The Tigers spent most of Wednesday night taking punches and answering back, and by the time the 12th inning rolled around at Target Field, Spencer Torkelson finally landed the one that mattered most.
His two-run homer to the second deck in left field, his 21st of the season, cracked open a five-run inning and sent Detroit to an 11-6 win over the Twins on Sept. 2, a result that kept the Tigers from getting swept in the series. It was also Torkelson’s first long ball since July 29, when he walked off the Orioles in the 11th inning at Comerica Park.
Minnesota right-hander Tommy Nance couldn’t stop the bleeding once it started. Detroit loaded the bases with two outs on a single, an intentional walk and a hit batter - John Peck took one off the helmet - and Javier Báez followed by clearing the bags with a three-run bloop double.
That finish came after a game that kept slipping away from Detroit, then snapping back into place, then slipping again.
The Tigers carried a 5-2 lead into the eighth, needing just six outs to end a three-game losing streak and avoid another ugly loss after being blown out in the first two games of the set by a combined 26-3. But they never made it to the ninth with that lead intact. A walk and a hit batter opened the door for the Twins, who pushed across three runs to tie it.
Detroit still had enough left to keep going. In the 11th, Max Clark - who had already doubled twice - poked a double down the left-field line to score free runner Ben Malgeri and put the Tigers back in front. But with no outs and no advance from Clark, the margin was thin for Kyle Finnegan, who had thrown 25 pitches Tuesday night.
Luke Keaschall then lined a single to right to bring home the free runner and tie it again. Finnegan still managed to drag the game into the 12th, where Brooks Lee’s single moved Keaschall to third.
The Tigers responded by moving Báez in from left field and using a five-infielder alignment against former Tiger Kody Clemens. Finnegan struck out Clemens, then got Ryan Jeffers to ground out.
He wasn’t done. Finnegan came back for a clean 12th and finished the job.
Detroit had to patch together innings with almost everyone it had. Kenley Jansen and Tyler Holton handled the eighth and ninth. Jacob Waguespack, who had thrown 21 pitches Tuesday night, got the last out of the ninth and stranded the free runner at second by striking out Royce Lewis and getting Kaelen Culpepper to fly out to the wall in right.
The eighth was where the lead disappeared. Lefty Drew Sommers loaded the bases with singles by Brooks Lee and Josh Bell and a hit batter to Clemens, then got only one out.
Jansen came in and walked pinch-hitter Victor Caratini to force in a run. Lewis followed with a 97.9 mph ball that shortstop John Peck couldn’t handle, and two more runs scored.
Just like that, Detroit’s lead was gone, and the blown save count for the season climbed to an MLB-high 29.
Before the game, the talk centered on what all these losses might do to a young roster, especially with so many rookies getting thrown into the fire during this stretch. Manager A.J. Hinch didn’t sound worried.
“I think the young guys are holding up fine,” Hinch said.
Catcher Dillon Dingler, who had the night off, said the same basic thing.
“A lot of these guys are really mature,” he said. “They go about their business the right way. There’s no real governing we need to do.”
That showed up on the scoreboard, too. The rookies gave Detroit plenty to work with.
Peck, in his second start, picked up his first big-league hit with a two-run double to left-center in the second inning, a 109.9 mph rocket that traveled 400 feet to the fence. He added another RBI single in the sixth.
Clark, 21, doubled three times and scored twice. Eduardo Valencia, 26, singled, doubled and scored.
His single came off the bat at 106 mph and bounced off the wall before he could reach second, and his double came off at 103.8 mph and missed leaving the yard by a couple of feet. Hao-Yu Lee, 23, singled in Kevin McGonigle, 22.
Malgeri singled twice and scored twice.
All of them are rookies, and all of them debuted this season.
Riley Greene, a three-time All-Star at 25, added an RBI double.
Detroit also got a useful start from veteran Drew Anderson, who was asked to steady things after the Twins punished young starters Jackson Jobe and Troy Melton in the first two games. In his sixth start since moving from the bullpen, Anderson mixed kick-changeups and curveballs around well-located four-seam fastballs at 94-95 mph and kept Minnesota uncomfortable.
He worked around a pair of walks and hit Keaschall twice, but through five innings he had allowed only one run, an RBI double by Jeffers, who continued to torment Tigers pitching in the series, going 5 for 12 with three homers and seven RBI.
Anderson’s changeup was especially sharp, producing eight whiffs on 22 swings and six called strikes.
His night ended in the sixth when, with two outs, McGonigle made a throwing error on a routine grounder to first. Bell singled, Larnach followed with an RBI double, and Anderson was pulled. Tyler Kinley, with a sharp slider, bailed Detroit out by stranding two runners in the sixth and then working a clean seventh.
In the end, the Tigers were hanging by a thread, but they hung on long enough for Torkelson to turn one swing into a win.
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