MINNEAPOLIS – Bailey Ober pitched six solid innings, and the Minnesota Twins snapped a five-game slide by defeating the Detroit Tigers 4-3 on Saturday.
Byron Buxton and Austin Martin had two hits each for Minnesota, which scored three runs on sacrifice flies.
Wenceel Pérez, Javier Báez and Kerry Carpenter each ran for Detroit. Matt Vierling had two of the Tigers’ five hits.
Ober (1-1) struck out six and walked one. He retired his first 13 batters, and his shutout inning streak reached 15 before Pérez’s RBI triple in the sixth.
The 6-foot-1 right-hander has allowed eight hits and two earned runs in 16 innings over three starts since being rocked for eight runs in 1 1/3 innings in his first start on March 31.
Minnesota’s bullpen nearly wasted Ober’s start.
Báez made it 4-2 when he doubled to Vierling in the seventh. But Cole Sands limited the damage by retiring Parker Meadows on a pop-up to third and striking out pinch-hitter Mark Canha.
Carpenter’s eighth-inning single off Kody Funderburk put the Tigers up by one, but Matt Bowman retired Vierling to end the inning.
Griffin Jax scored the scoreless ninth on his second save. Parker Meadows flew to the warning runway for the final exit.
Reese Olson (0-3) allowed five hits in five innings for the Tigers, striking out four. Only two of the four runs he allowed were earned. Detroit has allowed at least two unearned runs in four consecutive games.
Some fielding errors in the fifth inning put the Twins up 4-0.
Martin took advantage of a throwing error by Báez to start the inning and scored three batters later on an error by Spencer Torkelson that could have been an inning-ending double play. A sacrifice fly by Trevor Larnach scored Ryan Jeffers.
Willi Castro hit a sacrifice fly in the second, and Jeffers hit one in the third.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Tigers: 3B Gio Urshela was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained right hamstring. INF Buddy Kennedy was recalled from Triple-A Toledo.
Twins: Athletic trainer Nick Paparesta said SS Carlos Correa, sidelined with a mild intercostal strain, has made good progress in his rehabilitation and is expected to begin some baseball activities next week. … Closer Jhoan Duran (right oblique strain) is expected to pitch at Triple-A next week.
NEXT
The three-game series ends Sunday with Detroit’s Casey Mize (0-0, 4.11 ERA) and Minnesota’s Louie Varland (0-3, 8.36 ERA) taking over.
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