Detroit puts on a show, clobbers Twins 9-3

DETROIT – There's a new sound to Twins baseball this season, the sound of pitches being pulverized. The crackling noise of bats squaring up baseballs, sending them airborne and raising opponents' ERAs.

The return of the Twins to relevancy has been loud.

But Saturday, a flock of Tigers pitchers managed to silence Twins bats while handing the AL Central leaders a 9-3 loss at Comerica Park.

Only twice did the Twins produce a batted ball with an exit velocity of over 100 miles per hour — both by Nelson Cruz, including a 108.3-mph blast that turned into a 445-foot homer in the eighth. This is an area in which the Twins have reached double digits at times this season while taking over the major league lead in home runs and runs.

But the BombaSquad bombed on Saturday.

"It was kind of an off afternoon for us, I would say," manager Rocco Baldelli said. "All the way around."

And it came on a day in which the Tigers started reliever Buck Farmer. Not because they are experimenting with openers, because they didn't have a starter available. Nevertheless, Detroit did more than get by.

Farmer gave up a run six pitches into his start, but that was it against him over two innings. Lefthander Nick Ramirez held the Twins to one run over three innings, changing speeds along the way. Righthander Victor Alcantara, throwing nasty sinking fastballs, retired all six batters he faced.

Lefthander Blaine Hardy's first pitch of the day was belted by Cruz to pull the Twins within 5-3 in the eighth. But Detroit responded with four runs off a shaky Matt Magill.

Tigers closer Shane Greene then needed only seven pitches in a perfect ninth inning to complete the bullpen mastery of the Twins lineup.

"I think that's always been something in the game that people talk about as being important and switching things up on hitters, and not letting them get comfortable in the box," Baldelli said. "I think it does make some sense. And maybe that did play into it. I think those guys, it's not just their stuff that matters, I think each of those guys threw the ball pretty well today."

The Twins, meanwhile, needed a long outing from Kyle Gibson so a worn-down bullpen could get a break. But the righthander lasted only five innings, giving up five runs on eight hits, including two home runs, and two walks.

Gibson had good stuff, but his command was off, and he didn't get many borderline calls from plate umpire Chad Whitson.

The Twins gave Gibson a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI double by Jorge Polanco. But with two out in the second inning, Gibson gave up a single to Gordon Beckham after getting ahead 0-2. Then Gibson issued a walk to .170-hitting Grayson Greiner.

That brought up Jones, who is trying to prove he can hit enough to be the Tigers' long-term answer in center field. He blasted an 0-1 slider to left to put Detroit up 3-1 — the first of his two home runs on the day, giving him a team-high eight on the year.

After the Twins made it 3-2 in the third, Gibson gave up a home run to Christin Stewart in the bottom of the inning, then an RBI single to Harold Castro in the fifth. Detroit led 5-2 as Gibson gave up five runs for the first time since April 3, his season debut against Kansas City.

"One of the only poor sliders I threw on the day was at the wrong time and the wrong location to JaCoby there," Gibson said. "Obviously the walk to Greiner, you never walk a guy. But I executed a few pitches and he took a close 2-2 pitch that was just low, and Beckham hit a good slider down and away for the base hit."