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Abel's Gem, Lee's Clutch Swing Help Twins Finish 4-Game Sweep of Tigers

The Twins are above .500 after completing a four-game sweep over Detroit at Target Field.
Will Ragatz|
Apr 9, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Mick Abel (20) throws to the Detroit Tigers in the first inning at Target Field.
Apr 9, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Mick Abel (20) throws to the Detroit Tigers in the first inning at Target Field. | Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

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Minnesota Twins

What a series from the Minnesota Twins. After a couple tough games to end their first home series against the Rays last weekend, the Twins just beat their division rival Tigers four days in a row to get back above .500 and wrap up a 5-2 homestand.

Mick Abel bounced back from poor outings in his first two appearances and struck out six Tigers batters over six scoreless innings on Thursday. Brooks Lee, who has had a very difficult start to his season, delivered the swing of the game with a go-ahead two-run single in the bottom of the eighth inning. And Eric Orze closed out a 3-1 Twins win in the bottom of the ninth to complete the sweep and send the Target Field crowd home happy once more.

Manager Derek Shelton has had to get creative with his bullpen early this season. The Twins don't have defined roles for their relievers at this point. Incredibly, Orze became the fourth different pitcher to pick up a save in this series. Cody Laweryson got the save on Monday, Justin Topa on Tuesday, Kody Funderburk on Wednesday, and Orze on Thursday. Adding in Cole Sands, the Twins now have five saves this season from five different pitchers.

This would be tricky to verify, but it feels entirely plausible that we just saw the first four-game sweep in MLB history with four different pitchers getting credited for a save. At the very least, that can't have happened many times before.

Update: It's the third time it's happened in almost 60 years!

Abel came into this game with an 11.05 ERA in his first 7.1 innings this season. But the circumstances hadn't been ideal, as he pitched out of the bullpen in his first outing and then pitched in very cold weather in his first start. On Thursday, he looked at lot more like the pitcher who had a 2.05 ERA and led all of baseball with 27 strikeouts during spring training.

It wasn't often clean for Abel, who had to pitch around some trouble. He allowed the first two batters to reach in both the first and second inning, and only had a single 1-2-3 frame on the day. Still, he buckled down and didn't allow a run over his six innings, surrendering four hits and three walks. He threw 102 pitches and allowed a tired Twins bullpen to call on just two pitchers for the final three frames.

The Twins threatened a bit on offense in the early innings but didn't score until Josh Bell launched his third home run of the season to lead off the bottom of the fourth, tying Matt Wallner for the team lead. Bell had three of the Twins' nine hits on the day and has an OPS over 1.000 two weeks into the season. He's looking like a big offseason addition.

After Abel left the game, the Twins turned to Garrett Acton, who they acquired in a trade with the Marlins last week. Acton was making his Twins debut and just his eighth career MLB appearance. He hit a batter, gave up a single, and allowed a game-tying sacrifice fly to Gleyber Torres. But left fielder James Outman kept it tied with a great sliding catch near the foul line to end the inning.

The Twins stranded a couple runners in the bottom of the seventh when Trevor Larnach struck out in what was just his second plate appearance against a left-handed pitcher all season. Acton then came back out and threw a huge 1-2-3 top of the eighth, including a pair of strikeouts.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Twins used a walk and a couple singles to load the bases. Stepping up to the plate for Minnesota's MLB-leading 35th plate appearance with the bases loaded was Lee, who had just entered the game as a defensive replacement at the start of the inning. Lee was just 5 for his first 30 this season, and it didn't look promising when he quickly fell down 0-2 against Tigers righty Will Vest.

But Lee worked the count full and then roped an elevated fastball into right field for a two-run single to put his team in front. The excitement and relief in Lee's celebration was clear to see. It was a massive clutch hit for the Twins from a player who had been struggling.

Orze, who has been one of the Twins' best relievers so far, had no trouble in a 1-2-3 ninth to end it. The Twins swept the Tigers in four games for the first time since 2021, dropping them to 4-9 on the season.

Now above .500 for the first time this year at 7-6, the Twins will look to continue their winning ways this weekend in Toronto against the 5-7 Blue Jays. Simeon Woods Richardson, Joe Ryan, and Taj Bradley will start the three games for Minnesota.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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