DETROIT _ The number has meant misery for the Twins ever since the 2016 season ended. Fifty-nine wins? In a 162-game season? It was an embarrassing flop for a team that believed it was turning around.
But 59 wins means something completely different for the Twins this season, after they arrived at that total with a 6-4 victory Sunday over the Tigers at Comerica Park, site of so many humbling losses over the past few seasons. At 59-57, their best record at this point of the season in seven years, it means hope, it means progress, it means that turnaround may really be here. Even if it took nine tortuous innings to arrive there.
Brian Dozier crushed his sixth leadoff homer of the year, Miguel Sano smacked his first home run since injuring his hand, and Byron Buxton pulled off the Twins' first squeeze play since 2015, helping the Twins build a 4-0 lead that some shaky defense and wobbly pitching gave right back. But the scored two late runs off the Tigers' bullpen, and their own pen frustrated Detroit, earning Minnesota its seventh win in the past eight games. The victory kept the Twins 4 { games out of the AL Central lead, with first-place Cleveland arriving at Target Field for three games beginning Tuesday.
Ervin Santana lasted five innings after being handed a 4-0 lead, but the final two were a mess, and he departed with the score tied. Santana allowed four hits in the fourth inning, yet gave up just one run thanks to back-to-back strikeouts to Kevin Romine and Jose Iglesias.
And the fifth inning devolved into more giveaways than a clearance sale: Sano's foot lost touch with the bag as he fielded a throw from Jorge Polanco, an error that hinted at the ugliness to come. Former Twin Alex Presley doubled, Nick Castellanos singled, and Santana and catcher Chris Gimenez embarked on a carnival of wild throws and bungled catches. A walk, a hit batter, a wild pitch and three passed balls by Gimenez left the Twins limping back to the dugout in a tied game.
But the Tigers are definitely the right team to get into a battle of bullpens, and that annual weakness showed up again. Bruce Rondon entered the game in the eighth inning and threw nine pitches, eight of them balls amid a booing crowd, to ignite a Twins rally. After Jorge Polanco sacrificed the runners up a base, Buxton lined a single to center to break the tie. Ehire Adrianza followed with a sacrifice fly, and the Twins had a lead that Tyler Duffey and Trevor Hildenberger _ the latter earning his first career major league save _ made hold up.
