Memorable Motown homecoming for Twins' Achter in victory over Tigers

DETROIT – The announced 35,178 who showed up at Comerica Park on Friday night didn't get to do the celebrating they had hoped for. Well, except for the dozen or so who are related to A.J. Achter.

The former Michigan State righthander earned his first major league victory in the ballpark he has visited all his life, an 11-4 Twins rout of the Tigers, then rushed to give the game ball to his mother, a cancer survivor.

"That was pretty emotional," said Achter, a native of Toledo suburb Oregon, Ohio, about an hour south of Detroit. "She just beat breast cancer this offseason, so for her to be a part of this, it's a pretty special moment."

Retiring Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez, the potential tying runs after the Twins took a 6-0 lead, was a pretty special one, too. The 26-year-old Achter, a September call-up after posting a 2.17 ERA in the minors this season, called them "the two biggest outs of my career."

Achter pitched two innings in relief of Anthony Swarzak, worked out of a two-on, one-out jam and benefited from the Twins' biggest offensive outburst in three weeks. They scored six runs (four earned) off struggling Detroit righthander Rick Porcello, then padded their lead off the Tigers bullpen following Achter's fifth-inning escape.

The Tigers now lead the Central by one game over the Royals, who clinched their first playoff berth since 1985 with a 3-1 victory over the White Sox, with two games remaining in the season. In case of a tie, a one-game playoff will be played Monday to determine which team is the AL Central champion and which team must play the one-game wild-card playoff.

But if they get to celebrate, it's doubtful that the Tigers will enjoy their party more than Achter and his extended family this weekend.

"The Tigers are a team I grew up rooting for, that's pretty well-known. I came to games here, at least one a year, growing up," he said. "For it to happen here, it's just another thing in my career that's been pretty unbelievable."

Also unbelievable, at least to the raucous crowd of Tigers fans: that the 3-2 pitch he threw to Victor Martinez somehow didn't tie the score. Achter, summoned to protect a 6-3 lead after Swarzak was unable to go five innings, tried a 92-mile-per-hour fastball that Martinez belted to the right-field corner. The crowd screamed, and the Twins gulped, but the ball didn't quite carry into the seats. Oswaldo Arcia got there and caught it, and Achter could breathe again.

"I knew I got it in, I just hoped [it was] enough. Once I saw it go up, I was a little scared for a second," Achter said.

He got J.D. Martinez on a fly to center next, then pitched a scoreless sixth inning once the Twins padded their lead to 10-3. Achter lost another full-count battle with one out in the seventh, when Miguel Cabrera blasted a high fastball into the center-field stands, but that will just end up as a cool detail as Achter's friends tell the story.

And there are plenty of friends to tell it, too. His mother, Cindy, and both grandmothers, Kathy Roberts and Donna Achter, were here for his victory. His college pitching coach was in the crowd too. His college head coach will be here Saturday, and at least 40 friends and family will pile on to a party bus Sunday to come see him in a Twins uniform. He has heard from plenty of friends who plan on coming up on their own, too.

"It's just so good to see so many people who have had such an impact on my career," Achter said. "For them to see me in a big-league uniform, it's pretty special."