Inside The Twins

Twins hit four home runs, pummel Tigers in series opener in Detroit

Pablo Lopez threw seven strong innings and Royce Lewis got a hit in his return to action.
Will Ragatz|
Jul 26, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton (25) celebrates after scoring a home run in the first inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
Jul 26, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton (25) celebrates after scoring a home run in the first inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. | Brian Bradshaw Sevald-USA TODAY Sports

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Minnesota Twins

With one out in the top of the first inning, Byron Buxton took a first-pitch slider from Tigers starter Keider Montero and crushed it into the bullpen in left-center. Trevor Larnach followed that by lacing a 3-1 fastball over the wall in right. Just like that, back-to-back home runs had the Twins out to an early 2-0 lead in Detroit. Minnesota kept rolling from there, hitting four total homers to back a strong outing from Pablo Lopez in a 9-3 series-opening victory at Comerica Park on Friday night.

In the second inning, Matt Wallner's fourth bomb in 12 games since returning from Triple-A on July 7 extended the Twins' lead to 3-0. A Javier Baez two-run shot in the third inning got the Tigers back into the game — until the Twins responded right away in the top of the fourth. A two-out, two-run single from Willi Castro restored the three-run lead, and a Buxton double into the left field corner put the Twins up 6-2.

Minnesota catcher Christian Vazquez, who stole his third base of the season before Castro's two-run single, hit a two-run blast for his fifth homer of the year in the sixth inning. No. 8 and 9 hitters Brooks Lee and Vazquez led the Twins with three hits apiece.

Lopez settled in after the Baez home run, finishing with a quality line of 7 innings pitched, 6 hits, 1 walk, 2 earned runs, and 7 strikeouts. He ended his day by escaping a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the top of the seventh. Lopez got Gio Urshela to ground into a force out, then induced pop outs from Baez and Wenceel Perez. Josh Staumont and Caleb Thielbar each threw an inning out of the Twins' bullpen to seal the victory.

In his first game since missing three weeks with an adductor strain, Royce Lewis went 1-for-5 with a single and no strikeouts. More importantly, he stayed healthy throughout the contest.

The Twins are now 57-45, including a 38-11 record when scoring first. Because the Guardians beat the Phillies in their series opener in Philadelphia, the Twins remain 4.5 games back in the AL Central.

Game two of this series on Saturday evening will feature quite the pitching matchup between the Twins' Joe Ryan and Tigers All-Star Tarik Skubal, who leads MLB with a 2.34 ERA.

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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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