Twins 11, Tigers 5: Detroit pitching gives up 3 multi-run home runs in ugly loss

Miguel Cabrera hit his first home run of the year and Jordan Zimmermann looked alright for the first two innings. However, he quickly imploded and the Tigers lost 11-5 when Anibal Sanchez gave up two three-run homers to put the final nail in the coffin of a forgettable series finale.

The Twins were primed to get swept with Zimmermann on the mound, but the starter coughed up any sense of command early on. His stuff looked lifeless and he couldn’t command the zone to save his life, and he paid for it dearly. He narrowly avoided a run in the first but an 11-pitch second appeared to get him back on track.

It didn’t last long. Brian Dozier singled with two outs in the third and then Robbie Grossman hit a massive two-run home run, tying the game 2-2. Three walks and a single in the fourth scored the Twins’ go-ahead run and then Zimmermann walked two more batters in the fifth to end his day.

Two pitches later, Anibal Sanchez gave up a three-run 422-foot bomb to right to Max Kepler. The sixth inning didn’t fair any better as Sanchez continued to struggle and he gave up another three-run dinger. And more hits, and more runs. Yeah, it didn’t go well. The end result was disgusting.

On the bright side, we saw prized relief prospect Joe Jimenez make his major league debut in the ninth. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning and notched his first career strikeout, Byron Buxton. (Who else?)

ROARS:

Miguel Cabrera: He’s been warming up for the last four games, and on Thursday the drought came to a crashing halt. Cabrera hit an opposite field on the first pitch against Phil Hughes in the first inning. And he crushed it.

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Justin Upton: It was a pointless addition score-wise, but Upton finally homered. He hit a two-run shot in the sixth that made it an 11-4 deficit.

Joe Jimenez: Hey, a rare bright point. He made a 1-2-3 debut in the ninth with a K.

HISSES:

Jordan Zimmermann: Looked shaky at the start and didn’t make it out of the fifth inning. Gave up a homer and walked five batters.

Anibal Sanchez: Melted down quicker than Zimmermann. The dugout expression after he gave up the first of two home runs said it all.

STATS AND INFO:

• Miguel Cabrera’s first home run of the season was the 447th of his career, and his 309th with the Tigers. He is now two home runs shy of tying Jeff Bagwell and Vladimir Guerrero for 38th in MLB history.
• With Cabrera’s homer, the Tigers have dingered in nine straight games, tying the Indians for the last time a club homered in consecutive games (in 2012).
• Jordan Zimmermann walked back-to-back batters in the fourth inning for the first time since May 6, 2012. He had 142 consecutive starts without walking two in a row.
• Zimmermann walked three batters in the fourth inning. The last time he walked that many in one inning was Oct. 1, 2016 in the fourth to the Braves.
• The Tigers have given up three home runs and 11 runs in a game for the second time this season. They gave that number up (though only seven were earned runs) on April to the White Sox in an 11-2 loss. The last time all runs were earned was on Sept. 25, 2016 in a 12-9 loss to the Royals. The Tigers gave up 12 runs and allowed four homers in that game.
• Jacoby Jones hit his first career triple in the ninth inning. Then later scored to force this recap to be updated throughout.

Here’s that Miguel Sano dinger against Sanchez. Holy cripes.

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