Skubal (2-2, 4.18) vs. RHP Xzavion Curry (3-1, 3.39); Friday – RHP Matt Manning (4-4, 4.60) vs. RHP Gavin Williams (1-3, 2.80); Saturday – LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (8-6, 3.13) vs. RHP Tanner Bibee (9-2, 2.90); Sunday – RHP Alex Faedo (2-4, 5.16) vs. LHP Logan Allen (6-5, 3.33).
▶ Skubal, Tigers: He’s coming off a grinder of a start against the Red Sox. His stuff was good but the pesky Red Sox kept pecking away at him. He ended up allowing five runs (four earned) and seven hits in 5.1 innings. The big blow was a three-run homer by left-handed-swinging Triston Casas — the first homer Skubal had allowed in 58.1 innings, dating to July 8, 2022.
▶ Curry, Guardians: He’s been mostly used as a reliever or opener, but his last two outings have been five-inning starts, and the last one against the Rays was rough (five runs in five innings). His hard-hit rate (47%) is in the bottom 5% in baseball. He throws mostly sliders and curves off a 93-mph fastball and doesn’t miss a lot of bats (16% strikeout rate).
Twitter: @cmccosky