Ryan Jeffers doubled and drove in a pair of runs, and the Minnesota Twins held on for a 4-2 win over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
Luke Keaschall and Josh Bell added one RBI apiece for Minnesota, which won its second game in a row. The Twins will try to secure their first series victory of the season when they play the Tigers in the third installment of a four-game set on Wednesday night.
Kevin McGonigle went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs to lead Detroit at the plate.
Twins right-hander Taj Bradley (2-0) continued his red-hot start to the season. He limited Detroit to one run on six hits in 6 1/3 innings, and he walked none and struck out 10.
Bradley drew a standing ovation from Twins fans as he walked off the mound in the seventh.
Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal (1-2) unraveled after four scoreless innings. He exited early after giving up four runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out seven.
Twins reliever Justin Topa got the final two outs to earn his first save of the season.
The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the fifth, when the Twins finally solved Skubal as part of a four-run inning.
Byron Buxton and Austin Martin drew back-to-back walks, and Keaschall followed with a single to center that scored Buxton for the game’s first run. In the next at-bat, Jeffers clubbed a double to right to drive in Martin and Keaschall.
Bell increased the Twins’ lead to 4-0 with a two-out double to left that scored Jeffers. The hit gave him eight RBIs in his first 11 games since signing a 1-year deal with Minnesota.
The Tigers got on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh. McGonigle singled to left to drive in Spencer Torkelson and cut the deficit to 4-1.
Detroit threatened to come back in the ninth. McGonigle doubled to score Javier Baez, but Gleyber Torres and Dillon Dingler each grounded out with runners on base to end the inning.
