Tigers 6, Twins 5
Alex Avila knocked in the go-ahead run with a ground-rule double in the eighth to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 6-5 victory over the visiting Minnesota Twins.
Victor Martinez tied it with a two-run homer in the sixth for the Tigers, who have won back-to-back games to pull over .500 at 27-26. Avila followed a two-out single by Jhonny Peralta with his drive to left off Alex Burnett (1-4).
The Twins, who have dropped eight of 10 and own the worst record in the major leagues at 17-35, have lost by one run six times in the past 11 days.
Al Albuquerque (2-1) got the win, and Jose Valverde worked the ninth for his 13th save.
After the Twins grabbed a 5-3 lead with a four-run rally in the fifth, Detroit bounced back to tie it on Martinez’s blast.
The Tigers had a chance to break it open in the seventh, loading the bases with none out, but Jim Hoey struck out Austin Jackson and Phil Dumatrait struck out Casper Wells and got Brennan Boesch to ground into a fielder’s choice.