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Tigers beat Twins on HRs in 9th

Sep 16, 2014 - 7:18 AM Minneapolis, MN (SportsNetwork.com) - Torii Hunter homered on the first pitch of the ninth inning to break a tie and the Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins 8-6 on Monday to open a three-game series.

Hunter's shot to left-center came on a slider from Casey Fien (5-6), who gave up a homer to Miguel Cabrera on a curveball two pitches later.

"Those guys never give up over there," said Hunter. "We came through in the end."

The blasts came after the Twins had tied the score with two runs in the bottom of the eighth.

"I knew they were going to be aggressive," Fien said.

The AL Central-leading Tigers were coming off a three-game sweep of Cleveland over the weekend and have won seven of eight. They remained 1 1/2 games up on the Royals, who beat the White Sox in the ninth inning Monday night.

Kyle Ryan (2-0) induced a double play from Eduardo Nunez to end the eighth inning after Minnesota tied the game. Ryan played stopper after the bullpen coughed up a 6-4 lead for Max Scherzer, who went seven innings.

Joba Chamberlain walked the first two batters, Phil Coke surrendered a two-run single to Joe Mauer and Al Alburquerque gave up a single.

Making his second start of the season, regular reliever Anthony Swarzak gave up six runs and 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings for the Twins, who have lost 10 of their 14 games in September.

Oswaldo Arcia homered for Minnesota and Mauer drove in four runs.

The Tigers scored two runs with a two-out rally in the first inning. Cabrera doubled and scored on a ground-rule double by Victor Martinez, who came home on J.D. Martinez's single.

Detroit tacked on three runs in the fourth on Bryan Holaday's RBI double and Andrew Romine's two-run single.

The Twins didn't have a baserunner until Danny Santana's leadoff single in the bottom of the fourth. Swarzak came out with the bases loaded in the fifth and A.J. Achter walked the first batter he faced to force in a run.

Arcia homered to right-center field in the bottom of the fifth and the Twins scored three times in the sixth inning to pull within 6-4. Two runners were in scoring position after Scherzer threw a wild pitch and both scored on Mauer's single. Trevor Plouffe added a sacrifice fly to make it a two-run game.

Game Notes

It was Hunter's 16th homer of the season and Cabrera's 23rd ... Arcia hit his 18th homer of the season ... The Twins opened a nine-game homestand ... The Tigers started a six-game road trip that will end with three in a row against the Royals.