DETROIT _ If the Twins get to where they want to go, right-hander Kyle Gibson is going to have a hand in the journey.
And that seemed unlikely earlier this season, when he made not just one, but two visits to Class AAA Rochester.
It took a while for things to click, but the Twins are in position to close out the second wild-card spot. And Gibson has been one of their best starters.
He wasn't fully on his game on Friday night, but still was effective enough to guide the Twins to a 7-3 victory over the Tigers at Comerica Park. By winning each of the first two games of this four-game series, the Twins, who have reached 80 victories on the season, will at least maintain their 2{-game lead over the Angels and surging Rangers for the second wild-card spot.
Twins hitters have come alive, for some reason, with Gibson on the mound. The offense entered Friday averaging 7.8 runs on the day he pitches. That includes 50 runs over the previous four starts. Gibson brings the runs.
That wasn't quite the case Friday as Gibson had to pitch in a tight game for much of the night. However, that wasn't too difficult of a challenge for him, although of then 91 pitches he threw, only 52 were strikes.
And of the 25 batters he faced, he threw first pitch strikes to just nine of them. Still it was just the eighth time in 28 starts he's reached six strikeouts in a game _ five times in his last seven starts.
When the Twins look back on the season, they will see how Gibson played a role in their path to the postseason. Maybe they realize it now.
He was banished to the minors after a 0-4 start during which he posted an 8.20 ERA. He was brought back two weeks later when they needed an arm, but pitched poorly. It looked like he was pitching himself into being non-tendered during the offseason. He was sent to Class AAA Rochester a second time, making a July 27 start, before returning. And he has been a different pitcher ever since. He entered Friday 5-2 with a 3.25 ERA over his previous nine starts.
And, at 12-10, he's a win shy of his career high, set in 2014.
The run support doesn't hurt either, as the Twins have scored at least seven runs on the days his starts in five of his last six outings.
Gibson had first-batter issues on Friday. Nicholas Castellanos's homer in the second opened the scoring. When the Twins' Max Kepler answered with a solo homer in the third, JaCoby Jones led off the second with a single and eventually scored on Ian Kinsler's single.
But the Twins took 4-2 lead in the fourth on a two-run double by Byron Buxton and an RBI single by Max Kepler. Eduardo Escobar, batting just .207 with two outs and runners in scoring position prior to the game, drove in Brian Dozier with a two-out single in the fifth to make it 5-2. Back-to-back doubles by Buxton and Robbie Grossman in the sixth inning made it 7-2. Now, Gibson had some wiggle room.
But Gibson gave up a home run to Kinsler in the sixth, another leadoff hitter scoring, as Detroit closed to 6-3. Gibson walked the next batter and needed visits by Escobar and, then, pitching coach Neil Allen before he got through the inning.
Gibson finished up with a strong seventh, needing just seven pitches to do so. Twins manager Paul Molitor then turned things over to Trevor Hildenberger in the eighth then Matt Belisle for the ninth.
