Wenceel Perez went 3-for-5 with two RBIs, including a tiebreaking RBI single in the top of the ninth inning, and the Detroit Tigers held on for a 5-4 win over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night in Minneapolis.
Kerry Carpenter finished 4-for-5 with a double and two RBIs for Detroit, which opened a six-game road trip. Spencer Torkelson added three hits, including an RBI single.
Trevor Larnach went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer to lead Minnesota at the plate. Byron Buxton contributed a two-run double for the Twins, who dropped their fifth game in a row.
Tigers left-hander Andrew Chafin (2-0) earned the victory, retiring all four batters he faced. He was one of three relievers to follow starter Jack Flaherty, who gave up four runs (two earned) on four hits, walked one and struck out 10 in six innings.
Twins left-hander Caleb Thielbar (0-1) allowed one run on two hits in one inning.
Tigers right-hander Jason Foley got the final three outs for his sixth save.
Detroit grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
Torkelson hit a ground ball toward the hole between first and second base. Twins second baseman Edouard Julien gloved the ball, hesitated and fired a throw toward the plate, but the ball skipped past catcher Christian Vazquez and Carpenter slid into home.
The Twins took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first. Alex Kirilloff hit a two-out double and Larnach followed with a two-run shot to right-center field, his first homer of the season.
In the top of the third, Detroit scored twice to pull ahead 3-2. Perez ripped a run-scoring single to left field to notch his first career RBI, then Carpenter followed moments later with an RBI single to left to put the Tigers on top.
Carpenter delivered again with an RBI single in the sixth to make it 4-2 Detroit.
Buxton helped the Twins even the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth. He belted a two-run double off the wall in left field to drive in Julien and Ryan Jeffers.
Perez put the Tigers ahead for good with an RBI single up the middle with two outs in the top of the ninth. His hit scored Austin Meadows, who had singled with two outs and advanced to second on Thielbar’s errant pickoff throw.
