Detroit — After scoring just one run in Friday’s loss to the AL Central foes, the Tigers bounced back with a dominant 10-5 victory over the Twins on Saturday afternoon, continuing their stretch as American League’s best team through 84 games.
It was an offensive clinic from the Tigers (52-32), as they scored at least one run for seven straight innings and had 15 total hits. With Kerry Carpenter in the third, then Gleyber Torres in the fourth, followed by Riley Greene in the fifth, and finally Zach McKinstry in the sixth, the Tigers hit home runs in four straight innings.
McKinstry led by finishing 3-for-4 with a solo home run and a sacrifice fly, playing in the shortstop position for this game. He was one of five Tigers with multiple hits, with Carpenter finishing 2-for-4 and Greene going 3-for-5.
Torres’ homer was the biggest of the day, however. The second baseman swung on the first pitch, hitting a high fastball deep to left-center field for his ninth home run of the season and improving his chances of an All-Star starting nod. The two-run homer gave the Tigers a 5-2 lead after four innings.
It’s no surprise that three homers came from lefties, with the Tigers teeing off on Bailey Ober for 11 total hits, seven runs, and four home runs against the Twins starter. Ober had given the Tigers trouble throughout the years, but it seemed that everything clicked for the bats today.
“That guy’s been hard on us, we’ve faced him a lot over the years, and I know he’s battled some inconsistencies this year but when I see him out there, I know he can do a lot of different things and disrupt timing. And I thought we hung in there early on,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said.
“He was getting through his outing sort of methodically convincing his pitches. And then, (Carpenter) got to him, Riley got to him, Gleyber got the extra at-bat against him, and we look up and we did a lot of damage against him.”
It wasn’t just the bats that showed up. After giving up a two-run homer to Byron Buxton in the top of the third, Casey Mize allowed just three hits and one walk to the next 16 batters he faced, finishing with five strikeouts and two earned runs in 6⅔ innings against the Twins (40-43) for his eighth victory of the season.
“I love when Casey’s on the mound, because I know he has a plan. I know he’s going to do everything in his power to execute it. And today he was pretty locked in mentally to give us a lot of innings,” Hinch said.
Mize already has the most wins in a season for his career with a 2.80 ERA, finally finding his rhythm after years of inconsistency and dealing with injuries.
“I feel like I’ve been able to command the ball much better with an array of pitches where instead of fighting it like I was in the past of having one or two pitches, now I feel like I have a pretty complete arsenal most times that I’m out there and able to command that,” Mize said. “So you’re just able to do a lot of different things to different hitters when you can do that, so that’s been the biggest difference.”
Mize also got some help throughout the game, including when Ryan Jeffers almost homered to left field, but Carpenter timed his jump at the right time for the robbery to end the top of the second inning.
Matt Vierling went 1-for-2 with a walk in his first Tigers game since May 26, as well as making a few routine catches at center field. He also had a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second, bringing Torkelson home for the game’s first run.
“Yeah it felt great. Great performance by the whole team, glad I was able to be a part of it,” Vierling said. “I’m just so happy to be out there and be with the team and give it everything, give it my all, and just try to help the team as much as I could.”
Vierling also had a great look at Carpenter’s highlight catch, standing next to him in center field.
“Ball got up in the air pretty good. (Jeffers) hit it, hit it well, but yeah, Carp(enter) timed it perfectly, and I didn’t know if he was gonna be able to come down with it or if it was just gonna get over him a little bit,” Vierling said. “But just to make that catch, with how high that thing was in the air, and he had to time it absolutely perfectly and he did. Great catch.”
Kameron Goodwill is a freelance writer.
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