Twins’ refashioned bullpen can’t hold lead in 6-3 loss to first-place Tigers

DETROIT – Twins reliever Cole Sands was unavailable to pitch Monday night after throwing two of the last three days and four of the last six. Kody Funderburk also wasn’t an option after he went two innings in the previous game.

What was left was a conundrum.

The Twins dealt five of their best relievers last week, all coveted before the trade deadline for their ability to pitch with leads.

Noah Davis, making his second appearance with the Twins, blew a one-run lead in the sixth inning. Erasmo Ramírez, also pitching in his second game this year, gave up a solo homer during the Twins’ 6-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers in their series opener at Comerica Park.

“Certainly a different setup,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “But this is what we’re doing here: We’re trying to learn what everyone can do. We’re trying to challenge guys, put them in spots.”

In a sink-or-swim moment, Davis fell flat. He gave up hits to the first two batters he faced, then watched the tying run score on a fielder’s choice ground ball.

Kerry Carpenter, the next batter, smacked a go-ahead, two-run homer that nearly sailed into the second deck in right field. Carpenter let his bat flip out of his hands as the announced crowd of 24,018 roared with approval. Davis turned his head in disgust.

“We were going to match up,” said Baldelli, noting Davis’ strength is facing righthanded hitters, but he gave up a leadoff single to the righthanded-hitting Javier Báez. “We were going to put probably every available guy in there, maybe except [Darren] McCaughan, and get an inning out of everyone. It just didn’t play out well in that sixth.”

The Twins already pushed an extra inning out of rookie Travis Adams, who yielded four hits and two runs in a five-inning start while striking out seven. It was his longest outing of the season in the minor or major leagues.

Adams was electric in the first two innings. He struck out five consecutive batters with four different pitch types. Tigers batters whiffed on nine of their first 10 swings.

“Five straight punchouts, that’s a first for me,” the 25-year-old Adams said. “Everything was working.”

BOXSCORE: Detroit 6, Twins 3

Adams allowed his first hit to begin the bottom of the third inning, a 30-foot dribbler that rolled down the first base line. Catcher Ryan Jeffers tried to let the ball roll foul, walking alongside it as it moved on the white chalk. Eventually the ball stopped rolling, seemingly shifting direction to stay fair, and Adams broke into a smile.

Six pitches after Adams permitted his first hit, Dillon Dingler lined a ball to second baseman Edouard Julien for an unassisted double play.

“It’s a big step and a big game for him,” Baldelli said. “Proving to himself that he can go out there and pitch like that against a good lineup and a good predominantly lefthanded lineup. They have tough at-bats. He was just feeling it.”

Adams faced the minimum number of batters required — throwing 44 pitches through the first four innings — until he surrendered a one-out bloop single to Spencer Torkelson in the fifth inning. Wenceel Pérez followed with a two-run homer, clubbing a slider that was below the strike zone.

Pérez saw five sliders from Adams when he struck out in an eight-pitch at-bat during the second inning.

The Twins totaled four hits in six innings against Tigers starter Casey Mize, and three were solo homers. Jeffers deposited a first-inning sinker into the Twins bullpen, which is located beyond the center-field wall.

Mize retired 10 of his next 11 batters, erasing a hit batsman with a double play, before Trevor Larnach crushed a splitter in an 0-and-2 count to the right-field seats in the fifth inning for a 2-0 lead.

After Pérez tied the score against Adams, Matt Wallner responded in the next inning with a 437-foot solo homer to straightaway center, his fourth home run in his last eight games. Wallner has 15 homers this year, his single-season career high.

Detroit’s bullpen, which included new closer Kyle Finnegan from the trade deadline, pitched three scoreless innings.