MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Kyle Gibson hopes of a pitcher’s duel with Max Scherzer didn’t last long.
After two scoreless innings, the Tigers pounced on Gibson (11-10), who lasted just 4 2-3 innings on a hot and humid afternoon. He allowed five earned runs on eight hits to go along with four walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch in the Twins’ 13-4 loss at Target Field on Sunday.
“I think early on I felt like, ‘Hey, it was going to be a start that would get me back on track,'” Gibson said. “Then the third inning, left a couple pitches up and got myself hurt in that inning.”
Gibson gave up five hits on the first six batters he faced in the third inning as the Tigers jumped to a 3-0 lead off Victor Martinez’s grounder to right field that led to a throwing error by Brian Dozier and scored Ian Kinsler. On the next at bat, J.D. Martinez grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Rajai Davis and Martinez both homered for the Tigers, who have won two straight to earn a split of this four-game series. Minnesota scored 32 runs in winning the first two games of the series and Detroit had 21 in taking the last two.
The Tigers’ 60 hits in the four games is their most in a four-game series since having 60 at Chicago from July 6-8, 1956. Minnesota set a franchise record for most hits allowed in a four-game series, surpassing the 59 yielded at Texas July 25-28, 2011.
“Scherzer was pitching and we had Gibson going, we were hoping for a battle there,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “That didn’t really work out.”
The Twins took Scherzer (15-4) into deep counts, but couldn’t muster any offense off the Tigers’ bullpen. Scherzer threw 112 pitches, 76 strikes, in five innings.
Danny Santana doubled to right off Scherzer in the bottom of the third to score Eduardo Escobar and Jordan Schaefer and tie the game at 3-3.
Martinez homered off Brian Duensing in the sixth for a 7-3 lead, while Davis hit his two-run homer in the seventh to make it 9-3. A bases-loaded triple by Torii Hunter made it 13-4 in the eighth.
Down 7-3, the Twins had bases loaded with one out in the sixth before Dozier lined out to left and Tigers reliever Al Alburquerque got Joe Mauer to strike out swinging.
“Those are ‘ifs,’ all ‘ifs’,” Gardenhire said. “You got to do it, you got to get a big hit. We had more than a couple chances.”
Sunday’s game lasted four hours and 10 minutes, the longest nine-inning game in Twins’ history.
“But more than anything else, we threw a lot of pitches,” Gardenhire said. “They threw a lot of pitches. It wasn’t a very pretty game, except they got the win.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Tigers: 1B/DH Miguel Cabrera didn’t play after aggravating a sore right ankle Saturday. “The idea of having two days off in a row should help,” said manager Brad Ausmus. The Tigers don’t play Monday. … Starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez, on the 15-day DL since Aug. 9 with a right pectoral strain, has not been ruled out to pitch during next Saturday’s doubleheader in Chicago. The right-hander is scheduled to throw Monday and, if that goes well, off a mound two days later. “Just because he gets off the mound Wednesday, he may not quite feel right,” Ausmus said. … Reliever Joakim Soria was scheduled to throw again Sunday. He’s been on the 15-day DL since Aug. 10 with a left oblique strain. “In the last three days he’s trended upward quite a bit,” Ausmus said.
Twins: Starting pitcher Yohan Pino will be unable to throw for two to four weeks after an MRI showed a minor elbow strain. Pino was recalled from Triple-A Rochester to start the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader and was optioned back after the start. He will be placed on the Triple-A disabled list.
UP NEXT
Tigers: Rick Porcello (14-8, 3.10) is to get the ball when the Tigers start a three-game home series with the New York Yankees on Tuesday. Brandon McCarthy (8-12, 4.01) is scheduled to pitch for New York.
Twins: Off Monday before beginning a three-game series in Kansas City. Ricky Nolasco (5-9, 5.96) is scheduled to pitch for Minnesota in Tuesday’s opener against Danny Duffy (8-11, 2.53)
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