DETROIT (AP) — Luke Keaschall drove in three runs for the second straight game and the Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 9-4 on Wednesday.
Keaschell is hitting .393 in his nine-game major league career, which was interrupted in April by a broken arm. He returned on Tuesday and has four hits and six RBIs in his first two games back.
Thomas Hatch (1-0) picked up the win with 4 1/3 scoreless innings of relief. He was claimed off waivers on Monday from the Kansas City Royals.
Jack Flaherty (6-11) took the loss, giving up six runs in 4 2/3 innings.
The Twins took a 2-0 lead in the first. Alan Roden and Matt Wallner started the game with singles, and Keaschall drove them in with a two-out double. Keaschall had three RBIs in Tuesday’s 6-3 win, including his first career homer.
Minnesota made it 3-0 in the second when Brooks Lee scored on a wild pitch, but Spencer Torkelson’s 24th homer narrowed the game to two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Zach McKinstry pulled the Tigers within one with a leadoff homer in the third and Kerry Carpenter’s two-run shot put Detroit ahead 4-3 later in the inning.
Lee homered in the fourth and the Twins took a 6-4 lead on RBI doubles by Ryan Jeffers and Keaschall in the fifth. Austin Martin and Roden homered off Tyler Holton in the sixth.
Key moment
The Tigers had runners on first and third with one out in the eighth and their 3-4-5 hitters due up. A.J. Hinch sent Jahmai Jones in to hit for Carpenter and Kody Funderburke got him to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Key stat
Keaschall has reached base in his first nine career games, the second-longest streak in Twins history. Glenn Williams reached in his first 13 games in 2005.
Up next
Each team is off on Thursday before starting weekend home series on Friday. Twins ace RHP Joe Ryan (10-5, 2.83) is scheduled to start against the Kansas City Royals, while Tigers All-Star LHP Tarik Skubal (11-3, 2.18) will face the Los Angeles Angels.
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