MINNEAPOLIS – Manny Margot and Carlos Correa struggled to keep Minnesota’s record home run streak at 20 games, and the Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 5-3 on Tuesday night.
Byron Buxton scored the go-ahead run in the seventh with a diving header at home plate after starting the inning with a double, and Royce Lewis hit a two-run double Tigers ace Tarik Skubal before starting with stiffness in the left groin muscle.
After rookie Simeon Woods Richardson threw two outs in the sixth to match Skubal, who has quietly become one of the most dominant pitchers in the majors, the Twins got relief from Jorge Alcala (2-3), Griffin Jax in the eighth and closer Jhoan Duran in a perfect ninth to move his season record 11 games (48-37) above the .500 mark. Duran earned his 13th save of the season.
“We’re getting along well,” said coach Rocco Baldelli. “We want to take this into the second half and improve even more.”
Justyn-Henry Malloy singled and Ryan Kreidler hit a two-run shot off Woods Richardson for the Tigers (38-47), who lost for the 17th time in their last 24 games.
Skubal gave up back-to-back singles with one out in the third inning and was dragged for an 11-pitch at-bat by Correa, who hit six foul balls before throwing a third strike.
“I think he threw everything but a curveball at him, right?” Lewis said. “I thought he was going to get it right. I was so caught up in hitting that I didn’t even know how many outs there were.
Lewis focused again to throw a changeup — the same pitch in the same place he hit third in his first at-bat — down the left-field line.
“We take our hats off to this lineup. They made me fight,” Skubal said. “I thought I threw the ball where I wanted.”
Buxton, who also walked twice, hit a diving line drive by Riley Greene to center field in the first inning. He is heating up this summer after a slow start following another injury-plagued season in 2023.
Buxton took third on a wild pitch by Will Vest (1-2) in the seventh and, on a high chopper by Ryan Jeffers that cleared the mound and was fielded by second baseman Colt Keith, raced home with the pitch infield to beat the throw and put the Twins back in front.
“We are seeing this now. He is very explosive and plays the way he knows how,” said Baldelli.
Skubal, whose 2.45 ERA is sixth in MLB among pitchers with a qualifying number of innings, threw 94 pitches against baseball’s best-hitting lineup against lefties.
“We’ve been very consistent with Tarik and what we’re asking of him this year,” head coach AJ Hinch said. “We lean on him a lot. He is a powerful pitcher. He empties his tank. We felt he had done his part.”
RANDOM ROTATION
The Tigers planned to place RHP Casey Mize on the 15-day injured list after he left their previous game on Sunday with hamstring issues and bring back RHP Keider Montero, one of their top prospects, for at least a few runs in his rotation.
They also scratched RHP Jack Flaherty from his scheduled start Wednesday after he received a second injection to ease tightness in his lower back. It is expected to start at the beginning of next week.
NEXT
Montero (0-2, 9.35 ERA) was expected to fill in for the Tigers midway through the series in place of Flaherty. Rookie David Festa (1-0, 9:00 ERA) will make his second major league start for the Twins on Wednesday night.
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