The Tigers were on familiar turf tonight to start their series against the Twins, as Tarik Skubal squared off against Simeon Woods Richardson in Minneapolis. It was a pretty evenly matched game for the most part.
In the first both the Tigers and the Twins went three-up, three-down.
Onto the second and Justyn-Henry Malloy got a two-out single, but was the Tigers’ only baserunner for the inning. In the home half Skubal issued a two-out walk to Byron Buxton, but the Twins weren’t able to bring him home.
The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the top of the third. In the bottom half, Skubal struggled slightly. Kyle Farmer got a one-out single, then a Manuel Margot single followed. With two outs, a Royce Lewis double scored both baserunners and put the Twins up 2-0.
In the fourth the Tigers settled for only a two-out Gio Urshela walk. The Twins were 1-2-3.
Justyn-Henry Malloy started the fifth off with a solo home run to give the Tigers their first run of the night. Akil Baddoo then singled, and Woods Richardson got an error on an attempt to pick-off the baserunner. Ryan Kreidler hit a two-run homer and suddenly the Tigers had the lead. That lead was short-lived as Manuel Margot hit a home run in the bottom of the inning with two outs.
In the sixth, Colt Keith got a two-out walk, which chased Woods Richardson from the game, and Jorge Alcala came in for relief to get the last out. The Twins went 1-2-3 in the bottom half. That was the end of the night for Skubal, who went 6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR on 94 pitches. Aside from one rough inning, it was actually a very good outing.
The Tigers went down in order in the top of the seventh. Will Vest was the Tigers’ reliever for the bottom half and immediately got into trouble. Byron Buxton hit a ground-rule double, and he then advanced to third on a wild pitch from Vest. Ryan Jeffers reached on a fielder’s choice that allowed Buxton to score, but then Jeffers was absentmindedly off base at first and Jake Rogers threw to first to get the tagout. Willi Castro got a walk, but was then caught stealing by Rogers. Kyle Farmer followed that with a walk, and that was it for Vest. Beau Brieske came on next, Manuel Margot was initially called safe on a single but the Tigers requested a review and the call was overturned to end the inning.
Griffin Jax came in for relief for the Twins, and gave up a one-out single to Riley Greene. Two outs quickly followed. In the bottom half, Carlos Correa hit a solo home run to start things off. Jose Miranda got a one-out single, followed by a Carlos Santana walk. Then Byron Buxton walked to load the bases. Brieske managed to pitch out of the jam, however, giving up only the one run in the inning leaving the Twins up 5-3.
Jhoan Duran was in for the Twins to close things out. The Tigers put up little in the way of a fight, and the Twins got the win.
Final: Twins 5, Tigers 3