Royce Lewis and Ryan Jeffers hit three-run homers during a 10-run sixth inning for the Minnesota Twins to highlight a 15-2 victory over the skidding Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night.
Kody Clemens homered for the second straight game and Kalen Culpepper had two hits and three RBIs for the Twins (67-72), who won their third straight game after losing seven of eight. Minnesota is 3 1/2 games behind Cleveland for the third wild- card spot in the AL, with three other teams between them.
Luke Keaschall drove in two runs on two hits and Lewis went 3 for 4 with a walk as the Twins followed an 11-1 victory in the series opener with a 13-hit romp over a Tigers team (63-75) that has lost 14 of its last 17 games.
"I mean, very impressive," said Twins manager Derek Shelton after the win. "I mean, Melton's got good stuff and we just continue to add on, and I think if you look down our lineup, I mean, everybody contributed in some way. I know we had a couple of guys that didn't have hits. Both those guys that didn't have hits, one of them had an RBI, the other one had a couple of walks. So really a complete effort from our offense and then Connor did a nice job settling in and giving us the innings that we needed."
The Twins, who are second in the AL in runs behind Central Division leader Chicago, posted their second 10-run inning of the season and the 12th in club history, according to Sportradar. Minnesota had 10 runs in the fifth inning of a 16-8 win at Arizona on June 20.
Tigers starter Troy Melton (7-4) gave up the three-run shot to Lewis before yielding to Kyle Finnegan, who bore the brunt of the inning with five runs allowed and only one out recorded as the Twins sent 15 batters to the plate.
"Great night for Royce. Really, really happy for him," Shelton added. "I mean, he's been in a situation where I think the balls that he hit hard have not found grass. So for him to be able to get a couple of hits and then hit the homer to dead center, yeah, really good night for Royce. Very, very pleased with his AB's."
Jeffers, who homered twice on Monday, finished Finnegan's night with his three-run shot before Beau Brieske relieved.
Connor Prielipp (4-7) struck out five over five scoreless innings for the win in his first career relief appearance, following opener Andrew Morris.
"But to see his stuff play the way it is, the velocity, I was pleased with the breaking balls today," Shelton added. "I thought he did a nice job of execution of the breaking balls, but overall, yeah, he did a really good job. That's in a unique situation having to come in in the 2nd inning, and I thought he handled it extremely well."
Riley Greene returned from the injured list for the Tigers, who are 13-28 against AL Central opponents.
Up next
Dean Kremer (1-1, 4.39 ERA) pitches the series finale for the Twins on Wednesday night. Drew Anderson (4-5, 3.87) takes the mound for the Tigers.
"I mean, very impressive," said Twins manager Derek Shelton
"I mean, very impressive," said Twins manager Derek Shelton
