DETROIT (AP) — Jonathan Schoop became the third player from Curaçao with 1,000 major league hits and finished a home run shy of the cycle, helping the Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins 7-5 on Monday in the opener of a five-game series.
Schoop, a 30-year-old infielder in his 10th big league season, singled in the third inning, doubled in the fifth for his 1,000th hit and tripled leading off the seventh as part of a 3-for-5 afternoon that lifted his average from .173 to .185.
Schoop joined Andruw Jones (1,933) and Andrelton Simmons (1,163 through Sunday) as players from Curaçao with 1,000 hits,
Rookie Spencer Torkelson, another slumping Tigers player, had his first three-hit game with two singled and a double. His seventh-inning RBI infield single off Joe Smith (0-1) put the Tigers ahead 5-4 and Willi Castro followed with another-run scoring single.
Gio Urshela cut the deficit with an RBI double in the eighth against Alex Lange, and Javier Báez had a run-scoring single in the bottom half to restore a two-run lead.
Detroit overcame a 3-1 deficit and scored more than four runs for the first time since May 15.
Joe Jiménez (2-0) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings of one-hit relief. Gregory Soto worked around Nick Gordon’s leadoff single in the ninth for his ninth save in 10 chances.
Tigers starter Beau Briske remained 0-4 in seven big league starts, allowing four runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Twins starte Dylan Bundy gave up four runs and nine hits in six innings, throwing a season-high 95 pitches.
Gary Sánchez homered leading off the second, Derek Hill’s first home run of the season tied the score in the third and José Jose Miranda gave Minnesota a 3-1 lead with a two-run homer in the fourth.
Torkelson’s RBI double and Castro’s run-scoring single tied the score in the bottom half, and Jeimer Candelario’s single put the Tigers ahead in the fifth.
Urshela’s homer made it 4-4 in the sixth.
Hill nearly homered again in the ninth, but his drive down the left-field line was ruled foul after a replay review. He walked and scored on Báez’s single.
TRAINER’S ROOM
TWINS: The Twins placed INF Royce Lewis (knee) on the 10-day IL and recalled Miranda from Triple-A St. Paul. Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa both had scheduled days off before Tuesday’s day-night doubleheader, while Max Kepler sat out with a sore quadriceps. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli is hoping to have Kepler available for at least one of Tuesday’s games.
TIGERS: The Tigers placed OF Robbie Grossman (neck) on the injured list and recalled INF Kody Clemens, a son of seven-time Cy Young Award winner, from Triple-A Toledo for a possible big league debut. Miguel Cabrera (back) was given an extra day of rest.
UP NEXT
The teams play a day-night doubleheader on Tuesday. Detroit’s Rony Garcia (0-0, 3.00) will face Minnesota’s Devin Smeltzer (1-0, 1.04) in the first game, while the Tigers are expected to start Joey Wentz (0-1, 20.25) in the nightcap.
