MINNEAPOLIS _ The Detroit Tigers scored three runs in the sixth inning and three more in the seventh that helped defeat the Twins, 8-3, on Tuesday night. The Tigers improved to 8-2 against the Twins this season and 4-0 at Target Field.
Victor Martinez hit a two-run home run and finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored for the Tigers. Miguel Cabrera also had three hits.
Erick Aybar, J.D. Martinez and Justin Upton each had two hits and Cameron Maybin, batting ninth, had one hit and three RBIs.
The Tigers benefited from a couple of wild pitches by right-hander Kyle Gibson in the sixth inning, which led to the first of the three runs. Victor Martinez singled and went to second on a wild pitch. J.D. Martinez extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a single that moved Victor Martinez to third. Victor Martinez then scored on Gibson's second wild pitch of the inning to tie the game at 3.
The Tigers had runners on second and third with no outs. The Tigers failed to score on a fly ball to center by Casey McGehee. It was unclear whether third base coach Dave Clark held J.D. Martinez up at third or not. Maybin hit a two-out, two-run single to give the Tigers the lead.
Aybar hit a solo home run in the seventh. After a double by Cabrera, Victor Martinez hit a two-run home run to give the Tigers a five-run lead. It was the 23rd home run of the season for Martinez.
Anibal Sanchez allowed three runs on six hits over seven innings for the Tigers. He didn't allow a walk and struck out two.
Sanchez gave up a two-out solo home run to Twins' Brian Dozier that snapped a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the fifth. It was Dozier's 29th home run of the season. Dozier set a new single-season career high for home runs. He hit 28 last season in 157 games.
The Tigers tied the game at 2 in the fifth inning. Maybin led off with a walk, stole second and went to third on a throwing error by Twins catcher Juan Centeno. Aybar's one-out single to center scored Maybin. Aybar was thrown out trying to stretch the single into a double.
The Twins scored twice in the third to take a 2-1 lead. Jorge Polanco was credited with a one-out RBI triple. Had Tigers right fielder J.D. Martinez fielded the ball cleanly, Polanco would have stopped at second. But from third, Polanco scored on a groundout by Joe Mauer to break the tie.
The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Gibson gave up a bases-loaded walk to Maybin with two outs. The Tigers were able to load the bases on an infield single by Victor Martinez, a one-out double by Upton and a two-out walk to James McCann.
Ian Kinsler finished 0-for-5 on the night and is batting .098 (5-for-51) over his last 13 games for the Tigers.
