A pair of Victor Martinez home runs and a litany of three-ball counts led Ervin Santana to hit the showers early as the Minnesota Twins fell 6-3 to the Detroit Tigers on Friday night at Target Field. Santana lasted just 3.1 innings — his shortest outing of the season — as he needed 95 pitches to get just 10 outs on a night where he didn’t have his best command.
“They made him work in the first inning,” manager Paul Molitor said of Santana. “There were a couple pitches that were close that we didn’t get. So he was close to 20 pitches but still had a 1-2-3 (in the first). It just seemed like it got tougher (after the first home run to Martinez). The game didn’t have much pace; I think Santana and Jason (Castro) were having a little trouble getting in sync.”
The loss bumped Santana’s ERA up to 3.26 — the highest it has been after any start all season. Santana has allowed five or more earned runs five times over his last 10 starts, as his ERA has swollen from 1.75 to its present-day mark over that stretch.
Santana was clearly frustrated with the strike zone in the first inning, though it appears he was not alone in that sentiment all night. Both Tigers outfielder Justin Upton and Twins shortstop Ehire Adrianza also showed displeasure at the plate with the strike zone of umpire Tim Timmons.
“I didn’t have my best stuff today,” Santana said. “I fell behind in the counts, so that’s what happened today.”
Whether it was partly game plan on the Tigers’ part or Santana’s lack of command, he racked up an inordinate number of three-ball counts on the night. Santana only faced 18 batters as Molitor lifted him following laboring through two trips through the order, but over that stretch, he reached three-ball counts on 11 batters.
Santana said it was mostly fastball command, though he did tip his proverbial cap to the Tigers offense as well.
“Normally against me, they’re very aggressive,” Santana said of the Tigers offense. “Today they were very patient. They were taking it nice and easy, and swinging whenever they wanted. It worked out for them today.”
Martinez — the lone one left standing after the Tigers shipped J.D. Martinez to Arizona — exorcised some of his season-long demons with a pair of long balls, with the first coming in the second inning to right field. The second came in the fourth inning, to about the same area, and gave the Tigers a 4-0 lead. Martinez came into the night hitting just a meager .261/.332/.367, with his strong night giving his overall line a boost to .265/.334/.390.
The Tigers offense overall racked up 11 hits, but that’s even more impressive when considering none of them came off the bat of Miguel Cabrera, who had a pair of ugly strikeouts combined with a nasty hop in the field that actually forced him from the game. Twins designated hitter Robbie Grossman hit a wicked smash at Cabrera, and the ball came up on him and caught him near the collarbone.
Cabrera left the game the next half inning and had X-rays done, which came back negative. The official diagnosis passed on by the Tigers was a right clavicle contusion — and he’s day-to-day.
The Tigers tacked on a fifth run before the Twins had a chance to answer, as Mikie Mahtook followed the second Martinez home run with a triple into the corner in right and scampered home on a wild pitch with Jose Iglesias at the plate in the fourth inning. Iglesias ended up taking a walk, which signaled the end of Santana’s night with a 5-0 deficit.
The Twins managed to hold the Tigers offense at bay — for the most part — the rest of the way, and didn’t wait too long to return fire. In the bottom half of the fourth, Zack Granite opened with a single to right under the glove of second baseman Ian Kinsler, and Joe Mauer followed with a walk. Miguel Sano socked a single to left-center to bring home Granite — who had stolen second — and both he and Mauer moved up on the Grossman grounder that ate up Cabrera.
Adrianza followed by working a deep count, ultimately hitting the sixth pitch he saw from Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez into right field for a two-run single. It appeared Sano ran through third base coach Gene Glynn’s stop sign at third, but the throw came back to the infield, with Cabrera flipping it behind Adrianza to Kinsler at first. Had Kinsler held onto the ball as he tagged Adrianza, it might have not only been an inning-ending out, but it might have come just before Sano touched home plate.
Fortunately for the Twins, Kinsler dropped the ball as he tried to make a swift tag, and as a result, the deficit was cut to 5-3.
The game stayed 5-3 until the ninth, as relievers Belisle, Buddy Boshers and Tyler Duffey combined to throw 4.2 shutout innings with two hits, one walk and three strikeouts. Craig Breslow allowed a run in the ninth, but it hardly mattered as the Twins got virtually nothing going against Tigers closer Justin Wilson, who saved his 11th game of the season. With his name popping up frequently in active trade talks, he looked very good on Friday night, hitting 96 mph with his fastball while mixing in a devious 90-mph cutter.
Notes
- Granite stole his first career base in the fourth inning.
- Adrianza is now on a career-high seven-game hitting streak.
- The loss was the 400th in Twins history against the Tigers.
- The Twins fell to 2-5 against the Tigers this season, including 1-3 at Target Field.
- Sano extended his hitting streak to a modest four games.
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