DETROIT — The newest members of the Detroit Tigers pitching staff took their lumps in a 6-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night at Comerica Park.
The Tigers (66-49) and Twins (53-60) have split the first two games of the series and will play the rubber match on Wednesday afternoon.
Tigers starter Chris Paddack, acquired from the Twins just days ago, faced his old teammates in his second start with Detroit.
It wasn’t a warm reunion.
The Twins greeted him with three runs in the first inning on back-to-back doubles by Ryan Jeffers and Kody Clemens and then a two-run homer by rookie Luke Keaschall — the first of his MLB career.
Trevor Larnach added a solo homer off Paddack in the fourth, and Tigers manager A.J. Hinch didn’t send him back out for the fifth. Paddack didn’t walk or strike out a batter in his four innings of work.
“You can say that a team knows me, but at the end of the day, I’m always going to pitch to my strengths,” Paddack said. “I was just a little disappointed with not getting any swing-and-miss at all. That’s something I’ve been trying to get back to. Whenever I’m able to get some swing-and-miss, good things happen.”
Instead, reliever Rafael Montero — acquired from the Atlanta Braves at the deadline — made his Tigers’ debut.
That didn’t go smoothly either. Montero gave up two runs on two hits and a walk.
The Tigers didn’t record their first strikeout until rookie Troy Melton, making the first relief appearance of his career, ended the seventh inning by fanning Jeffers.
Melton pitched two scoreless innings but walked two batters in the seventh. Luke Jackson, making his third appearance as a Tiger, also walked two.
Tigers pitchers combined to walk five and strike out only two of the 39 batters they faced.
Matt Vierling was inches away from two catches in center field. Instead, both balls went over his head, leading to doubles and run-scoring innings for the Twins.
“We’ll look at his jump and the route,” Hinch said. “The funky route means his first read was not the correct read, but I liked that he went after it on his first read. He’s got to make that first judgment right away. He just misjudged them.”
The Tigers got their only run in the third inning against Twins starter Zebby Matthews, stringing together doubles by Colt Keith and Kerry Carpenter. They had traffic in all five of Matthews’ innings but failed to push across another run.
Jahmai Jones cut the deficit to three in the eighth with a two-out, two-run triple off reliever Cole Sands.
Home plate umpire Chad Fairchild left the game in the seventh inning after taking a foul tip off the mask. The game was briefly delayed while first base umpire Roberto Ortiz suited up in protective gear and took over behind the plate.
Injury watch: Tigers second baseman Gleyber Torres was scratched from the starting lineup before the game due to left forearm tightness.
“He said he’s felt it for a couple of days,” Hinch said. “He didn’t really love the way that he could swing, and so he thought one at-bat off the bench, if we needed it, was better. Once he said that, I took him out of the lineup and pretty much made him unavailable. It’s hard to go from not feeling good swinging to getting on time for 95 to 98 (mph) in the back of their bullpen. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. I hope to play him.”
Up next: The Tigers and Twins wrap up their three-game series on Wednesday at 1:10 p.m.
Right-hander Jack Flaherty (6-10, 4.36 ERA) will pitch for the Tigers.
The Twins have not yet announced a starter and may opt for a bullpen day. Their originally scheduled starter, Simeon Woods Richardson, recently went on the injured list with an illness.
Tigers starter Jack Flaherty didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning in his last start on Aug. 1 at Philadelphia. He allowed one run in six innings, striking out seven.
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