Tigers busy on the bases in 8-5 victory over Twins

You thought there was heavy traffic trying to get to the Twins, Vikings and Lynx games on Saturday? Those choked freeways looked a lot like the traffic that clogged the bases inside Target Field.

The Tigers collected at least one hit in eight of the nine innings, drew a walk or two in six of them, and generally threatened to blow the game open for three solid hours. The Twins rallied a couple of times, even held the lead for a half-inning at one point, but ultimately got stuck behind Detroit’s Postseason Express and lost for the fifth time in six games, 8-5.

The Tigers, who have won four straight games and all three of this series so far, widened their AL Central lead to 8 1/2 games over Cleveland and a season-high 15 games over Minnesota. They’ll go for their first sweep of a four-game series with the Twins in 42 years, since May 1983, on Sunday.

“We walked guys. We walked a lot of guys. And that’s never going to be part of a good formula,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “But sometimes you have to find a way to win and play competitive baseball even if you give them some free baserunners. We just gave them too many opportunities.”

They did, but still made it a competitive game, which gave Baldelli some measure of encouragement.

Luke Keaschall had two hits and scored twice, and Brooks Lee drove in three runs with a two-run triple off the center-field wall and an RBI ground out. On a lot of nights, that might be enough to pull out a close game.

“We were right there in the game. We didn’t have many chances — they had a lot of chances. And we still had a chance, a real chance, to win the game,” Baldelli said. “Couldn’t make it happen, but we fought very hard and played with a lot of spirit. For a while, we were one swing away from tying the game, two good at-bats from winning the game, on a night we were far from perfect.”

It doesn’t help that these Tigers are relentless. They scored in five different innings, had nine different players collect at least one hit and five of them drive in a run.

“When you walk nine, you’re playing with fire. Getting out of the bases-loaded jam with no outs is very hard to do,” said catcher Ryan Jeffers, who had a hit and scored a run. “We got some big plays,” including an unassisted double play by Kody Clemens that helped turn a bases-loaded jam into a zero on the scoreboard. “We limited the damage. But overall, we need to be better than that.”

Coincidentally, both teams gave away runs on errors by relief pitchers; Tigers lefthander Tyler Holton dropped a routine throw from first baseman Spencer Torkelson to allow Matt Wallner to score in the seventh inning, but Twins righthander Justin Topa fielded a one-hopper from Trey Sweeney in the ninth, with the Twins trailing by only a run, and threw the ball up the right field line, allowing Zack McKinstry to score from first base.

Zebby Matthews started for the Twins and made a little personal history, unfortunately, by walking a career-high four batters, two of them to the game’s first three batters. Only one of them scored — the Tigers were only 4-for-21 with runners in scoring position, keeping the game from becoming a rout — but Matthews also surrendered a leadoff home run to Kerry Carpenter in the third inning.

“I was able to limit the damage. They got a single [in the first inning] and were able to get that run, and then Carpenter [homered]. But I thought I executed that fastball about the way I wanted to, and he put a good swing on it and snuck it over the fence,” Matthews said after starting back-to-back losses for the first time all year. “I was able to keep the team in it, but it’s kind of been asking a lot of the bullpen [lately], to cover five innings in a game. Sometimes it’s going to work out great, and other times it’s not. It’s just too much to ask of them.”