Matt Wallner hit a grand slam to highlight a five-run sixth inning and lead the Minnesota Twins to a 5-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers in the opener of a two-game series on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
It was the third straight win for the Twins, who lead the American League’s Central Division. Dylan Floro (4-5) picked up the win with a scoreless inning of relief and Jhoan Duran earned his 22nd save.
Miguel Cabrera and Spencer Torkelson each homered and Matt Vierling doubled and had two hits for Detroit.
Jose Cisnero (2-3) suffered the loss, allowing three runs on two hits and a walk without retiring a batter. The Tigers wasted a good start by Alex Faedo, who held Minnesota to just one hit and a walk over five shutout innings while striking out six.
Detroit took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a two-run homer by Cabrera, driving in Kerry Carpenter, who had walked. The 438-foot drive into the second deck above the bullpen in left-center was just the second homer of the season for Cabrera, but it was the 509th of his career and moved him into a tie for 26th place with Gary Sheffield on the all-time home run list. It also gave Cabrera 1,867 career RBIs, just one behind Mel Ott for 11th place on the all-time MLB list.
The Twins rebounded to take a 5-2 lead in the sixth, with the first five batters reaching base. Jorge Polanco led off with a walk and advanced to third on a single by Max Kepler, who had his at-bat extended when a foul popup landed between third baseman Vierling and catcher Eric Haase.
Royce Lewis, playing his first game since July 1 after suffering a strained left oblique, then lined a single to left to drive in Polanco and cut Detroit’s lead to 2-1.
After Carlos Correa chopped an infield single over the mound to load the bases, Wallner blasted his ninth homer of the season, a 450-foot drive into the second deck in right-center. It was the first grand slam of his career.
Detroit cut it to 5-3 in the ninth on a one-out home run by Torkelson off Duran, a 416-foot drive into the left-field bleachers.
Carpenter followed with a single, but Duran rebounded to get Cabrera on a groundout and ended the game by striking out Zach McKinstry.
–Field Level Media
