Twins 8, Tigers 5: Squander in the Twin Cities

For four innings on Saturday night, the Tigers were looking good. However, the game came apart in the middle innings and the squander was strong as they dropped the second game of the series 8-5.

Starter Edwin Jackson allowed a Max Kepler solo shot in the first inning, but he settled in as his team fought back. Dawel Lugo cracked his second home run in the majors in the third, and Jake Rogers later scored in the inning on a Ronny Rodriguez sacrifice fly to take the lead. Victor Reyes then came through in the fourth with a two-out, two RBI single to open a 4-1 lead.

Rookie Willi Castro had an eventful night in his major league debut. He ended a threat in the second inning by lining one right back at Twins starter Kyle Gibson, who promptly fired to first to catch Travis Demeritte scrambling to get back the bag. Castro struck out in the fourth, but struck gold in the sixth. He led off the frame with a double high off the wall in right field—just missing a home run—for his first major league hit, and later scored on another two-out RBI knock from Reyes.

Unfortunately, Castro’s first hit and first run scored made the score 6-5 Twins, because things hadn’t gone well for Mr. Jackson in the fifth inning. He allowed doubles to Jake Cave and Max Kepler, sandwiched around a punchout of C.J. Cron, to start the inning. After an RBI single from Nelson Cruz, the Tigers lead was trimmed to one run. Miguel Sano then launched a three-run homer, his third of the series, to seize a lead the Twins wouldn’t relinquish.

Matt Hall struggled in the sixth inning, allowing a two-run shot to Jake Cave. That was Cave’s third home run of the series as well. To his credit, Hall rebounded with a strong performance over the next two frames, but as it turned out, all the damage was already done by that point.

Leading off the eighth inning, Willi Castro bounced one up the middle for his second hit of the day. Dawel Lugo walked, but Rogers, Reyes and Harold Castro went down in order to spoil their last chance at a comeback. The Tigers racked up 12 hits and two walks on the night, but went 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position. That number, and Jackson’s fifth inning meltdown, told the story of the game.