MINNEAPOLIS _ It's that time of year again, when there's more attention on the out-of-town scoreboard than the game in front of you.
For the Twins, they were focused on the pesky Detroit Tigers, who somehow have punched above their weight class whenever they see a Minnesota uniform this season. But about 750 miles away, Cleveland was headed into extra innings against the White Sox, and losing.
But in the bottom of the 10th inning, Jose Ramirez belted a three-run walkoff homer, meaning the onus was on the Twins to beat Detroit and tighten the race for the AL Central title.
They did it _ beating the Tigers 5-4 by going extra innings themselves. After giving up a run in the top of the 10th inning, Eddie Rosario immediately tied the score in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff single. Rosario eventually stole second, then got a two-out RBI single by Max Kepler to easily score the winning run.
After Detroit scored runs in the sixth and seventh innings to take a 3-2 lead, Kepler's solo homer in the eighth tied the score.
It came on a day in which the Twins' postseason rotation became known _ Kenta Maeda will pitch Game 1 of the wild-card series that starts next Tuesday, followed by Jose Berrios in Game 2 and Michael Pineda in Game 3.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli didn't officially announce the rotation but offered this nugget before the game.
"We are gonna line up our starters this week _ later on in the week," Baldelli said. "Wednesday, Friday, Saturday will be the guys that will be going into the playoff series. We're not gonna start announcing everything yet, but that's the way we're gonna do it."
It was learned later Tuesday that Maeda will start Wednesday against the Tigers and be followed by Berrios on Friday against Cincinnati, then Pineda will go on Saturday.
Who the Twins will face is still up in the air. And the Tigers were making that process tougher by battling the Twins into the late innings Tuesday.
It was earlier Tuesday that Josh Donaldson surprised teammates with dark blue robes complete with the player's name and number on the back. And they excitedly posed in them for photos the club placed on social media.
Are they called Home Run Robes?
"I don't think the pitchers would like that," a team official replied.
Somehow, Nelson Cruz's robe made its way into the dugout during the game.
And it was draped over Byron Buxton after his leadoff homer into the seats in left.
After Detroit tied the score on Miguel Cabrera's RBI single in the fourth, Mitch Garver homered off the facing of the third deck in the bottom of the inning, giving the Twins a 2-1 lead. On went the robe after that one, too.
But the robes apparently had limited luck in them Tuesday as Detroit scored in the sixth and seventh to take a 3-2 lead.
Tyler Duffey entered a bases-loaded situation in the sixth and got a comebacker to the mound. But his throw was a little off target, and Miguel Sano had the ball pop out of his glove for an error, allowing a run to score.
Then Duffey gave up a leadoff double to Daz Cameron in the seventh, and he ended up scoring on Castro's single to right.
It wasn't the proudest moment for the Twins bullpen, a normally dependable unit that will have an occasional hiccup.
