Detroit Tigers Defeat Minnesota Twins 8-3

The Detroit Tigers defeated the Minnesota Twins 8-3 in the opener of a three game series. The Tigers went down early, but Cameron Maybin‘s strong night helped fuel the win.

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez got the start and was solid once again. He got in some trouble in the third and surrendered a home run, but finished with a line of seven innings pitched, six hits, three earned runs, no walks and two strikeouts.

He made the pitches the Tigers needed to keep them in the lead.

Detroit got the scoring started in the top of the second. A Victor Martinez single, a Justin Upton double and Casey McGee walk loaded the bases. Cameron Maybin walked to bring home the first run, but the Tigers could not add more runs in the inning.

Minnesota then struck back in the bottom of the third. Brian Dozier singled and scored on a Jorge Polanco triple. Polanco then scored on a single from Joe Mauer to give the Twins the 2-1 lead.

The Tigers got a run back in the fifth thanks again to Maybin. He led the inning off with a single and stole second base. Eric Aybar then singled to plate Maybin and tie the game at 2-2.

Sanchez could not hold the lead this time. Brian Dozier hit a solo home run to left-center field to give the Twins the 3-2 lead.

The Tigers then took the lead in the sixth that they held for the rest of the game. Victor Martinez scored because of his wheels. He led the inning off with an infield single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He then moved up to third because of a J.D. Martinez single. Victor then scored on another wild pitch to tie the game at 3-3. 

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Following that, Justin Upton walked to put runners on first and second. Upton and Martinez then both moved up 90 feet each on another wild pitch to put runners on second and third. Maybin once again came through with a single to give the Tigers the 5-3 lead.

The Tigers then added on insurance runs in the top of the seventh after a quick sixth from Sanchez. Eric Aybar hit a no-doubter home run to right field to give the Tigers the 6-3 lead.

Miguel Cabrera was then greeted with a high and tight fastball. He then turned to the dugout, said a few words, and turned around another fastball for a scorching double off the left field wall. Victor Martinez then unloaded on a pitch into the right field seats to give the Tigers the 8-3 lead.

Next: J.D. Martinez Posting Elite Numbers

These two teams will face off once again Wednesday night at 8:10. Matt Boyd will look to continue his strong stretch of pitching. The Twins will roll out Tyler Duffey as the Tigers will try to take advantage of his 5.93 ERA.