MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Spencer Torkelson and Kerry Carpenter hit back-to-back homers during Detroit’s five-run fifth inning, and the Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins 6-4 on Sunday.
Carpenter and Andy Ibáñez each had three hits for the Tigers, who won three of four in the series after beginning June by losing 11 of 12.
Brendan White (1-0), the third of Detroit’s seven pitchers, tossed two scoreless earnings for his first career win. The Tigers also went with an opener on Friday, using six pitchers in a 7-1 victory.
“It’s just next man up, being ready, going out, executing pitches and getting outs,” White said.
It was the third major league appearance for the 24-year-old White, who planned to track down a memento of some sort from his memorable afternoon.
“I’m sure I’ll grab something at some point, but the experience was enough for me,” he said.
Carlos Correa had two hits for Minnesota, which had won four of five before faltering in the series against Detroit. The Twins hit .190 in the series.
“We have to have better at-bats,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We have to hit more balls on the barrel. We didn’t have a good enough series offensively to sit here and say we should have won these games.”
In the finale, the Twins rallied in the eighth against a wild Alex Lange. The right-hander faced five batters, walking two, hitting two, throwing a wild pitch and allowing an RBI double.
Lange was replaced by Jason Foley with the bases loaded and nobody out. Royce Lewis hit an RBI single to make it 6-4, but Foley limited the damage by retiring Kyle Farmer on a fly ball to left before striking out Joey Gallo and Byron Buxton.
Buxton is 0 for 13 with eight strikeouts since returning from the injured list Thursday.
Foley added a scoreless ninth for his third save.
“I don’t want the eighth-inning stress to be the story of the day,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “I think the way our guys hung in there and handled the bullpen day, the way that we hung in there and had a really big inning on offense is a really good testament to winning three out of four on the road which is hard to do.”
Twins starter Louie Varland (3-3) allowed six runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings. He has surrendered 17 earned runs over 15 innings his past three starts.
The Tigers batted around in the fifth. Jake Marisnick hit a leadoff triple and scored on Torkelson’s one-out drive halfway up the lower deck in left-center. Carpenter followed with his fifth homer.
Ibáñez added an RBI single and Miguel Cabrera delivered a sacrifice fly against Jordan Balazovic for a 6-1 lead. Detroit has scored at least five runs in seven of eight games.
Recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A St. Paul, Balazovic made his major league debut. He surrendered two hits and struck out two in 3 2/3 innings.
ROSTER MOVE
Corresponding with the Balazovic move, Minnesota placed reliever Jorge López on the 15-day mental health injured list.
López did not allow a run in 11 1/3 innings over 12 April outings, but he has struggled mightily the past month. In eight outings since May 21, López, an All-Star last year for the Orioles, has allowed 12 earned runs in 6 1/3 innings.
IT’S BEEN 50 YEARS
For the second time in three games, Will Vest started for Detroit in a bullpen game. Vest became the first pitcher to make multiple starts for Detroit in a series since Mickey Lolich in June 1973.
TRAINERS ROOM
Tigers: RF Matt Vierling was sidelined by low back spasms, six days after returning from the 10-day injured list. He was 6 for 11 with two home runs in the first three games of the series. Hinch said he doesn’t think it’s serious.
Twins: OF Michael A. Taylor left under his own power in the eighth inning after getting hit in the head by a pitch. He had no concussion-like symptoms.
UP NEXT
Twins: Open a four-game home set Monday against Boston (6:00 PM,1060/103.1 KGFX). RHP Pablo López (3-3, 4.27 ERA) is the scheduled Minnesota starter against Red Sox LHP James Paxton (2-1, 3.09 ERA).
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