Minnesota Twins battle past Detroit Tigers 11-7 – MLB Update
Minnesota Twins showed great fighting spirit, mental strength and courage as they battled past Detroit Tigers 11-7 at Comerica Park in Detroit Michigan on Wednesday, May 16 in the opening game of their two match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular
season.
Minnesota’ win against the Tigers was only their 11th of the season. The Twins will take a lot of confidence from beating the team that has some of the best pitchers and hitters in the American League.
Joe Mauer provided the Twins with a dream start as he doubled to deep left on a throwing error from Tigers’ shortstop R Santiago and Brian Dozier scored to make the score 1-0. Josh Willingham also made the most of scoring opportunities in the first inning
as he doubled to deep left to double Twins’ advantage to 2-0.
Prince Fielder helped the Tigers come back into the contest with a sacrifice fly to left as Austin Jackson scored the first run. Shortstop Dozier hit a three run home run in the second to give the Twins a handsome 5-1 lead. Tigers rallied back in the second
in an emphatic fashion, thanks to Austin Jackson, Andy Dirks, Brennan Boesch and Miguel Cabrera who made the most of scoring opportunities to level the score at 5-5.
"Huge," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He was getting first-pitch swings, and those were huge, and then a lot of guys came in after that."
"You score seven runs, you have to win the game," manager Jim Leyland said. "If you don't, you have problems."
"These guys are really aggressive. When they see a fastball, they're swinging for sure," Twins’ Relief pitcher Gray said. "Making sure that you keep them off balance, and putting your fastball where you want it, is a big deal with these guys."
Fielder had another sacrifice fly to right in the second, which helped the Tigers get ahead 6-5. But the Twins did not give up and they bounced back brilliantly in the sixth and the seventh to take 9-7 lead. Trevor Plouffe’s two run home run in ninth sealed
an absolutely huge win for the Twins.
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