MINNEAPOLIS _ Too bad it wasn't Father's Day.
Martin Perez, just returned to Minnesota after witnessing the birth of his new son Martin, pitched well on Mother's Day. But Daniel Norris was even better, and the Twins had to settle for a split of their four-game series with the Tigers after a 5-3 loss at Target Field.
Perez (5-1) who hadn't allowed a run in his last 15 innings and hadn't absorbed a loss all season, surrendered both of those streaks by leaving a couple of mistakes in the strike zone. Nicholas Castellanos golfed the first one, a low curveball, into the second deck in left field for two runs, and Brandon Dixon pummeled the second one, a cutter in on the hands, into the upper deck next to the foul pole.
Perez gave up only two other harmless hits, but the Tigers added a couple more runs off reliever Trevor Hildenberger, and survived the Twins' comeback attempts late in the game.
Daniel Norris kept the Twins off second base until the fifth inning and off the plate until the seventh, when Ehire Adrianza launched a home run of his own. That ignited a rally off Detroit's bullpen, which retired only two of the six batters it faced that inning. Jake Cave doubled, Byron Buxton singled him home, and Willians Astudillo, hitting in the leadoff spot for the first time in his career, doubled.
A Jorge Polanco popup left the rally up to Nelson Cruz, who was unable to bat due to a sore left wrist. Mitch Garver pinch-hit and slugged what looked like a long, game-tying home run into the left field corner _ but it hooked to the left just a few feet in front of the foul pole. Garver eventually drew a walk off lefthander Daniel Stumpf, as did Marwin Gonzalez, but right-hander Buck Farmer struck out C.J. Cron to leave the bases loaded.
The Twins put two runners on in the eighth against Joe Jimenez, too, when Adrianza walked and Buxton doubled, but Astudillo popped out to end that threat. Shane Greene gave up a two-out single to Gonzalez in the ninth but got Cron to pop up to earn his AL-leading 15th save in 15 tries.
