Tigers Vs. Twins: Detroit Still Surging, Minnesota Still Slumping

Wednesday afternoon in Minneapolis, the Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins 9-7 in a topsy-turvy affair.

Just one inning later, the Tigers knocked out starter Scott Baker. After Scott Sizemore walked and Brennan Boesch singled, Miguel Cabrera drove both home with a double to left center, and Cabrera scored a moment later on Martinez's single (yes, for the first few innings it seemed like Victor Martinez Day at Target Field). Baker did retire Ryan Raburn on a grounder, after which his day was over, and reliever Glen Perkins escaped the frame with no more damage.

The score was still 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh when the game took its first dramatic turn. With rookie reliever Al Alburquerque -- and yes, that's really his name and it sounds like it looks -- on the mound, the Twins drew a couple of walks to set up Luke Hughes, who made it 5-3 with an RBI double. That brought Daniel Schlereth from the bullpen, and he was greeted by Jason Kubel's three-run homer to put the Twins ahead. Justin Morneau followed with a double, but Joaquin Benoit came out of the 'pen and stopped the bleeding.

But the see-saw moved again in the top of the eighth. Jose Mijares took over on the mound for Minnesota, and retired Sizemore but walked Boesch. With just one out, Ron Gardenhire summoned closer Matt Capps for a five-out save.

That was the idea, anyway. In the event, Capps hung a slider to Jhonny Peralta, who drove it well over the left-field fence to give Detroit the lead once more. Peralta was pinch-hitting for Don Kelly, who had replaced Miguel Cabrera, who'd been ejected in the sixth for arguing with rookie umpire Vince Carapazza after a (highly questionable) called strike three.

In the bottom of the inning, it was Benoit's turn to blow a save. After speedster Ben Revere reached on a soft grounder toward third, Matt Tolbert shot a liner into right-center field. It should have been a single, with Revere stopping at third. But right fielder Boesch mishandled the ball and Revere never stopped running, crashing into catcher Al Avila to score the tying run before Avila could secure the baseball.

The top of the ninth would, finally, be the Twins' undoing. With one out, Ramon Santiago singled and Brandon Inge followed with a drive to deep right-center that Denard Span couldn't quite reach, Santiago scoring and Inge cruising into third base with the big triple. The Tigers added an insurance run a moment later when Inge sprinted home on Austin Jackson's squeeze bunt.

In completing their two-game series sweep, the Tigers pulled to within five games of the first-place Indians, and dropped the reeling Twins 11-1/2 games off the pace.