Twins collect much-needed victory vs. Tigers

DETROIT One night earlier, the Twins fretted about their latest loss that should have been a win, as a three-run lead in the late innings evaporated against their best relievers.

On Saturday, they rejoiced in their ability to forget as they kept a wild card spot within range.

Tyler Duffey’s veteran-like performance, matched by a few clutch at-bats, lifted the Twins to a 6-2 win over the Tigers as they held their deficit in the battle for the second wild-card spot to 11/2 games.

Meaningful baseball in September means there will be mood swings like the Twins went through in a span of 24 hours. The team that minimizes those swings over the final week of the season will be rewarded.

The Twins came through with two runs in the seventh, as Kurt Suzuki grounded a single to left off Tigers right-hander Alfredo Simon, allowing Torii Hunter to score. Eduardo Escobar beat out a potential double play grounder, allowing Aaron Hicks to score and make it 4-2.

Escobar returned in the ninth inning to belt a two-run homer, his 12th of the season.

After suffering the punch to their guts on Friday, the Twins can win the series with a victory on Sunday.

The Twins went from being staunch protectors of Duffey’s innings count to sending him out for the sixth inning on Saturday despite having thrown 96 pitches. Duffey has been their most effective starter of late he stopped a five-game losing streak his last time out so the innings watch was over. They were going to ride with the rookie right-hander as long as they could.

And they did for a career-high 112 pitches.

Duffey faced the Tigers on Sept. 14, holding them to one run over 61/3 innings. Saturday was the first time he had faced the same team twice, so the intrigue was if the Tigers would be more effective now that they have seen all different speeds and shapes of his curveball.

Detroit had slightly better luck the second time around, making Duffey work for outs while running his pitch count up. They scored twice off of him in the fourth. J.D. Martinez drove in Miguel Cabrera with a ground rule double and James McCann followed with a RBI single as Detroit tied the game at 2-2. Was it a sign that Duffey was wavering? The answer came over the next two innings, as Duffey gave up a shift-defying single to Miguel Cabrera in the fifth and a leadoff walk to Martinez in the fifth but got out of both innings unscathed.

In six innings, Duffey gave up two runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out three. While the Twins warned everyone over the last couple of weeks that Duffey’s days could be numbered, he has posted a 1.73 ERA over his last four outings. While they worried about his durability, he has walked five and struck out 25 over his last four outings. And while they have watched for signs of fatigue, Duffey has faced 140 batters since giving up his last home run.

All of this has come with the Twins in the percolator of a playoff push, with much of their rotation is in flux.

The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Brian Dozier scored when shortstop Dixon Machado booted Miguel Sano’s ground ball. Escobar led off the third with a triple and scored on Dozier’s sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

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