The Twins made it three wins in a row against the Detroit Tigers on Saturday, the first three of eight straight games between the two teams.
They fell behind by four runs early, then rallied to take the lead after three big innings. Alex Kirilloff hit a two-run home run, Jorge Polanco smashed a three-run dinger, then Luis Arraez hit a single, combined with a Detroit error, to clear the bases for a 9-4 Twins win.
Starting pitcher, Bailey Ober, didn’t amount to much in this one, but the bullpen did. The win went to reliever Danny Coulombe, who got four outs and picked off a runner at first base, but perhaps it was Alex Colome who made the most notable appearance on Saturday. Colome has been a bust this season, and he served up a lead off double to ex-Twin Jonathan Schoop with the Twins leading 5-4. However, Colome settled down and pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts.
Then the Twins made life pretty miserable for Tigers reliever Jose Cisnero, who managed to get only one out in the eighth, but wound up throwing 31 pitches. Andrelton Simmons had a great at bat against Cisnero, battling him until he earned a walk to load the bases. Arraez did the same, finally poking a pitch into left field to complete the rally and seize the win.
Jose Berrios gets the ball on Sunday. He pitched extremely well in his last start and needs to do the same Sunday to reach eight wins before the all-star break.
Extra innings…
-Even if the Twins will all eight games against the Tigers their record will still be 43-50.
-Former Twins pitcher, Jim Kaat, who has recently been paired with TV play-by-play man Dick Bremer of late, was bemoaning the lack of foul balls flying in the direction of their broadcast booth. That’s a pretty fitting comment for someone who won 16 gold gloves.
-The Twins scored nine runs on 10 hits. Arraez and Nelson Cruz had six of the Twins’ 10 hits.