MINNEAPOLIS _ It's such a 2020 state of affairs: The Twins completed a doubleheader sweep of the Tigers at Target Field thanks to two players who weren't on the roster until Friday morning, scoring the winning run when their runner placed on second base to start the eighth inning _ the top of the eighth _ scored.
Got all that? The Twins do, and they finished the day a little closer to first place after a decidedly weird day.
Randy Dobnak pitched five shutout innings to lead the Twins to a 2-0 shutout of Detroit in Game 1 of a doubleheader of seven-inning games, and Brent Rooker drove in his first MLB run in the second game while Willians Astudillo scored in the "extra" eighth inning to earn come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Tigers _ who batted last as the "home" team in the makeup of last Friday's rainout at Comerica Park _ in Game 2.
Matt Wisler didn't allow a hit in his two innings and completed his fourth straight "opener" assignment without allowing a run in Game 2, but after Rooker's RBI single in the third, the Tigers responded in the bottom of the inning with a Victor Reyes single, a Jonathan Schoop triple and a looping single by Miguel Cabrera to take a 2-1 lead.
Jorge Polanco's RBI single in the top of the seventh inning tied the game 2-2. Astudillo started the top of the eighth on second base as the automatic runner after making the final out of the seventh, and scored on Marwin Gonzalez's one-out RBI single.
Trevor May struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth to end the game and give Sergio Romo, who pitched the seventh, his first victory as a Twin. It marked just the second time in Twins' history that they have batted first in their home park; it also happened in 1975, in a three-inning completion of a game begun in New York.
The Twins managed only 15 hits in the pair of games, and all 11 of them in the second game were singles.
Minnesota had only four hits in Game 1, but the first two were homers, and that was all they needed.
Polanco blitzed a Matt Boyd change-up into the planters in left field, and Josh Donaldson tattooed a fastball about 440 feet to straightaway center. Neither team came particularly close to scoring after that in a game that lasted only 1:45.
Dobnak, who surrendered 12 hits while recording 13 outs in Detroit on Saturday, this time had the Tigers hitting the ball at his infielders. Dobnak, now 6-2, induced six ground balls, including two double plays, struck out four, and cruised through five shutout innings on just 61 pitches. But manager Rocco Baldelli went to Tyler Duffey to retire all three hitters he faced in the sixth inning, and Taylor Rogers completed the shutout, earning his eighth save by pitching the seventh inning.
Boyd wasn't bad for the Tigers, either, once the brief, and decisive, home run barrage ended. Boyd allowed only two hits the rest of the way, striking out eight in a six-inning start.
