DETROIT — A week after the Twins roughed up the Tigers’ bullpen, Detroit’s relief corps — with maybe a little help from a former Tigers reliever — carried them through a doubleheader sweep on Saturday at Comerica Park. Miguel Cabrera hit a walk-off bloop single in the bottom of the eighth for a 5-4 win in Game 2.
On a day when the Tigers brought back a slew of former players as part of its Summer Baseball Bash promotion, former Tigers reliever Phil Coke was banging on the plexiglass from the suite level and summoning fans to cheer as Detroit rallied in the eighth after the Twins took the lead on a Joe Jiménez wild pitch.
Derek Hill began the bottom of the inning on second base and stole third to set up Jonathan Schoop’s game-tying single off Taylor Rogers. Two batters later, Cabrera hit a fly ball that fell into shallow center field as Schoop sped around third.
The Tigers took a 3-1 lead on Akil Baddoo’s bases-clearing triple in the second inning, then watched the Twins whittle away at the gap. Josh Donaldson’s home run off spot starter Tyler Alexander leading off the fourth inning brought Minnesota within a run, then Nelson Cruz hit an infield single up the middle to tie it in the fifth. José Cisnero kept the Twins from moving in front by inducing a Josh Donaldson double play, then Derek Holland and Jiménez pitched scoreless innings to help take the game into extras.