Minneapolis — You can look it a couple of ways.
The Tigers drew nine walks Saturday. They banged out 12 hits. They had 21 at-bats with runners in scoring position. But they left 14 runners on base, including stranding the bases loaded with no outs in the fifth, and had to scratch and claw and hold on for an 8-5 win over the Minnesota Twins at Target Field.
You can focus on the frustration of going 4 for 21 with runners in scoring position. Or you can focus on the bountiful supply of quality at-bats, the fact that they scored in five of the nine innings and, in the end, won the game and extended their lead in the Central Division to 8.5 games.
“We won a four-game series and this is just the third game,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “And our at-bats were really good. I know there’s a lot of focus on the runners left on and that’s part of it. But if you give yourself enough of a puncher’s chance you can deliver a blow. And we did that at the end.”
The clutch hits came late and were produced by Trey Sweeney and Jahmai Jones.
With the Tigers down 3-2 after five innings, Sweeney led off the top of the sixth with a double off the wall in right-center off reliever Travis Adams and scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly by Riley Greene.
In the seventh, Wenceel Perez led off with a double and went to third on a ground out by Zach McKinstry. After Dillon Dingler worked a 12-pitch walk, Sweeney, with the infield pulled in, slammed a ball, 100.6 mph off his bat, that went through third baseman Royce Lewis for an RBI single to break the tie.
“I don’t think there was any frustration,” Sweeney said of the missed opportunities. “I think it’s just the game. We didn’t get the big hit. But obviously we kept fighting and that was big for us and it paid off in the end.”
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE TIGERS’ 8-5 VICTORY OVER THE TWINS
The Twins brought in lefty Kody Funderburk to face Colt Keith. AJ Hinch countered with right-handed pinch-hitter Jones. With two strikes, Jones lined an RBI double and Sweeney ended up scoring on a wild pitch to make it 6-3.
“We didn’t get discouraged by not bringing in the runs earlier,” Sweeney said. “We just kept going and kept putting pressure on them and that helped us scratch a few at the end.”
In past years, maybe even at the end of last year, the Tigers weren’t necessarily built to survive a game like this. They seem to be now.
“There’s been a lot of games this year where we’ve pieced together at-bats that handed the at-bat to the next guy in a better spot than it was for your at-bat,” Hinch said. “We absolutely have the team offense to put together at-bats and put together innings and apply a lot of different types of pressure.”
The 6-3 lead seemed cushy at that point. It was not.
Tigers starter Casey Mize, who struck out a career-high tying 10 batters, exited the game with a runner on and one out in the bottom of the seventh. Lefty Tyler Holton promptly gave up a double to lefty Matt Wallner.
After a run scored on a ground out, Holton walked Lewis.
It looked like Holton was going to get a bailout from first baseman Spencer Torkelson, who made an outstanding diving stop of a hard-hit ball down the line by lefty James Outman.
But Holton was unable to catch the throw at first base and was charged with an error, allowing Wallner to score and it was a 6-5 game.
“It was a weird game in general,” said Mize, who after facing the minimum through four innings gave up a fast three runs in the fifth. “But it kept staying close, right? We kept leaving guys on base and they didn’t leave anybody on base. They scored.”
Clinging to a one-run lead, reliever Will Vest, who stranded the tying run at third base in the seventh, struck out Brooks Lee with the bases loaded to end the eighth. Pivotal.
“I felt like we were going to push through and take the lead,” said reliever Kyle Finnegan, who worked a scoreless ninth to earn his fourth save as a Tiger. “You can just feel it was that type of game. Vest got out there and had a little bit of traffic but he bears down and gets out of it. That was huge.
“It was nice to have a clean inning in the ninth. Just a really good team win.”
The Twins gifted the Tigers a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth, which eased the stress on Finnegan. They parlayed a three-base throwing error on reliever Justin Topa into a pair of runs. Jones, again, delivered his second RBI knock.
“I think it’s a great trait that a lot of our guys have,” Sweeney said. “We’re never out of a game. And when we weren’t getting the big hit, we still had the lead or were tied. That’s encouraging in itself, to not play our best and still be in control of the game the whole time.”
If the Tigers win Sunday, it will be their first four-game sweep of the Twins since May 1983.
“Our guys are settling in and there is a lot of belief that we can win every night,” Hinch said.
@cmccosky