Twins 2 - 4 Tigers
Final
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Martinez powers Tigers past Twins

Sep 26, 2014 - 4:40 AM Detroit, MI (SportsNetwork.com) - Victor Martinez had three hits, including a two-run homer, and the Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-2, on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series.

The Tigers, who have already clinched at least a wild-card berth, remained two games up on Kansas City for first place in the AL Central.

Miguel Cabrera added a solo homer for the Tigers, who have won three in a row and are 12-5 in their last 17 games. Max Scherzer (18-5) struck out nine in six innings to remain unbeaten in five September starts.

Twins rookie Trevor May (3-6) had seven strikeouts in six innings but suffered his second straight loss.

"Couple big hits there and we missed a couple opportunities," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "But that's a heck of a baseball team over there. They're really fighting for it."

Scherzer gave up two runs on five hits and four walks, while May yielded three on five hits and one walk. Joe Nathan pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 34th save.

Martinez's two-run blast to right in the first inning scored Torii Hunter, who had doubled. It was Martinez's 32nd homer of the season, extending a career high, and raised his average three points to .337 -- six shy of MLB leader Jose Altuve of Houston.

Cabrera homered leading off the fourth inning -- his seventh homer and 16th RBI this month.

"You can make the argument Victor has been swinging well all year," said Tigers manager Brad Ausmus. "Miggy's gotten hot this last month and it's well- timed."

The Twins trimmed their deficit to 3-2 on Joe Mauer's slicing two-run double into the left-center field gap in the fifth.

However, Ryan Pressly relieved May in the seventh and gave up a leadoff single to Alex Avila and a one-out RBI double to Rajai Davis which pushed Detroit's lead to two.

Game Notes

Cabrera's homer was his 24th of the season ... Davis had two hits ... Minnesota's Chris Herrmann and Detroit's Nick Castellanos each struck out three times.






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