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Slowey leads Twins past Tigers

May 24, 2008 - 3:39 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Kevin Slowey finally walked off the mound smiling.

Slowey tossed six scoreless innings for his first win of the season and Justin Morneau drove in two runs as the Minnesota Twins posted an 8-4 triumph over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night at Comerica Park.

After four failed attempts, Slowey (1-4) showcased his talents against one of the better lineups in the tough American League, holding the Tigers to just four hits with three walks and two strikeouts.

"After seeing them score like 40 runs in the last three days, we were worried about surviving this, but Slowey was great," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We've seen him throw some pretty good ballgames, but this is certainly the best performance he's had against a team like this."

The 24-year-old righthander also remained undefeated through two career starts against Detroit, which had its three-game winning streak snapped.

Minnesota's offensive supplied Slowey with some early run support off Tigers starter Armando Galarraga in the second inning.

With the bases loaded, Brandan Harris drove in Jason Kubel with an RBI ground out and Carlos Gomez followed with a run-scoring single to center for a 2-0 lead. After Galarraga (3-2) issued his second walk of the frame, Joe Mauer added an RBI single of his own.

"They are a phenomenal hitting team, but it makes my job a lot easier when our guys score a bunch of runs early," Slowey said. "I just had to pitch within myself."

The 2006 AL MVP, Morneau doubled and came around on Michael Cuddyer's RBI single in the fifth. An inning later, Mike Lamb belted his first homer this season to push the Twins' lead to 5-0.

"I'm not really a home-run hitter, but that's what pays the bills," Lamb said. "You don't get paid big money for 200 singles. It was nice to hit one, although it was strange to get tagged on my home-run trot."

Detroit tried to make things interesting in the seventh against Minnesota's bullpen.

All-Star catcher Ivan Rodriguez had a two-run triple, Marcus Thames delivered an RBI double and Gary Sheffield's solo blast to left capped a four-run uprising to slice the Tigers' deficit to 5-4.

Sheffield's homer could have been a two-run shot to tie the game, but Thames slid past second base and ran for third. Second baseman Alexi Casilla tagged him, then dropped the ball but Thames had run past third toward the dugout and didn't realize the ball had been dropped until Casilla had a chance to tag him again.

"I slid a little bit too late and (stuff) happened," said Thames, who pinch hitting for Curtis Granderson. "I was kind of screwed up. I was hustling. Can't do anything about it now."

But the Twins returned the favor in the eighth by scoring three times against Detroit's bullpen - including Dontrelle Willis, who was seeing his first action after spending a short stint on the 15-day disabled list with a knee injury.

"I felt good," Willis said. "It took me some pitches to get settled in. I used all my pitches. In a game like that, being off for so long, I was happy to get a rhythm and get some outs."

Galarraga was pounded for seven runs and five hits with five walks in six frames. The loss also marked the second straight outing the righthander has issued five free passes.

"(Galarraga) wasn't good," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland, who was ejected in the seventh. "His command wasn't good. He made some bad pitches, and also the lack of control - he walked five guys - up here normally, you can't keep churning the lineup over, it's going to haunt you. And the bullpen made some bad pitches, too. That pretty much sums it up