Tommy Milone's hot start gives Twins first victory of the season over Detroit

Detroit – His pitching line was tarnished at the end, but Tommy Milone's confidence is soaring.

"It feels good to go deep into a game," he said. "Obviously, that was a struggle early. But I just wanted to make sure I attacked the zone and I feel like I was pretty much able to do that."

Milone took a one-hitter into the ninth inning Tuesday night before giving up two runs, but enjoyed his longest outing since 2014 as the Twins beat the Tigers 6-2 at Comerica Park.

Brandon Kintzler struck out the final two batters to end the game. The decision by Twins manager Paul Molitor to let Milone go for his first complete-game shutout since 2013 didn't work out, but Milone has won his past three starts and feels like he's figured some things out.

"I felt good [in the ninth]," said Milone, who threw 109 pitches. "Pitches started getting left up, and they hit the ball."

When the Twins and Tigers get together, it's easy to draw conclusion based on matchups and recent histories.

The Tigers' Anibal Sanchez entered the game with a career 2.32 ERA against the Twins, who were shut out Monday and had scored eight runs over their previous four games. And the Tigers had won all seven games between the teams this season.

Sanchez outsmarted them for six innings, racking up 10 strikeouts as he worked every edge of the strike zone or had the Twins flailing at off-speed stuff. Home plate umpire Jerry Layne drew a few glares from Twins hitters for some of his decisions.

Kurt Suzuki opened the third with a single to left, went to third on Byron Buxton's single to center, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Eduardo Nunez for the first run of the game.

Then the Twins pounced in the seventh as Sanchez weakened. Nunez poked a single through a drawn-in infield to drive in Suzuki and Kennys Vargas. Rondon replaced Sanchez, but Joe Mauer hit an RBI single and Brian Dozier clubbed a two-run homer to left to give the Twins a 6-0 lead and knock Rondon out of the game

Meanwhile, Milone crafted his gem. He was locked in on the outside corner and kept Detroit hitters off-balance throughout the night. The Tigers had three baserunners during the first eight innings, when Cameron Maybin reached on an error by Max Kepler in the first, when James McCann singled in the third and when Victor Martinez walked in the seventh.

Milone finished the eighth with 96 pitches thrown, but there were no doubts he was going out for the ninth. His gem ended up with some blemishes on it, but he improved to 3-2.

• Suzuki slapped singles in his first two at-bats and ended up 2-for-4 with two runs scored as he continued his sizzling run. Suzuki is batting .359 over his past 32 games.

"It's kind of a return to what we saw a couple of years ago," Molitor said. "Improved contact. A little bit of power, we have seen. But most of all he has been squaring balls up. It is one of those confidence things. He knows he can hit."