Twins blow out Tigers 11-1, Detroit falls 9 back
The Tigers were routed 11-1 in Minneapolis to close a 1-4 stretch, leaving Detroit 9 games back in the AL Central as Troy Melton and the Twins get set to open a new series.
Hao-Yu Lee's homer is all Detroit manages
The Twins beat the Tigers 11-1 on August 31, closing out a stretch that has now gone 1-4 in the last 5. Hao-Yu Lee went 2-for-3 with a home run and an RBI, the lone bright spot in a lineup that managed one run all night. Jackson Jobe started and lasted 5.0 innings, allowing 4 earned runs on 6 hits with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts, and the bullpen behind him gave up the rest.
Twins1-11It was the fourth loss in the Tigers' last five games, following three straight defeats to the Dodgers at Comerica Park that bracketed a lone win in that series. Detroit is now 63-74 on the season.
A 1-4 stretch leaves Detroit 9 back
At 63-74, the Tigers sit fourth in the AL Central, 9.0 games behind the division-leading White Sox and with an elimination number of 17. Cleveland is 3.0 back in second and Minnesota, the team Detroit just lost to, is 6.5 back in third — putting the Tigers behind the club that just beat them 11-1.
The last 5 games, going 1-4, have pushed that gap further out with a month left to play. There is little roster relief on the way in the short term: Kerry Carpenter remains on the 10-day IL with the foot injury that has kept him out since August, though MLB.com reported he was on track to have his walking boot removed this past weekend.
Upcoming
The Tigers are in Minnesota tonight, with Troy Melton, who is 7-3 with a 1.86 ERA, taking the ball. His last start came August 26 against Tampa Bay, a 7.0-inning, 3-earned-run outing with 4 strikeouts and no walks over 84 pitches that still ended in a loss. Minnesota counters with Andrew Morris, 4-7 with a 3.82 ERA, whose most recent start dates back to June 4 against Kansas City — just 2.0 innings and 2 earned runs on 48 pitches, a brief outing with nothing since on the books.
Minnesota is favored, and the market reads the total as middling. Melton's 1.86 ERA is the best number either starter carries into the night, and if it holds against a Twins lineup that just put up 11 runs on Detroit, it argues for a lower-scoring game than the total suggests — but Morris's long layoff since his last recorded start makes him the bigger unknown of the two.