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Cabrera homers twice as Tigers beat Twins

Apr 30, 2015 - 1:59 AM Minneapolis, MN (SportsNetwork.com) - Miguel Cabrera swatted two home runs and the Detroit Tigers totaled 17 hits in their 10-7 win over the Minnesota Twins that claimed this three-game series.

Cabrera finished 3-for-5 and drove in four runs. James McCann had a three-hit game, including his first career home run on an inside-the-park play. Andrew Romine was 4-for-4 with an RBI and a steal.

Tigers starter Shane Greene was crushed for the second straight game, despite striking out eight batters. He allowed seven runs on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings. The bullpen picked him up with four relievers combining for 4 2/3 scoreless innings, with Tom Gorzelanny (1-1) earning the win and Joakim Soria recording his ninth save in as many tries.

Minnesota's Phil Hughes left the game with a hip injury after allowing three runs in five innings, but the Twins' relievers were not as sharp. Tim Stauffer and Casey Fien (1-2) were both charged with three runs.

"It's unfortunate," said Hughes. "I felt like I had good stuff early."

Oswaldo Arcia and Trevor Plouffe each homered for the Twins, while Joe Mauer was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two runs driven in.

Stauffer entered with the Twins holding a 7-3 lead after five innings. Cabrera greeted him with his first homer, a deep drive into the second deck in left- center field. Just two batters later, J.D. Martinez went deep to cut the Twins' lead to two.

After Stauffer allowed a two-out single to Nick Castellanos, he was relieved by Aaron Thompson. On a 1-1 pitch, McCann hit a ball over Jordan Schafer's head in center field that kicked off the wall and ricocheted off Schafer's leg in right-center field. McCann raced around the bases and easily beat Schafer's throw back into the infield to tie the game.

"Until he hit third base, I wasn't sure if he was going or not," said Tigers manager Brad Ausmus.

The decisive run would be scored in the eighth. Yoenis Cespedes hit a harmless pop-up in the middle of the diamond, but it would drop between Twins infielders for a single. He would later come around to score on Romine's two- out single.

An inning later, Cabrera sent a laser over the wall in center field after an Ian Kinsler single that extended Detroit's lead to 10-7. Soria allowed the tying run to come to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but escaped the jam to end the game.

Prior to the fourth, Hughes had cruised through the Tigers lineup, but back- to-back doubles from Kinsler and Cabrera got Detroit on the board.

Greene started struggling as well. He hit Brian Dozier in the bottom of the fourth before Mauer's run-scoring double, and Arcia hammered a home run to deep right field later in the inning to put the Twins in front 3-1.

The game was quickly tied in the top of the fifth when Cespedes, Castellanos and McCann all hit doubles to open the inning.

The troubles did not end there for Greene despite striking out Schafer to begin the fifth. Mauer capped a string of three straight singles with an RBI hit that scored Danny Santana, and Plouffe followed with a three-run homer to put Minnesota up 7-3 and knock Greene out of the game.

Game Notes

Greene had not allowed a home run in his first four starts ... In his last time out, Greene allowed eight runs in four innings against Cleveland ... Hughes departed with a left hip flexor strain ... Minnesota also lost Schafer, who exited with a knee sprain in sixth ... Each team starts a four-game series on Thursday, with the Twins hosting the White Sox and the Tigers traveling to Kansas City.