*Photo from the Associated Press*
The Detroit Tigers are not the best team in baseball. They do not have a million different ways to beat you, they don't have a magic trick to give them wins. But they are a scrappy bunch. It showed against the Minnesota Twins. Jonathan Schoop homered, Jeimer Candelario homered, and the Tigers defeated the Twins 7-0 on Sunday afternoon to secure the series sweep.
Tigers manager AJ Hinch said "This is a weird game at times. They beat us up at their place, and then we come home and get a sweep. You don't usually see any team twice in a row like this, plus we're going right back there in a little over a week."
In terms of scoring, the Tigers got it started with 3 runs scoring in the 3rd inning. Schoop hit a sac fly that scored Jake Rogers, Miguel Cabrera hit an RBI single, and Candelario hit an RBI double, and it was 3-0 Tigers. In the 5th inning, Schoop cranked a two run homer to left field, scoring Akil Baddoo and making it a 5-0 lead for Detroit. In the 7th, a two run homer by Candelario put the game out of reach.
It was Wily Peralta who got the win for Detroit, turning in a dominant outing to improve to 3-1 this season. He allowed just 4 hits and 4 walks, recording 4 strikeouts in 7 shutout innings, giving the Tigers offense plenty of time to add to the run total. Buck Farmer and Alex Lange then came on in relief, and each threw scoreless innings of their own to lock down the win.
Hinch said "When we have an athletic team, we’re going to play an athletic brand of baseball. I think when we see more success coming with it, it’s more exciting for everybody that follows our team. It’s a brand of winning baseball when we can put pressure on our opponent. You see us doing a few more small-ball things than a lot of people are used to. The players are doing a phenomenal job of taking the information and executing it out on the field, and success helps breed future success."
It was JA Happ who took the beating for the Twins this time around, as he was shelled, giving up all 7 runs on 11 hits and just one walk, striking out 4 hitters in 7 innings pitched, really biting a bullet for the Twins beleaguered bullpen. Juan Minaya then came on and threw a scoreless inning in relief of Happ, and that was it for the Twins.
Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli said "When I say we didn't really give ourselves a chance to get back in the game, fundamentally, on the mental side of things, it was an unsound day today at the park. We made several mistakes; some of them bit us a little bit, some of them didn't, but we're going to have to play better baseball."
The Tigers open a series with the Texas Rangers tonight at home, with Casey Mize starting the opener of a 4 game series. The Twins face the AL Central leading Chicago White Sox for 4 games in 3 days, playing a doubleheader tonight. Griffin Jax starts the first game, with Jose Berrios going the second game.
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