Spencer Torkelson, Jackson Jobe lead hot Tigers past Twins

Spencer Torkelson went 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs, and the Detroit Tigers cruised to a 4-0 win over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis.

Justyn-Henry Malloy also drove in a run for Detroit, which won for the seventh time in its past eight games. The Tigers will go for a three-game sweep of Minnesota on Sunday.

Carlos Correa doubled for the only extra-base hit of the afternoon for the Twins. Willi Castro, Edouard Julien and Jose Miranda each managed a single as Minnesota was shut out for the second time this season.

Tigers right-hander Jackson Jobe (1-0) earned his first career victory. The 22-year-old fired six scoreless innings and gave up two hits, walked one and struck out two.

Twins right-hander Chris Paddack (0-2) took the hard-luck loss after giving up two runs (one earned) on two hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out five.

Tigers relievers Brenan Hanifee, Tyler Holton and John Brebbia combined to pitch three scoreless innings and preserve the shutout. Brebbia recorded the final out when he got Byron Buxton to strike out looking.

Detroit jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first. Zach McKinstry drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on an infield single by Kerry Carpenter and took third on a throwing error by Correa, and he scored on a sacrifice fly by Torkelson.

Malloy made it 2-0 in favor of the Tigers when he hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth. He drove in Torkelson, who opened the inning with a single, advanced to second on a walk to Riley Greene and sprinted to third on a groundout by Colt Keith.

In the sixth, the Tigers added two runs. Carpenter hit a leadoff single to left, and Torkelson followed in the next at-bat with a 421-foot home run to left-center field.

The blast marked Torkelson's fourth homer in 14 games to start the season. He hit 10 home runs in 92 games in 2024.

--Field Level Media