MINNEAPOLIS – Jose Miranda went 5 for 5 with three doubles, four runs scored and three RBIs as the Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 12-3 on Thursday in a game called in the seventh inning due to rain.
The start was moved up an hour with threatening weather in the forecast. Rain began to fall steadily in the fourth, play was finally stopped in the bottom of the seventh and the game was called following a 30-minute delay.
Ryan Jeffers had three hits and four RBIs for the Twins, including his team-leading 14th homer. Max Kepler added two hits and two RBIs.
“As a team, we’re clicking. Everyone is (having) some good at-bats,” said Miranda, whose five hits were a career high. “There’s not a single hitter you can say is an easy (out) for our team. That’s a great thing to have.”
Bailey Ober (8-4) allowed three runs - one earned - on seven hits and struck out eight in six innings to win his third straight decision. Minnesota has won six of its last seven series.
“We’re pleased,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It’s July. We never, ever get too far ahead of ourselves in our game. Because anything can happen any given day. But the consistency (with) which we’re playing on both sides of the ball, I think it’s great and we need to continue to do it.”
PHOTOS: Miranda's 5 hits lead Twins to rain-shortened 12-3 win over Tigers
Colt Keith homered and Jake Rogers had two RBIs for the Tigers. Kenta Maeda (2-5) gave up nine runs on nine hits and three walks over 3 2/3 innings.
Keith got the scoring started in the first, when he jerked an 0-2 slider from Ober deep into the second deck of right-field seats for a solo home run.
Ober could have had a 1-2-3 second inning, but a passed ball by Jeffers on strike three to Zack McKinstry allowed the batter to reach base. Gio Urshela followed with a single, and Jake Rogers drove home both runners with a double.
“I just kind of leaned on my stuff the rest of the way,” Ober said, explaining how he rebounded from that inning. “I knew that I was putting the ball in the spots that I needed to and ended up being able to go through and finish six.”
Minnesota got two runs back in the bottom half on Jeffers’ run-scoring double and a sacrifice fly by Brooks Lee, his second RBI in two games since the club’s second-ranked prospect made his major league debut.
Kepler’s two-out, two-run single in the third gave the Twins their first lead, and Manuel Margot followed with a single off Maeda’s glove to make it 5-3 through three innings.
Minnesota chased Maeda with four runs after he retired the first two batters in the fourth. Miranda’s two-run double and Jeffers’ two-run homer did all the damage.
Jeffers’ homer extended Minnesota’s franchise record to 22 consecutive games with a home run.
Miranda picked up his fifth hit in the seventh, just before play was halted. Jeffers was up next, and the first pitch slipped out of reliever Shelby Miller’s hand and clipped the bill of Jeffers’ helmet. After a brief discussion, the umpires sent both teams off the field and called for the tarp.
“Moving the game up to noon ended up being the right decision in a big way,” Baldelli said. “We were going to play this game until we couldn’t play anymore, and when we shut it down, it was the right time to shut it down.”
UP NEXT
Tigers: RHP Reese Olson (2-8, 3.32 ERA) starts Friday night in the opener of a three-game series at Cincinnati. Olson has pitched at least six innings and given up no more than two runs in each of his last three starts.
Twins: RHP Pablo López (8-6, 4.88 ERA) looks for his third straight win as the Twins begin a three-game home series against Houston on Friday night. López has allowed just one earned run and struck out 23 over 14 innings in his last two starts.
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