After getting shut out in back-to-back games, the Detroit Tigers broke loose for five home runs while splitting Saturday’s doubleheader with the Minnesota Twins.
Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire is hoping that offense will carry over into Sunday’s finale at Target Field in Minneapolis when they face one of the hottest pitchers in the American League in left-hander Martin Perez.
Detroit had four homers in a 5-3 victory in Saturday’s opener, including a pair by shortstop Ronny Rodriguez. Third baseman Jeimer Candelario had a two-run blast in the nightcap, but the Tigers lost 8-3.
“We scored some runs,” Gardenhire said.
“Winning the first game was huge. … The second one got away from us a little bit. But you know what? Now we have a chance (Sunday to) even the series and win two out of four here. That would be a good deal.”
Especially if the Tigers can find a way to defeat Perez (5-0, 2.83 ERA), who will be reinstated from the paternity list before Sunday’s contest.
Since being put into the starting rotation after beginning the season in long relief because of a schedule that included six off days over the first 16 days of the season, Perez has compiled a 4-0 record and 1.64 ERA in five starts. He enters Sunday’s game with a streak of 15 consecutive shutout innings in wins over Houston and Toronto, allowing just six hits and four walks while striking out 16.
“He’s missed a good amount of bats this year,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I think he’s missed bats and he’s finding new ways to miss bats.”
Perez has added a cutter to his repertoire to go along with an improved fastball that regularly hits the mid-90s and an improved changeup which he threw 26 times en route to a career-high nine strikeouts in a 8-0 victory at Toronto on Monday. He allowed just two singles over seven innings to win his fourth consecutive start.
“I don’t want to lose my focus,” Perez said. “I went with my plan and continue to win for my team. … When I’m trying to go in I was seeing that they were cheating on my cutter, and I just came back again with my changeup down and away. I think that was the key.”
Perez has struggled against Detroit in the past, compiling a 1-2 record and 6.17 ERA in four career starts.
The Tigers will counter with left-hander Daniel Norris (1-1, 3.81). Norris is 1-2 with a 3.99 ERA in five career starts against the Twins but is 1-0 with a 2.77 ERA in two career starts at Target Field.
Norris will have to contend with a deep Minnesota lineup that ranks second in the majors with a .263 team average and features seven players with at least six home runs — led by American League co-leader Eddie Rosario, who has 13.
First baseman C.J. Cron, claimed off waivers from Tampa Bay last fall, has nine home runs and hit two in Saturday’s doubleheader, including a three-run laser during a four-hit nightcap that had an exit velocity of 115.1 mph, the second hardest hit by a Twins player in the Statcast era.
“When he hits the ball on the barrel the ball comes off hot,” Baldelli said. “He can certainly do some things and I think he’s feeling really, really good at the plate right now.”