Detroit, MI – Justin Morneau and Chris Parmelee both collected two hits to go with two RBI as the Minnesota Twins avoided a three- game sweep to the Detroit Tigers with a 6-2 win on Wednesday.
Parmelee had a solo homer among his two hits, while Ryan Doumit and Jamey Carroll added one RBI apiece for the Twins, who will continue a 10-game road trip in Cleveland on Friday.
Scott Diamond (2-2), who carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning, yielded two runs on four hits while striking out three over six frames.
Miguel Cabrera had an RBI double and Torii Hunter also drove in a run for the Tigers, who had won five straight games entering the contest.
Anibal Sanchez (3-2) allowed three runs on five hits while fanning nine over six frames. He has now recorded 50 strikeouts over six starts this season.
Minnesota took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. Josh Willingham worked a two-out walk, then came around on Morneau's double. After Doumit walked, Parmelee ripped a single to left to score Morneau from second.
"The first inning, my tempo was a little too fast," Sanchez said. "I don't think my timing was good between pitches. At some point on the scoreboard I looked up and had 30 pitches."
On the play, Tigers left fielder Matt Tuiasosopo delivered a strike to the plate that had Morneau dead to rights, but catcher Brayan Pena couldn't handle the throw and Morneau slid by safely.
The Twins added another run in the second, when Pedro Florimon singled and later scored on a Carroll triple down the third-base line.
"We just nit-picked at him a little bit, but we got some in," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We made Sanchez throw a lot of pitches early in the game and I think that helped."
Detroit scored a pair of runs in the sixth inning to close the gap. Austin Jackson doubled and scored on a Hunter base hit to right field to put the Tigers on the board, and Cabrera followed with a double to left field to bring Hunter around.
Minnesota, though, added a pair of runs in the top of the seventh to take a 5-2 lead. Aaron Hicks opened the frame with a triple to right field and scored on Florimon's single to center. After back-to-back walks to Carroll and Willingham loaded the bases, Morneau delivered with a single to center to score Florimon.
Parmelee homered off Darin Downs in the eighth for the final margin.
Game Notes
The Twins are 9-2 when leading after seven innings ... Twins catcher Joe Mauer was given the game off for rest ... Morneau now has 799 career RBI ... Hunter has hit safely in six straight games ... Earlier on Wednesday, the Tigers placed pitcher Phil Coke on the 15-day disabled list with a left groin strain that has sidelined him since the weekend. The move is retroactive to April 26. To take his place in the bullpen, Detroit recalled pitcher Jose Ortega, who pitched a scoreless inning in the loss, from Triple-A Toledo.
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