DETROIT – The Twins hit four solo homers for the second time in five games.
Once again, it wasn’t enough as starting pitcher Taj Bradley struggled for the third consecutive start in a 10-4 loss Tuesday night to the Tigers at Comerica Park. Bradley allowed three homers, and the two-run homer by Kerry Carpenter gave Detroit a one-run lead in the fifth.
Still, Minnesota remained in the game.
That all changed when reliever Taylor Rogers -- who hadn’t allowed a run in eight consecutive outings -- surrendered a three-run homer to Detroit catcher Dillon Dingler (his second of the game) on an 0-2 count with two outs in the sixth. Dingler got under the low, inside sweeper and pulled it to left field for the difference-maker.
Minnesota (30-38) lost its third consecutive game and fifth of six.
Bradley (5-3) had been on a roll until failing to make it out of the fifth inning in his past three starts, and seeing his nifty 2.77 ERA rise to a mediocre 4.02 in those outings. The right-hander allowed five runs on seven hits in this one and has allowed 13 earned runs on 19 hits over 13 innings in the past three starts.
“I don’t really have an answer right now,” he said. “It’s a bit confusing. Don’t know what questions to ask myself. Or don’t know what physical or mental cues I need to work on [to] have the long starts like I did before and just go deeper into games.
“So, take a step back, take a breath, exhale. I feel like I’ve been doing a lot of inhaling and forgetting to exhale.”
“It’s been the execution or overall lack of command," manager Derek Shelton said. "... We’ve got to keep working on it. I mean, this kid’s got good stuff. We saw it earlier in the year before he went on the IL [in early May], and even his first start off the IL, how consistent it was. We’ve got to get back to that.
"... He battled. But any time we scored, they answered back.”
Bradley landed 52 of 89 pitches for strikes, but he walked three and had two wild pitches.
Minnesota had a chance to perhaps take Bradley off the hook for a second consecutive loss in the seventh, when it loaded the bases with one out. But catcher Victor Caratini struck out swinging and first baseman Royce Lewis flew out to the warning track after right-hander Kyle Finnegan replaced lefty Tyler Holton.
The Twins took the lead on the first pitch of the game, when center fielder Byron Buxton took Detroit’s highly touted rookie, Troy Melton, deep to left-center for a Statcast-projected 428-foot shot traveling 111.9 mph.
Buxton returned to the lineup after bruising his right shoulder Friday night while making a dramatic catch and crashing into the wall in center. He was held out of the last two games.
It was a strange night for Buxton, who struck out in each of his other four at-bats. But make no mistake about it: Buxton is one of the game’s premier home run threats.
Buxton's 19 homers are tied with Atlanta's Matt Olson for fourth in the Majors, trailing only Philadelphia's Kyle Schwarber (23), Houston's Yordan Alvarez (22) and White Sox rookie Munetaka Murakami (20).
Josh Bell also homered off Melton, going the other way for his seventh home run of the season and the 200th of his career.
That made the score 2-2 in the third, and Brooks Lee (10th homer) and Kody Clemens (ninth) took Melton deep with back-to-back solo shots in the fifth to give Minnesota a 5-4 lead that was gone the next inning after Carpenter’s two-run shot.
It marked the Twins' second consecutive loss when hitting four solo homers following an 8-6 defeat to the Royals on Thursday. Clemens had two solo shots in that game, and Buxton also had one. Caratini had the other.
“Obviously, homers are cool,” Bell said. “A lot more meaningful with runners on base. I think we’re close, but obviously, we’ve just got to capitalize a little better with runners in scoring position. I mean, Royce was just a few feet away.”
Asked if he thought his drive in the seventh might carry for a two-out grand slam, Lewis said, “You never know. I mean, tonight the ball was flying out, clearly. I felt like I had a great approach and put a good swing on it … but that’s just baseball.”