Detroit, MI – The Tigers, stymied much of the day by Scott Diamond, erupted for a five-run eighth inning against the Twins bullpen on Thursday to earn a split in their four-game series.
Prince Fielder delivered a three-run homer and Delmon Young added a solo shot in the inning, propelling Detroit to a 7-3 win over Minnesota in the finale.
Diamond kept the Twins ahead 3-2 after seven innings, but Alex Burnett, Tyler Robertson and Anthony Swarzak each gave up at least a run in the eighth.
Detroit's rally was sparked by Austin Jackson's one-out triple to the right field corner off Burnett (2-1) and he scored the tying run on Miguel Cabrera's single, just after pinch-hitter Quintin Berry walked.
"He was able to go first to third," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said of Berry. "We don't have a lot of guys who can do that. That was huge for us, to set up at least a sac fly from Miguel."
Fielder's three-run blast to right, his 13th of the season, came against Robertson and Young got his seventh homer on Swarzak's second pitch. It hit off the top of the wall in right-center and was ruled a home run after a replay.
The Tigers won the last two games of the series and are 4-2 in their last six while the Twins have dropped two straight on the heels of a five-game winning streak.
Diamond didn't allow a hit until the fourth inning and gave up just five all game. He struck out four and walked one.
"It got away from us," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "Diamond did a heck of a job."
Tigers starter Rick Porcello yielded 12 hits and three runs in just 3 2/3 innings. Struggling anyway, he came out after being hit by a line drive.
Octavio Dotel (2-2) threw 1 1/3 innings for the win and Jose Valverde pitched the ninth to lock it up.
The game was delayed 82 minutes by rain after Wednesday's game was pushed back nearly 2 1/2 hours because of the wet stuff.
Diamond faced the minimum through three innings, walking Young in the second inning but getting Jhonny Peralta to hit into a double play afterward.
Meanwhile, the Twins took a 1-0 lead on back-to-back-to-back singles by Trevor Plouffe, Darin Mastroianni and Brian Dozier in the second inning. Mastroianni and Dozier were both thrown out at home in the inning, but the Twins went up 3-0 in the fourth.
The inning was a disaster for Porcello and the Tigers, though they limited the damage to a pair of runs on RBI singles by Denard Span and Joe Mauer.
Two singles came on deflected balls, including Span's. Mastroianni scored on Span's hit after he earlier avoided being picked off first base when Fielder whiffed on the swipe tag even though he had the Twins left fielder dead to rights.
Fielder collided with catcher Gerald Laird as they converged -- along with Porcello -- on a bunt pop-up in front of the plate. Porcello dropped the ball and Laird was shaken up after taking an elbow to the face, only putting the mask back on following a visit from the trainer.
Ryan Raburn dove for Mauer's RBI single in left, but short-hopped the ball, and Porcello was taken out for Darin Downs after getting hit by a Ryan Doumit liner.
Jackson had Detroit's first hit, a leadoff double in the bottom of the fourth, and scored on Cabrera's single to get the Tigers within 3-1.
Mastroianni had three hits, including a leadoff single in the eighth. He stole second and third, but was out easily at home plate on Jamey Carroll's failed suicide squeeze attempt on Dotel's low and outside pitch.
Game Notes
The Tigers improved to 5-4 in the season series. They remain home for a three- game series against Kansas City starting Friday...The Twins start a three-game series at Texas on Friday.
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