Another big first inning carries Twins past Tigers

MINNEAPOLIS When first-year Twins manager Paul Molitor called his first crisis meeting during the opening week of the season, the Tigers were partly to blame.

The Twins moved on from that bad start and are looking to move into a playoff spot. Now it’s the Tigers who look in need of a session.

Thanks to another big first inning, the Twins smoked Detroit, 7-1, on Monday night as they opened a 10-game homestand before their second-smallest Target Field crowd of the season, announced at 17,833. The Twins scored four runs in the first, then knocked Tigers starter Kyle Lobstein out of the game in the second. Joe Mauer had three hits in his first three at bats, and Eduardo Escobar hit his 11th homer.

The rout improved the Twins’ record against the Tigers to only 6-8 this season, but the closing speed could change the season series. The Twins, thanks in part to a comeback from six runs down in the ninth inning against the Tigers on July 10, have won the past four games between the teams, outscoring Detroit 31-13 while doing so. Now there are reports that Detroit manager Brad Ausmus could be replaced, and the loss couldn’t have looked good to a Tigers traveling contingent that included former managers Jim Leyland and Alan Trammell, who are currently special assistants to newly promoted general manager Al Avila.

Detroit swept the Twins at Comerica Park to open the season, outscoring them 22-1. Following three more losses in the next four games, Molitor called a meeting to remind his team that losing six of seven is not illegal in baseball.

The Twins have spent the season shaking off bad losses and bouncing back. For their efforts, they are in the thick of the chase for a wild-card playoff spot, and meaningful September baseball is being played at Target Field for the home team for the first time since 2010.

Five of the first six Twins reached base in the first against the left-handed Lobstein. With the bases loaded, Trevor Plouffe doubled off the right-field wall, scoring two runs. Torii Hunter reached base on an infield single when Lobstein failed to cover first on a grounder that first baseman Miguel Cabrera scooped up, allowing Miguel Sano to score. And Kurt Suzuki added an RBI single to give the Twins a 4-0 lead in the first inning for the second game in a row.

Sano’s RBI single in the second inning chased Lobstein from the game, then Escobar drove in Mauer with a single to center as the Twins moved ahead, 6-0.

Escobar added a solo home run in the fourth, off left-handed reliever Kyle Ryan, to push the Twins’ lead to 7-0.

It was a huge relief to Twins rookie right-hander Tyler Duffey, who made his first start since Sept. 6 as the Twins worry about his career-high innings load. He struggled to find the plate in the first inning as 12 of his first 16 pitches were out of the strike zone. He got out of a bases-loaded jam when slumping Victor Martinez hit into a double play. Duffey needed 21 pitches in the first inning and it looked as if he was not going to be on the mound long.

But there is nothing like a big lead to encourage a pitcher to throw more strikes. Duffey needed only 12 pitches to get through the second inning, and ended up retiring nine straight Tigers hitters before giving up a single in the fourth.

After a rough major league debut on Aug. 5 in Toronto, where he gave up six runs in 2 1/3 innings to the major leagues’ highest-scoring team, Duffey has posted a 2.97 ERA over his following six starts.

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