Minnesota 5, Detroit 2
When: 7:40 PM ET, Wednesday, September 29, 2021
Where: Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Temperature:
80°
Umpires:
Home -
Nestor Ceja, 1B -
Chad Whitson, 2B -
Tony Randazzo, 3B -
Todd Tichenor
Attendance:
17254
By Field Level Media
Jorge Polanco hit a three-run homer and Michael Pineda won his fifth consecutive start as the Minnesota Twins defeated the Detroit Tigers 5-2 on Wednesday night in Minneapolis.
Luis Arraez and Josh Donaldson each had two hits and scored a run for Minnesota (71-87), which won for the sixth time in its last eight games. Byron Buxton scored twice, stole a base and made another impressive catch, leaping at the top of the center field fence to rob Eric Haase of extra bases in the eighth inning.
Pineda (9-8), making his final start for the Twins before possibly heading into free agency, gave up one run on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out five and didn't walk a batter to improve to 5-0 with a 1.85 ERA following a three-week stint on the injured list with a mild oblique strain.
Harold Castro went 2-for-3 with an RBI, and Robbie Grossman also had two hits for Detroit (75-83) which lost its fourth straight game. Casey Mize (7-9), finishing his first full season in the majors, gave up three runs on five hits before departing after four innings and 65 pitches. He didn't walk a batter and struck out four.
Minnesota took a 3-0 lead in the first, starting the inning with four consecutive hits. Arraez and Buxton led off with singles and Polanco followed with his 32nd home run of the season, a 418-foot drive over the center field fence.
Detroit cut it to 3-1 in the fourth when Grossman led off with a single, went to second when Miguel Cabrera was hit by a pitch, advanced to third on a flyout and then scored on a fielder's choice by Castro -- a line drive comebacker that hit Pineda in the right leg before the Twins' pitcher recovered to get a force at second.
Minnesota added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth, taking advantage of the wildness of reliever Joe Jimenez. Buxton was hit by a pitch to open the inning, stole second, went to third on a throwing error by Haase and scored on a single by Max Kepler. Donaldson, who had walked, later came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Nick Gordon.
Detroit cut it to 5-2 in the ninth on an RBI single by Jonathan Schoop, driving in Daz Cameron, who was hit by a pitch.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Detroit |
|
Minnesota |
Casey Mize
|
Player |
Michael Pineda |
Loss |
W/L |
Win |
4.0 |
IP |
5.2 |
4 |
Strikeouts |
5 |
5 |
Hits |
8 |
6.75 |
ERA |
1.59 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Detroit
|
10 |
0 |
11 |
.278 |
22 |
8 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
Minnesota
|
7 |
1 |
10 |
.241 |
15 |
7 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
0 |