DETROIT _ Kyle Gibson could only grin, shake his head and say "Wow." Byron Buxton made a diving catch Friday night on the center field warning track at Comerica Park, jumping toward the rapidly-approaching wall, gloving the ball and somersaulting into the padding, a magic trick that appeared even to amaze the magician, who shouted in triumph.
Miguel Cabrera's lost extra-base hit counted for only one out, but it neatly summarized the opportunistic play _ and the can-you-believe-this attitude _ that the Twins have ridden to a six-game winning streak, their longest in nearly two years. Eddie Rosario crushed a three-run homer, Max Kepler bashed a two-run shot, and the Twins earned win No. 200 for manager Paul Molitor on Friday with a 9-4 victory over the Tigers at Comerica Park.
Not since Aug. 20-26, 2015, have the Twins reeled off a half-dozen straight wins, and this one came against a team they had beaten only seven times in 28 games the past two years. But a resurgent offense, the sudden solidification of a reliable bullpen, and a defense that can pull outs out of thin air have powered the Twins back into the AL Central picture. On Friday, they held their ground 3{ games out of first place, passed Tampa Bay in the wild-card standings, and needed only a Seattle loss in a West Coast game to climb into the final postseason slot.
Perhaps no phenomenon illustrates the Twins' recent habit of feeding off each other's success than Rosario and Kepler, who provided the punch on Friday _ and kept up their odd mirroring act. Both homered last Sunday, then twice on Tuesday, and again in Friday's victory.
Rosario's blast into the bullpen off Detroit starter Anibal Sanchez, one of his three hits on the night, scored Joe Mauer and Miguel Sano ahead of him, and turned a 1-0 Tigers lead into a 3-1 Twins advantage. An inning later, Kepler followed a Brian Dozier single by turning on a high fastball from Sanchez and rocketing a liner four rows deep into right field.
Dozier also tripled home a run in the seventh, and scored himself when Kepler singled up the middle. Joe Mauer drove home two more in the ninth with a bases-loaded single. And Kepler contributed with the glove, too, making a jumping catch at the warning track in the eighth to turn a certain run into a double play.
All the offense looked like it would carry Kyle Gibson to his seventh victory of the year, especially with Buxton's defense preventing a Tiger rally in the fourth. But after four relatively quiet innings, with a Mike Mahtook homer the lone stumble, and holding a 5-1 lead, Gibson's night suddenly got a lot messier _ too messy for Molitor. A one-out walk turned into a run when Jose Iglesias doubled into the left-field corner. A wild pitch and another walk turned into a second run in the inning, and Molitor had seen enough.
He turned the game over to Ryan Pressly, Trevor Hildenberger, Taylor Rogers and Tyler Duffey, and that quartet was enough to shut down the Tigers and turn Molitor, at 200-238 in three seasons, into the Twins' eighth manager ever to reach 200 wins. The Twins added two insurance runs for Duffey in the ninth
The Twins will send Jose Berrios to the mound on Saturday, with a chance to extend a winning streak to seven games for the first time since 2011.
