Reese Olson recorded his first career victory, Zach McKinstry drove in two runs and the host Detroit Tigers held off the Minnesota Twins 3-2 on Saturday night.
Olson (1-2) gave up one run and struck out nine in 5 1/3 innings. Alex Lange struck out four in 1 1/3 innings to notch his 12th save.
Eric Haase added two hits, a run and an RBI.
Carlos Correa and Joey Gallo homered for the Twins.
Twins starter Pablo Lopez (3-5) gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings while recording 10 strikeouts.
Designated hitter Byron Buxton exited early with back spasms and reliever Jose DeLeon suffered an arm injury while warming up in the eighth.
Nick Maton sparked the Tigers’ three-run second inning with a leadoff single. Miguel Cabrera drew a one-out walk before Haase smacked a single to center, knocking in Maton. Jake Marisnick’s single loaded the bases before McKinstry blooped a single to center, scoring Cabrera and Haase.
Lopez averted further damage by striking out Spencer Torkelson and retiring Kerry Carpenter on a fly ball.
Ryan Jeffers led off Minnesota’s third with a single but Olson then struck out the next three batters.
That pattern played out once again in the fifth as Royce Lewis led off with a single. Olson then fanned Gallo, Jeffers and Michael A. Taylor.
Minnesota broke through in the sixth on Correa’s 425-foot homer to left-center. Correa’s homer came on a 3-1 pitch from Olson.
Minnesota cut Detroit’s lead to 3-2 in the seventh on Gallo’s two-out homer against Chasen Shreve. Jason Foley replaced Shreve and gave up a double to Jeffers but retired Taylor on a groundout.
The Twins loaded the bases in the eighth on singles by Correa and Willi Castro and an error by third baseman Maton. Lange then struck out Lewis on a curveball to snuff the threat.
Jeffers drew a one-out walk in the ninth but Lange struck out Kyle Farmer and Edouard Julien to end the game.
–Field Level Media
