Twins rout Tigers 11-1 as Jeffers hits 2 homers
Ryan Jeffers homered twice and Taj Bradley struck out 9 as the Twins routed Detroit 11-1, but two IL moves this week left the wild card push thinner heading into September.
Jeffers' 2 homers, Bradley's 9 Ks power an 11-1 rout
The Twins routed the Detroit Tigers 11-1 at Target Field, with Taj Bradley setting the tone on the mound: 7.0 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 3 walks and 9 strikeouts.
Tigers11-1Ryan Jeffers did the damage at the plate, going 2-for-3 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI. Kody Clemens added a home run and 2 RBI on a 1-for-2 night, Walker Jenkins also went deep in a 1-for-3 outing, and Brooks Lee drove in 3 runs on a 1-for-5 day. The Twins are 2-3 in their last 5 games and sit at 66-72 entering September.
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Joe Ryan, on the 15-day IL with a glute injury, is scheduled to make a rehab start Tuesday with Triple-A St. Paul, per Aaron Gleeman of AaronGleeman.com — the first sign of him working back toward the rotation.
Byron Buxton joined him on the shelf Sunday, placed on the 10-day IL with a right hip impingement. It's another subtraction for a roster trying to hold onto a wild card position it sits 3.5 games back of, with an elimination number of 19.
Upcoming
The Twins host the Tigers tonight, and Andrew Morris takes the ball for Minnesota. Morris is 4-7 with a 3.82 ERA and hasn't started since June 4, when he lasted just 2.0 innings against Kansas City in a no-decision. Detroit counters with Troy Melton, who is 7-3 with a 1.86 ERA and turned in 7.0 innings of 3-run ball with 4 strikeouts in his last start against Tampa Bay on August 26.
Minnesota is favored at home, and the total reads middling — the market isn't expecting a repeat of Sunday's 11-run outburst, but it isn't pricing a pitchers' duel either. Morris finding the form that once made him a rotation regular, or Melton's command slipping from where it's sat all year, is what moves that number.