- The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-6, on Friday night in Minneapolis.
- The Tigers scored four runs in the top of the sixth inning to rally from a 4-1 deficit.
- Colt Keith had a pair of key singles for the Tigers.
MINNEAPOLIS — Baseball is just weird.
How everything can change in a blink.
The Tigers had a bad case of the blahs on Friday night — they were losing 4-1 to the Minnesota Twins in the sixth inning — and then everything went kind of wacko in six straight at-bats that flipped the game and sparked a 7-6 win in the series opener at Target Field.
Riley Greene had a costume malfunction and blew out his belt — alas, his pants didn’t fall down as he went into second.
Spencer Torkelson had a pair of absolutely jaw-dropping monster blasts — but they were both foul by just a few feet. Then, he drew a 10-pitch walk.
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And struggling Colt Keith hit a teensy, weensy little dribbler for an infield base hit — yes, he needed that, considering he came in hitting .171.
All of that set up Zach McKinstry, who simply flicked a ball into center field, driving in two runs, giving the Tigers some much needed life.
Then, Dillon Dingler got his third single of the game, driving in a run and tying it up, 4-4, and Trey Sweeney gave the Tigers the 5-4 lead with a ground ball force out.
Just like that, the Tigers turned this game upside down.
And just like that, some of Keith’s frustrations started to turn. After that little dribbler, he seemed to relax and added a two-out RBI single in the seventh to push the Tigers lead to 6-4.
The rest of the game got stranger. Tigers relief pitcher Beau Brieske appeared to twist his ankle, delaying the game. Minnesota catcher Ryan Jeffers appeared to cut his finger, delaying the game. But there was no delay in Javier Baez, who added an RBI double.
In the big picture, this weird game set up this strange stat: The Tigers (8-5) have responded to getting swept in their season-opening series against the Los Angeles Dodgers by winning eight of their next 10 games for the first time in franchise history.
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Reese (Olson)’s pieces
Right-hander Reese Olson got the start for the Tigers and found himself in a struggle all night.
Some of that struggle was against himself — the Twins had runners on base in every inning.
But the other part of that struggle was with home plate umpire Andy Fletcher, who didn’t exactly have a stellar game.
“First off, I love Reese as a pitcher — in terms of somebody who can pitch to a game plan and attack different lineups,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said before the game. “If anything, his next step in growth is going to be perfecting his usage. … It means syncing up the game plan with how he can attack these guys and not fall in the trap of sinker-slider, or not fall in the trap of four seam-curve ball.”
But nothing really seemed to sync up on this night.
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Olson committed a cardinal mistake to start the second inning. He walked a guy with speed. Byron Buxton then stole second base and scored on a soft single into center.
The bigger issue? Olson’s pitch count climbed fast. Through the first two innings, he gave up two hits and walked two, throwing 46 pitches.
Olson was yanked with one out in the fifth when the Twins had a 2-1 lead and runners on first and third.
He gave up six hits and four runs.
Putting pressure on the D
Hinch has preached aggressive baserunning since he arrived.
Because it puts pressure on the defense and you never know what will happen.
The benefit became obvious, once again, in the top of the fifth.
Gleyber Torres came up with Dingler on first base. Torres singled to right and Dingler didn’t hesitate. He took off for third, forcing a decision by the Twins that went poorly. Matt Wallner, the right fielder, had a bad throw, which went into the Tigers dugout, and Dingler scored to tie the game, 1-1.
All because Dingler didn’t hesitate; that approach has been engrained in the Tigers.
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The AL Central fight
Even though the Twins came into this game with a 4-9 record and were coming off a 1-3 road trip, they had lost two straight one-run games.
The importance of this series was not lost on Hinch. Because the Tigers, first and foremost, want to win the American League Central.
“Every game does matter,” Hinch said. “We really want to play well in our division, because we’ve stated the goal of trying to win the division, and these guys have done it more recently than we have. Obviously, Cleveland has, Kansas City is a really talented team, so I think the better you play in your division, the better you set yourself up to potentially win it. And that’s a lot of games, but I but I do think it’s important to play well
The Twins went 7-6 against the Tigers last season and entered Friday with a 38-19 record against the Tigers at home since the start of the 2018 season.
Contact Jeff Seidel: [email protected]. Follow him on X @seideljeff
