Delmon Young’s RBI single in the seventh put Minnesota ahead for good, and the Twins rallied with two two-run innings to down Detroit, 4-3, and maintain a four-game lead in the AL Central.
Young finished 2-for-4 for the Twins, who have won four of five to maintain their division lead over Chicago, which beat Cleveland earlier Tuesday. Danny Valencia added three hits and an RBI, while Michael Cuddyer drove in two in the victory.
Matt Guerrier (3-7) earned the win for retiring the final out of the seventh after relieving Brian Duensing, who gave up three unearned runs, nine hits and a walk in 6 2/3 frames.
Matt Capps earned his seventh save with the Twins.
Casper Wells recorded a career-high three hits and scored once for the Tigers, who lost for the third time in four games. Jhonny Peralta also had three hits and drove in a run in defeat.
Armando Galarraga was in line for the win after allowing two runs on eight hits in six innings, but Phil Coke (7-4) gave up two runs in two-thirds of an inning to receive the loss.
After Galarraga departed following the sixth, the Tigers’ bullpen surrendered the lead in the seventh.
Coke came in to pitch and issued a leadoff walk to J.J. Hardy, After a sacrifice, Coke struck out Orlando Hudson. He ran into control problems, however, and hit both Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel to load the bases.
Ryan Perry came in from the bullpen and walked Cuddyer on four pitches to force in the game-tying run, and Young followed with an RBI single to put Minnesota ahead, 4-3.
Randy Flores retired the first Tigers hitter of the eighth before Jesse Crain set down two of three batters to get out of the inning with the Twins maintaining a one-run lead.
The Tigers put the tying run on third with two outs in the ninth, but Capps struck out Peralta to end the game.
Detroit reached Duensing for two runs in the opening inning.
Austin Jackson reached on an error to begin the game, and Will Rhymes put down a bunt single. Later in the inning, with runners on the corners and two outs, Peralta sent a bse hit to center to plate Jackson, and Brandon Inge’s single that followed scored Miguel Cabrera for a 2-0 lead.
In the second, Wells doubled for the Tigers leading off and later scored on Rhymes’ fielder’s choice groundout when the second baseman Hudson committed a throwing error for a three-run advantage.
The Twins finally cracked the scoreboard with a two-run sixth.
Mauer hit a ground-rule double with one away and moved to third on Kubel’s deep fly out. Cuddyer put Minnesota on the board with an RBI single to center, and Young’s base hit kept the inning alive.
Valencia followed with another ground-rule double, scoring Cuddyer. Young, running with two outs, was forced to hold at third on the play, and Jason Repko flied out to end the inning with the Twins trailing, 3-2.
Game Notes
Detroit is 17-29 in the second half, while Minnesota is 30-14…Tigers pitchers have tossed 11 straight quality starts…Detroit had a streak of 11 straight road games with a home run snapped…The Twins are 9-2 in games where Galarraga appears…Detroit dropped to 22-42 on the road this season.