Buxton doubles, homers to lead Twins over Tigers, 7-1

Eduardo Escobar homered and drove in three runs as the Minnesota Twins kept pace in the AL wild-card race with a 6-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers Saturday night.

Minnesota right fielder Torii Hunter walked with one out in the seventh and center fielder Aaron Hicks singled. Although Detroit has already won the season series, Sunday’s game is the rubber match of the weekend series, and the Tigers would love to win one last time in front of the home crowd in 2015. “I don’t know if I’m amazed, because I know he’s got a mindset of wanting to catch as many games as possible”.

Tigers hitters combined for six hits Sunday and Santana struck out five (all with his slider) and walked two.

DETROIT (AP) – The only thing more improbable than the Minnesota Twins still being in the wild-card race might be the guy who is keeping them there.

With the game in hand, Buxton connected for his first Major League home run in the eighth inning to make the score 7-1.

Tigers offense: They hit the ball all over the place, just right into the gloves of Twins defenders. The three-run triple was challenged in a crew chief review and the original call was overturned due to fan interference, but Rosario was placed at third and the result of the play remained unchanged. “He gets his first homer, and Miguel (Sano) gets his first triple”.

Suzuki’s RBI single got Minnesota on the board, and Buxton and Brian Dozier followed with doubles to make it 4-0. Nick Castellanos made it 2-1 with an RBI double, and James McCann singled to bring Martinez home. So some blame belongs to the pitcher, but it’s also a good sign for Buxton that he could recognize what Wolf was trying to do and keep his weight loaded and stay balanced to put the slow curve in play. With men on second and third, Perkins came on and walked Miguel Cabrera before allowing Martinez’s tying double. Detroit straight up dominated the Twinkies this season, which is just as it should be.

There will be two more evening games at Comerica Park against the Twins this weekend, as the Tigers will conclude the regular season with 6-games on the road.

Tyler Collins: Smacked a pair of doubles in the second and seventh innings, respectively. He gave the Twins seven innings of one-run baseball, striking out five, walking one, and giving up just six hits.

“I felt great today”, he said. “Honestly, I wish I had two batters back, the first two in the fifth inning”. Two of the four runs were unearned.NOTES: Minnesota re-instated RHP Ricky Nolasco (right ankle surgery) off the 60-day disabled list, replacing him on the disabled list with LHP Logan Darnell, who has pneumonia.

“It’s impressive”, Twins manager Paul Molitor said.