MINNEAPOLIS — Joe Mauer broke Tigers fans’ hearts many times over his stellar 15-year career with the Twins, batting .305 with 18 homers and 122 RBIs in 216 career games against Detroit. On Sunday, Spencer Torkelson — like Mauer, a former No. 1 overall Draft pick — broke the plaque honoring Mauer’s retired number.
It wasn’t intentional: the Tigers slugger crushed a third-inning foul ball off Twins starter Louie Varland at 109.8 mph into Target Field’s left-field pavilion, taking a chunk off the outline surrounding the number 7 hanging on the face above the second deck. He had forgotten that was Mauer’s number until the Twins fans who idolize their native son gave him a not-too-subtle reminder.
“They were booing me,” Torkelson said with a laugh. “That was messed up. I mean, he’s the one that hung that slider, right?”
Twins fans loved the called third strike that followed. They were quiet when Torkelson straightened out his swing his next time up and crushed another hanging slider 419 feet into the left-field seats for a go-ahead two-run homer, followed immediately by Kerry Carpenter’s blast, part of a five-run fifth inning that became the difference in a 6-4 win over the Twins.
The accidental vandalism might well have been a metaphor for the Tigers’ visit this weekend. They’d won one series here since the start of 2018, and that required a 17-14 win in the rubber match to take two out of three two summers ago. This finale became nearly as wild once Jason Foley inherited a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the eighth inning from a bewilderingly wild Alex Lange. But when Foley retired ex-teammate Willi Castro to complete a two-inning, four-strikeout save, he finished off a series win that included victories in two bullpen games and a comeback win in another.
“We were in position to win four out of four; we won three out of four. I love that part,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “Obviously this is not an easy place to come and play; we have not played well every time we’ve come here.”
This was the type of series Tigers fans were eagerly anticipating a few weeks ago, when Detroit was within a game of Minnesota for the AL Central lead. A nine-game losing streak and injuries to Riley Greene and Eduardo Rodriguez provided a brutal reality check after that, but this series was a reminder of the type of baseball the injury-riddled Tigers — now five games back of the Twins — are still capable of playing.
“We didn’t have the last 12 games in the back of our minds,” Torkelson said. “We were just focusing on the present. They have a really good team. We just played a little bit better.”
For all the rough stretches, the Tigers are 12-8 against the AL Central. With six more division games coming at Comerica Park — three against the last-place Royals, followed by three more against these Twins — the Tigers have a chance to build on this momentum and chip away at their deficit. They could get reliever Beau Brieske back from the injured list next week, and will likely get rehabbing starters Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning back within the next few weeks, letting their bullpen get back to standard operations after a heavy workload over the past several days.
Said catcher Eric Haase: “As far as we’re concerned, the standings mean nothing to us. There’s still three months of baseball left. Just try to keep winning series and keep our heads down.”
As critical as the bullpen was this weekend, the offensive revival could be the biggest takeaway from the series. After scoring just eight runs over their first six games this month, and suffering three shutouts in eight games, the offense has found a way to fill the gaping hole left by Greene’s absence.
Torkelson is 10-for-33 with three doubles, three homers and eight RBIs in eight games since moving up to second in the lineup. Carpenter is batting .400 (14-for-35) since his return from injury, including his third three-hit game on Sunday. Javier Báez, whose RBI triple opened the scoring, is batting .310 (13-for-42) with two triples, two homers and eight RBIs over his last 10 games.
“It is good to stand up for yourself, playing better, and our offense has certainly perked up a little bit,” Hinch said. “Again, don’t count your wins too fast; we’ll see these guys again next weekend.”