Tigers 7, Twins 6: Prince Fielder delivered an RBI single in the seventh inning and capped a late rally with a go-ahead single in the eighth as host Detroit sent Minnesota to its ninth straight loss.
After Josh Willingham's second homer of the night put the Twins ahead 6-3, Fielder grounded a single past a diving Brian Dozier at second base to score Omar Infante. Victor Martinez followed with his own run-scoring single off Brian Duensing to end the reliever’s ineffective appearance.
Jhonny Peralta greeted Jared Burton (0-2) with an RBI double to knot the game at 6 to cap the three-run frame. Burton escaped the seventh without further damage, but gave up a single to Infante to begin the eighth and intentionally walked Miguel Cabrera after Torii Hunter sacrificed Infante over to third.
Fielder made the Twins pay four pitches later, sending a liner that deflected off Burton’s glove and past Dozier to score Infante. Joaquin Benoit (1-0) struck out a batter in a perfect eighth and Jose Valverde fanned a pair in a flawless ninth for his fifth save in six chances.
Cabrera went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, including a first-inning, two-run shot for his sixth home run in the last four games. Infante finished with three hits while Fielder, Martinez and Peralta tallied two hits apiece to lead the Tigers’ 15-hit attack.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The game was delayed nearly an hour due to rain. … Twins SS Pedro Florimon, who singled and scored in the third, left the game with a right index finger sprain after he appeared to injure himself on a slide into third base. He was replaced by Eduardo Escobar, who went 0-for-3. … Cabrera, who on Wednesday passed Kirk Gibson for 10th place in team history with his 196th home run in a Detroit uniform, moved to within three homers of Bill Freehan for ninth with his first-inning blast.
Minnesota | Detroit | |
Scott Diamond | Player | Rick Porcello |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
5.2 | IP | 5.0 |
5 | Strikeouts | 2 |
9 | Hits | 10 |
4.76 | ERA | 9.00 |
Minnesota | Detroit | |
Jamey Carroll | Player | Omar Infante |
3 | Hits | 3 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
4 | TB | 3 |
.600 | Avg | .600 |