MLB Game Preview - Minnesota at Detroit
Sun Sep 1, 2019 1:10 PM EDT

CIN
3
STL
4
F
OAK
4
NYY
5
F
HOU
2
TOR
0
F
MIN
8
DET
3
F
CLE
2
TB
8
F
MIA
3
WSH
9
F
BAL
4
KC
6
F
MIL
4
CHC
0
F
SEA
11
TEX
3
F
PIT
6
COL
2
F
SD
8
SF
4
F
BOS
4
LAA
3
F
LAD
4
ARI
3
F(11)
CHW
3
ATL
5
F
CIN
5
STL
3
F
NYM
2
PHI
5
F
Tigers, Turnbull look to quiet Twins' bats
Sun Sep 1, 2019 4:34 AM

Michael Pineda has continued to produce in his comeback season. The Minnesota Twins don't have any plans to shorten his return.

Pineda (10-5, 4.16 ERA), who has won four of his last five starts, will start the third game of a four-game series at Detroit on Sunday.

Pineda didn't appear in a major league game last season as he recovered from Tommy John surgery and then a knee injury.

He has pitched 134 innings this season but manager Rocco Baldelli isn't concerned about riding Pineda the rest of the way.

"The plan is to keep letting him pitch right now," Baldelli told reporters. "He's missed a little bit of time this year for different reasons. His innings number is in a fair spot. I don't think there's anything drastic we're going to kind of turn to at this point. I think he's in a good spot right now. He feels good. More than anything else, you watch him, the way he's going about his job, and he seems very comfortable."

In his last outing on Tuesday, he went the minimum five innings to get the victory, holding the Chicago White Sox to one run on four hits in the process.

He's 1-0 with a 4.76 ERA in three starts against Detroit this season. For his career, he's 2-2 with a 4.28 ERA in seven starts.

Detroit starter Spencer Turnbull (3-13, 4.18 ERA) hasn't notched a victory since May 31. The Tigers have lost the last 12 games the rookie right-hander has started, partially due to innings restrictions and a lack of run support. Detroit has scored two or fewer runs in nine of those outings.

In his last appearance on Tuesday, Turnbull gave up four runs on seven hits in five innings to Cleveland.

The Tigers snapped a six-game losing streak with a 10-7 victory on Saturday. The Twins saw their six-game winning streak, as well as their eight-game road winning streak, snapped. However, they made some history.

They hit six homers to reach 268 for the season, setting the major league single season record. The New York Yankees had 267 a year ago.

Catcher Mitch Garver hit two of the Twins' six homers on Saturday, including the record-setter.

"Homers are cool. I like hitting them," said Garver, who also led off the game with a long ball. "I kind of looked in the dugout because we're all fighting to do the same thing. It was a little bittersweet tonight in a loss but it was going to happen at some point. It was just a matter of when. Now we can kind of get over it and just get back to playing ball."

Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire acknowledges things were much different when he managed the Twins from 2002-14.

"All of baseball is embracing the home run philosophy. Everybody's swinging up," he said. "The ball is harder than a rock and it's just the new wave. When I first took over as manager, we had speed. We didn't have much power but we had a lot of speed, so we ran all over the bases. We hit and run, we bunted, we stole bases. That was the way we had to play because that's what we had."

--Field Level Media

Team Record Comparison

Team Standings GB W-L Aw/Hm Stk L10
Minnesota            
Detroit            

Scheduled Starting Pitchers

Michael Pineda - (N/A)
Matchup
Season
vs. Opp Has not pitched vs. Detroit
Spencer Turnbull - PHI
Matchup
Season
vs. Opp Has not pitched vs. Minnesota

Hot Batters (Last 10 team games)

Injury Report

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