DETROIT — Three extras from a pitcher's duel at Comerica Park:
The Twins didn't have a hit until the sixth inning, and never scored off Tigers starter Matt Boyd. But that overstates the left-hander's effectivesss on Tuesday, Brian Dozier said after the game.
"I like how we got his pitch count up. We were being patient," Dozier said of Boyd, who thew 97 pitches over six innings. "We squared a lot of balls up. A couple balls we hit right at them, if they get by in a close ballgame, maybe we push another run across."
Boyd's effectiveness was particularly annoying to the Twins because he was hit so hard by the White Sox last week. Chicago scored five runs on five hits and four walks last Thursday, and Boyd only recorded seven outs.
On Tuesday, though, "he shut us down pretty well," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "He got a lot of outs with his breaking ball, and we didn't adjust particularly well."
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The Twins did manage one run, off longtime closer Francisco Rodriguez. Miguel Sano pounded a one-out double off the center field wall, and Jason Castro followed with a single to right, scoring Sano.
The biggest play of the game may have been made by right fielder Mikie Mahtook on Castro's hit, because it initially looked as if it would roll to the wall. but Mahtook hustled over to cut it off, holding Castro to a long single. That meant he couldn't score when Joe Mauer, pinch-hitting for Chris Gimenez, popped a single down the third-base line, or when Eddie Rosario followed with a fly ball deep enough to score him from third. Rosario's fly ball was simply the second out, and Rodriguez ended the game by inducing pinch-hitter Max Kepler to pop up, delivering the veteran's 433rd career save.
