MINNEAPOLIS -- Trading J.D. Martinez took a big bat out of the Detroit Tigers' lineup. The Tigers then lost Miguel Cabrera in the fifth inning of Friday night's series opener in Minnesota.

Victor Martinez picked up the slack and deadline-selling Detroit beat the playoff-contending Twins for the fifth time in seven games this season.

Martinez homered twice to support Anibal Sanchez's sixth start of the season in the Tigers' 6-3 victory.

"Any time you win a game, it's big," Martinez said after hitting his first multi-homer game of the season. "We keep fighting."

Cabrera left the game in the fifth inning with a right clavicle contusion after taking a ground ball high off his chest. X-rays came back negative and Cabrera is considered day to day.

"We'll see how he is tomorrow," Detroit manager Brad Ausmus said. "I don't expect it to be anything long term."

Nicholas Castellanos, Mikie Mahtook and Jose Iglesias each had two hits as the bottom five of the Tigers' batting order went 9-for-18.

Sanchez (2-0) surrendered three runs in 5 2/3 innings. He gave up six hits, three walks and struck out five batters. Four relievers combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings with one hit allowed and Justin Wilson secured his 11th save in 13 chances.

"I feel really good today," Sanchez said. "Command is always something that I like it; today, I think it wasn't there. Thank God that I got the team win."

Twins right-hander Ervin Santana (11-7) had his shortest outing of the season, pulled after 3 1/3 innings while yielding five runs, seven hits and two walks.

"Not my best stuff today," Santana said. "I was battle behind the count all the time. So that's what happened in the game today. They normally against me are very aggressive and today was like very patient. They were taking it nice and easy and swinging whenever they want to. So it worked out for them today."

Santana has allowed at least five runs in four of his last seven outings. He has surrendered 21 home runs -- including at least one in four straight games -- after giving up 19 all of last season.

"As well as he's pitched the majority of starts, there's been some games where the numbers get a little crooked," Minnesota manager Paul Molitor said. "You could tell tonight after the second inning that he started laboring a little bit more. A lot of times he had chances to put guys away and the next think you know, it's 3-2 and he's got to throw a strike and they get a good swing. It wasn't his best night. I'm sure he'll agree with that."

Santana fought his command, but the two biggest mistakes came against Martinez. Santana left a fastball over the middle of the plate that Martinez hit out to right field to open the scoring with two outs in the second inning.

Iglesias scored on Justin Upton's double off the right-field wall in the third and Martinez hit his second homer and eighth of the season in the fourth after Castellanos' leadoff single. Mahtook tripled and scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-0.

Sanchez, who had allowed eight runs in three innings of relief against Minnesota earlier this season, had a big mix of speeds to keep the Twins out of sync early, including two changeups that registered at 67 mph and 65 mph.

"I thought he did a nice job of kind of confusing our guys," Molitor said. "It didn't seem like we adjusted much to the off-speed repertoire, especially when he was behind in the count."

Rookie Zack Granite singled to start the fourth and proceeded to steal second, his first major league steal. Joe Mauer walked and Miguel Sano plated Granite with a sharp single. Ehire Adrianza later delivered a two-run single with the bases loaded.

NOTES: Detroit RHP Anibal Sanchez threw 102 pitches, the most he's thrown in a game since May 4, 2016 when he threw 103. ... Minnesota CF Byron Buxton (left groin strain) had a workout on Friday and he could start a rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester as soon as Saturday. Buxton is eligible to return from the 10-day disabled list on Tuesday. ... The Twins unveiled a bronze statue of former manager Tom Kelly before Friday's game as part of the weekend celebration of the 1987 World Series championship. Kelly guided the team to two World Series titles and is first in team history in games managed and wins at 1,140-1,244. ... Minnesota LHP Glen Perkins (left posterior shoulder strain) tweeted that he is scheduled to pitch in a minor league game on Saturday. Perkins has missed more than a year because of shoulder problems.