DETROIT _ The Twins used a strong pitching performance by right-hander Kyle Gibson on Saturday to defeat the Tigers, 4-3.
Gibson missed the fat part of the Tigers' bats all night. He wasn't striking out Detroit hitters at will. Rather, he was inducing weak contact. Of the six hits he gave up over the first six innings, two were infield hits to short and a third was into the hole at third created by a defensive shift.
The only time the Tigers hit the ball hard they ended up scoring. That came in the second inning when Jim Adducci raked a triple to left-center, just beyond a diving attempt by center fielder Johnny Field. James McCann followed with a single to center to put the Tigers ahead 1-0. The Twins tied the game in the next inning when Eddie Rosario scored on a wild pitch by former Twin Francisco Liriano.
Tyler Austin, making his first start for the Twins since being called up on Friday, batted with Miguel Sano on first base in the fifth inning. He got ahead 2-0 before missing a slider that was off the plate. Liriano appeared to throw another slider, but it had very little movement on it and, at 83 miles per hour, was close to batting-practice speed. Austin didn't miss that one, blasting it into the left-field seats for his first homer as a Twin and a 3-1 lead.
Rosario added an RBI double in the sixth.
Niko Goodrum hit a two-run home run in the ninth inning off Trevor Hildenberger, but the Twins were able to escape with a victory.
