Deduno pitches Twins past struggling Tigers 9-3

MINNEAPOLIS – Darin Mastroianni and Ryan Doumit each homered and drove in three runs, Samuel Deduno baffled the struggling Detroit Tigers for seven innings and the Minnesota Twins snapped a four-game losing streak with a 9-3 victory Monday night.

Deduno (4-0) held Detroit hitless through four innings and retired nine of 10 batters before getting into trouble in the eighth. The 29-year-old right-hander struck out six and remained undefeated in seven career starts.

Doumit broke it open with a three-run homer off reliever Duane Below that made it 8-1 in the seventh. Joe Mauer added three hits to raise his average to .321.

Miguel Cabrera got his 99th RBI for Detroit, which has lost three straight and five of six.

Mastroianni gave the Twins a 2-1 lead with a solo homer in the fifth. The soaring fly ball bounced off the top of the left-center wall — just over the glove of a leaping Andy Dirks — and into the stands.

It wasn't the only fortunate bounce the Twins got.

With runners on first and third and one run already home in the Detroit fifth, Dirks lined a pitch off Deduno's glove that ricocheted to second baseman Alexi Casilla, who caught it and doubled off Omar Infante at first to end the inning.

Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez (1-3) took a grounder off his left knee in the first, but stayed in the game. He allowed five runs and 12 hits over 5 1-3 innings.

The right-hander has an 8.41 ERA since being acquired in a trade with Florida on July 23.

Detroit's offense, which had at least 10 hits in eight of 11 August games entering Monday, couldn't figure out Deduno's cutter and mixture of off-speed stuff until it was too late.

Mostly an afterthought when the season started, Deduno has managed control issues to become an effective starter for the Twins.

Through seven innings, he allowed only one run on two hits and pitched around five walks.

He left to a standing ovation with two on and nobody out in the eighth. One of those runners eventually scored, bringing the right-hander's final line to three runs on five hits over seven-plus innings.

Minnesota's offense, which has been one of the AL's best since the All-Star break, pounded out 18 hits and didn't even need Trevor Plouffe's bat.

Plouffe, second on the team with 19 home runs, had been sidelined since July 20. He returned from a bruised thumb and was the only Twins starter to go hitless.

It was the sixth time in seven games that the Tigers have allowed double-digit hits and the third time this month they've given up 17 hits or more.

NOTES: To make room for Plouffe, the Twins sent middle infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka back to Triple-A Rochester. The former Japanese league batting champion went 0 for 12 with three errors at second base plus a number of other blunders in the field during his week in the majors. ... Tigers manager Jim Leyland said an MRI on reliever Brayan Villarreal's sore right elbow revealed no damage. Villarreal wasn't available Monday after pitching the previous two games, including Sunday's 8-3 loss to Texas in which he threw two wild pitches and said his elbow felt weak. ... X-rays were negative on Twins CF Denard Span's right shoulder. Span left Sunday's game against Tampa Bay after landing on the shoulder trying to make a diving catch in the sixth. He didn't play Monday and is day to day. ... Minnesota lefty Brian Duensing (2-7) faces Doug Fister (6-7) on Tuesday. Duensing allowed 11 hits and six runs in his last start, a 6-2 loss to Cleveland. Fister has won five of his last seven starts, pitching at least six innings in each outing.