MINNEAPOLIS — The Detroit Tigers needed Matthew Boyd.
He surrendered four runs in the second inning on Thursday against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field, which might ordinarily suggest an early departure. The one problem: The Tigers have bullpen-only games scheduled for Friday and Sunday.
So Boyd had to pitch deep into the first game of the series.
The left-hander bounced back from the second-inning troubles, which included a three-run home run with two strikes and two outs, and completed six innings. The Tigers won, 8-4, helped out by a three-run top of the ninth.
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The Tigers (28-39) took a 5-4 lead with a three-run fifth inning — ignited by Javier Báez’s two-run triple — and Boyd responded to the run support with scoreless fifth and sixth innings.
A pair of relievers, right-handers Will Vest and Jason Foley, silenced the Twins in the seventh and eighth innings. Vest used all three of his pitches (fastball, changeup, slider) effectively, followed by Foley mixing 10 turbo sinkers with five nasty changeups. They didn’t allow a batter to reach base safely.
The combination of Vest and Foley set up right-hander Alex Lange for the bottom of the ninth inning. Before that happened, the Tigers scored three runs in the top of the ninth against right-handed reliever Jorge López.
A single from Matt Vierling and a double from Jake Rogers put runners on the corners. With two outs, Spencer Torkelson laced a first-pitch fastball for a two-run double to left-center field, extending the Tigers’ lead to 7-4.
Torkelson hit the ball with a 109 mph exit velocity.
Zack Short increased the margin to 8-4 with an ensuing double.
Lange retired three batters in a row after Báez’s throwing error in the bottom of the ninth, completing the Tigers’ second win in June.
Castro’s revenge
The Tigers struck first in the top of the second inning, but the Twins immediately responded with four runs off Boyd in the bottom-half of the inning.
Royce Lewis hit a single between strikeouts of Kyle Farmer and Michael A. Taylor, and with two outs, Ryan Jeffers and Willi Castro delivered back-to-back singles. The single from Castro tied the game, 1-1, and put runners on the corners.
Boyd worked ahead 0-2 in the count to Donovan Solano.
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Chasing a strikeout, Boyd threw consecutive balls to even the count before leaving a changeup in the middle part of the strike zone. Solano jumped on the fifth-pitch changeup and cranked a 399-foot three-run home run to left-center field.
The Twins took a 4-1 lead.
From that point forward, the Twins couldn’t score.
In the fourth, Castro was thrown out — from center fielder Vierling to shortstop Báez to infielder Nick Maton — while trying to stretch a double into a triple with two outs. In the fifth, Boyd walked Solano on five pitches to start the inning but avoided trouble when Carlos Correa grounded into a double play.
He retired the Twins in order in the sixth to finish his 13th start.
Boyd, whose ERA increased slightly — from 5.46 to 5.60 — allowed four runs on seven hits and one walk with eight strikeouts, throwing 55 of 84 pitches for strikes. He generated 19 whiffs with eight fastballs, six sliders, three changeups and two sinkers.
No more Gray skies
Facing right-hander Sonny Gray, the Tigers scored one run in the second inning when Vierling hit a single and one run in the fourth inning when Miguel Cabrera grounded into a double play.
Cabrera’s groundout cut the Tigers’ deficit to 4-2.
Gray allowed two runs on three hits and four walks with three strikeouts in four innings, throwing 45 of 79 pitches for strikes.
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The Tigers tacked on their next three runs, taking a 5-4 lead, in the fifth inning against left-handed reliever Jovani Moran. Torkelson and Kerry Carpenter opened the door for the comeback with a pair of one-out singles.
Báez tied the game, 4-4, with a triple to gap in left-center field.
Eric Haase (a right-handed hitter) then entered as a pinch-hitter for the lefty Maton and put the ball in play to the right side of the infield. He didn’t hit the ball hard, which gave Báez enough time to score from third base.
His score from third base put the Tigers ahead, 5-4.
Contact Evan Petzold at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers rally for 8-4 win over Minnesota Twins