It was a quiet day around baseball and particularly in the Yankees’ dugout, the Bombers getting one-hit to lose the rubber match against the Athletics, 1-0, with hardly a whimper of protest. There were only five other games around the league on this sleepy Thursday, and only one we’ll cover today for Rivalry Roundup, the Twins completing a four-game sweep of the Tigers to relegate the clawless cats to last place in the AL Central in the very early going.
Minnesota Twins (7-6) 3, Detroit Tigers (4-9) 1
This game featured two of the most profligate
starting pitchers through the first two weeks, Twins starter Mick Abel entering the contest with an 11.05 ERA while Tigers starter Jack Flaherty wasn’t much better at a 7.56 ERA. Abel was the headliner in the deal that netted the Phillies closer Jhoan Duran at the last trade deadline while Flaherty declined his offseason opt-out to remain with the Tigers for a $20 million salary in 2026. Both pitchers came into this game having walked as many as they struck out, neither reaching the five inning mark in any of their appearances.
Both rebounded from such disappointing opens to their seasons to make this an actual pitchers’ duel. Flaherty went 5.2 innings, allowing a run on five hits and three walks to go along with six strikeouts. However, it was Abel who came out on top with his six scoreless innings, the Twins righty allowing four hits and walking three while also tallying a half-dozen strikeouts. Abel doubled Flaherty’s whiff total — 14 to seven — his 95 mph four-seamer overpowering the Tigers lineup to achieve a 40-percent whiff rate.
In truth, this was far from an exhibition in timely hitting by either team, the Tigers going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranding eight while the Twins were only slightly better — 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and nine men stranded. Detroit made Abel work early but with nothing to show for it. Colt Keith led off the first with a walk followed by a Gleyber Torres single to put a pair on with no outs. The second followed an identical trajectory, Zach McKinstry drawing a leadoff walk followed by a Javier Báez single. However, Abel struck out a pair both times before getting the inning-ending batted ball out. He also erased one-out doubles by Riley Greene in the third and Báez in the fourth.
Minnesota struck first in the fourth, Josh Bell blasting a booming leadoff home run to continue a hot start to the season for the DH — now with three home runs, ten RBIs, and a 204 wRC+ in his first 13 games.
After that, it was the Twins’ turn to be inefficient with runners on. Bell and Matt Wallner smacked one-out singles in the sixth while they put a further pair on in the seventh on an Austin Martin single and Byron Buxton walk, only to strand all four runners. That gave the Tigers the opportunity to tie the game in the seventh, Jake Rogers reaching on a HBP and advancing to third on a one-out single from Keith before jogging home on a Torres sac fly.
There was a really scary moment in the eighth, Bell hitting a leadoff liner to left-center that resulted in a collision between Greene and Parker Meadows. Meadows remained down on the field for several minutes, and though he was able to stand up with some assistance, the center fielder had to be carted off, the severity of the injury as yet unknown.
As it happens, those events signaled the beginning of the Twins’ game winning rally. The next batter Wallner drew a walk and advanced to second on a Victor Caratini single. Reliever Will Vest struck out Kody Clemens to draw within an out of escaping the jam, but Royce Lewis kept the rally alive with a two-out single to load the bases. With the righty Vest on the mound, Derek Shelton chose to pinch-hit the switch-hitting Brooks Lee for Martin, and boy did it pay off. Lee fought back from 0-2 down to eventually force a full count, and on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, he pulled a center-cut fastball through the right side and under the diving attempt by McKinstry to plate Wallner and Caratini as the winning runs.
After winning their first two games of the season, the Tigers have now lost nine of eleven to fall to last place in the division. Meanwhile, with the win the Twins creep over .500 for the first time since last June and find themselves second behind the Guardians.
