Twins rip Detroit 8-1 as Kyle Gibson cruises

Detroit – Kyle Gibson wasn't satisfied Tuesday night. He wanted to finish what he started in an 8-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

"He wanted to go back for the ninth,'' Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "He was pitching well, but [108] pitches in mid-September — I just didn't see the benefit of rushing him out there.''

Molitor used that same argument with Gibson after he finished the eighth.

But the righthander had a counter-argument.

"I had to remind him that I missed six weeks,'' said Gibson, who spent time on the disabled list this season. "So it was the beginning of August for me.''

Nice try. Molitor was just happy to put the Tigers away early on the way to the victory at Comerica Park. Gibson held the Tigers to one run over eight innings, only the second time in 12 games this month a Twins pitcher has gone at least seven innings.

Gibson's trip was made easy by Brian Dozier, Jorge Polanco and Kennys Vargas, who each had three hits. Polanco was a triple shy of the cycle. Vargas hit a solo home run.

"Being up 7-1 in the fifth inning makes it a lot easier to go on the attack,'' Gibson (6-9) said.

The Twins took a 2-0 lead in the first on Robbie Grossman's single to center, then took a 5-1 lead in the third behind a two-run homer by Polanco and a sacrifice fly by Kurt Suzuki.

The first three hitters in the Twins lineup — Dozier, Polanco and Grossman — combined to go 6-for-6 with a home run and three doubles after two trips to the plate.

With two outs in the fourth, Polanco worked a six-pitch at-bat before hitting a two-run single to center to give the Twins a 7-1 lead. Tigers fans booed as manager Brad Ausmus walked to the mound to replace lefthander Matt Boyd with righthander Buck Farmer.

The game was set up for Gibson to make a deep run and keep the Twins' leaky bullpen out of the game. After throwing only 33 pitches over the first three innings, Gibson loaded the bases in the fourth but threw three consecutive changeups to Jarrod Saltalamacchia before getting him to pop out and end the inning.

Dozier was 3-for-4 with a walk and ran his career-best hitting streak to 17 games. Vargas added a solo homer in the ninth.

"Offensively, we backed it up,'' Molitor said. "The top of the order did a nice job.''

Righthander Trevor May will not pitch for the remainder of the season after experiencing more back pain after pitching Sunday in his first appearance since coming off the 15-day disabled list.

"In a matter of a couple pitches, the symptoms returned,'' Molitor said. "He finished it out the best he could. He told us when he came off that we were back to Square 1.''

May will fly to California to be examined by specialist Dr. Robert Watkins on Monday. May finishes the season with a 2-2 record and 5.27 ERA in 44 appearances. He was placed on the 15-day DL on Tuesday — the third time this season that he's landed on it because of a back-related issue.

Acting general manager Rob Antony said he would like May, once he gets over his back issues, to return to starting next season.

"Hopefully, he can win a spot in the rotation,'' Antony said.

• The Twins named righthander Jose Berrios the starter for Friday's game in New York against the Mets. He worked on fastball command during a bullpen session Tuesday.

• Third baseman Miguel Sano said his back still was bothering him Tuesday after it forced him out of Monday's game. He will need a couple of more days off.

• Molitor hopes that first baseman Joe Mauer (sore right quadriceps) can play Wednesday.