Hector Santiago (12-8) got the win, holding the Tigers to one run on six hits in 5 2/3 innings. He gave up five runs and nine hits with one strikeout in 3 1/3 innings during one rehab start with Triple-A Toledo on September 3.
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The Tigers trailed 5-2 in the fourth inning, but came from behind to pull one game behind Toronto for the second AL wild card. “Now I’m back to trying to throw good pitches, not just getting strike one”.
– Santiago recorded his first ground-ball out with one out in the sixth inning, a fielder’s choice to second base off the bat of Justin Upton. “They missed a couple of fastballs so I just kept throwing them”.
Pelfrey breezed through the first three hitters in his first start since July 31 but the first four Minnesota batters in the second all reached base and scored. Brian Dozier and Kurt Suzuki homered for the Twins. Despite his torrid numbers in the second half, Ausmus made a decision to pitch to him.
Instead, Dozier lined a soft single to left to give the Twins a 4-0 lead and bring Blaine Hardy out of the bullpen.
“We put some hits together early, got on the board”.
James McCann – McCann (2 for 3) singled to leadoff the third inning and drove in Detroit’s only run with a two-out double in the sixth. He walked Tyler Collins, but Andrew Romine flew out to the track in right, stranding two more runners.
Hardy didn’t allow a run over 3 1/3 innings of relief for the Tigers. Alex Wimmers, who came into the game with a 7.56 ERA, faced the top six in Detroit’s order in the seventh and eighth without trouble.
The Twins added a run in the ninth on Eddie Rosario’s infield single, a sacrifice and an RBI single to left by Byron Buxton, making it 5-1.
Twins: 3B Miguel Sano flew back to Minnesota to have more tests run on his sore back.
“He hasn’t pitched in a big league game in a while”, Ausmus said. Cabrera has two homers in 16 at-bats against Twins starter Hector Santiago, who opposes Detroit’s Mike Pelfrey in the series finale.
Tigers pitcher Jordan Zimmermann threw a simulated game yesterday, but will have to wait to find out when he will make his next start. On Thursday, it was swimmer Connor Jaeger, who won silver in the 1,500-meter freestyle.
The Detroit Tigers got another poor outing from a starting pitcher, and this time they were unable to recover. In the last three games of the Twins series, Pelfrey, Anibal Sanchez and Matt Boyd combined to allow 17 runs in 9 1/3 innings.
The White Sox took three of four games in the series to conclude a 6-4 homestand against three playoff hopefuls.
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Tigers: Head to Cleveland for a three-game series and their last chance to get back into the AL Central race.
