DETROIT (AP) – Jonathan Schoop hit a tiebreaking home run in the sixth inning, and the Detroit Tigers finished off a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins with a 3-2 victory Sunday.
Tyler Alexander (2-1) pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief for Detroit, which handed Kenta Maeda (4-1) his first loss of the year.
Detroit has won five straight to pull back to .500 on the season. Minnesota has dropped five in a row.
Jeimer Candelario also homered for the Tigers, and Jorge Polanco went deep for the Twins.
Rookie Casey Mize, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft, pitched an eventful three innings in his third career start for Detroit. He allowed two hits – including the third-inning homer by Polanco – and two walks while striking out four. He also hit three batters and threw a wild pitch that brought home a run in the second.
With men on first and second and one out in the third, a comebacker by Luis Arraez appeared to hit Mize in the leg, then bounced over to third baseman Isaac Paredes, who stepped on the bag for a force. Mize was able to stay in the game and struck out Marwin Gonzalez for the third out.
Alexander breezed through the middle innings, and Candelario’s solo shot in the fourth tied it at 2. Schoop then untied it with his eighth home run of the year.
Joe Jimenez relieved Alexander and struck out Nelson Cruz to end the top of the seventh. Buck Farmer then worked a perfect eighth and Gregory Soto finished for his second save.
Maeda allowed three runs and six hits in six innings. He struck out eight without a walk.
Victor Reyes led off the bottom of the first with a triple and scored on Miguel Cabrera’s single to make it 1-0. That was Cabrera’s 2,000th hit as a member of the Tigers. Moments later, the milestone was announced, and Cabrera playfully came out of the dugout for a curtain call in the empty ballpark.
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