DETROIT _ It was a rare night where the Twins embraced the spoiler role.
The Twins offense pounded out hits early, knocked out Tigers starter Matt Boyd in the fourth and then cruised to a 8-1 victory at Comerica Park. Twins right-hander Kyle Gibson went eight innings, holding Detroit to one run on five hits.
Tigers fans booed as they saw their team fall behind early as they attempt to gain ground in the playoff race. They already are on edge because Detroit has won just one game by more than three runs since Aug. 25. The sight of the Twins collecting eight hits over the first three innings on Tuesday was hard for them to handle.
The Twins took a 2-0 lead in the first on Robbie Grossman's single to center then took a 5-1 lead in the third behind a two-run home run by Jorge Polanco and a sacrifice fly by Kurt Suzuki.
The first three hitters in the Twins lineup _ Brian Dozier, Polanco and Grossman _ combined to go 6-for-6 with a home run and three doubles. No Joe Mauer. No Miguel Sano. No problem.
Polanco, with two outs in the fourth, worked a six-pitch at bat before serving a two-run single to center to give the Twins a 7-1 lead. Fans lost it, booing as manager Brad Ausmus walked to the mound to replace Boyd with Buck Farmer.
The game was set up for right-hander Kyle Gibson to make a deep run and keep the Twins' leaky bullpen out of the game. After throwing just 33 pitches over the first three innings of the game, Gibson loaded the bases in the fourth and needed Jarrod Saltalamacchia to pop out to end the inning. Gibson tossed 22 pitches in the fourth.
But Gibson (6-9) settled back in, retiring the next six batters he faced to reach the seventh. When he stranded two runners to get through the seventh, it marked just the second time in 12 games this month that a Twins starter pitched seven innings in an outing.
For Gibson, it was his longest outing since he pitched a complete game at Atlanta on Aug. 17.
Dozier was 3-for-4 with a walk as he ran his career-high hitting streak to 17 games. Kennys Vargas added a solo homer in the ninth.
