Ryan Jeffers connected for two of the Twins’ four home runs in Minnesota’s 11-1 win against the Detroit Tigers on Monday in Minneapolis.
Jeffers went 2-for-3 with four RBIs, and Taj Bradley (10-6) struck out nine while allowing one run in seven innings as the Twins won their second game in a row. Bradley permitted four hits and walked three.
Minnesota’s Walker Jenkins and Kody Clemens also homered while Luke Keaschall had two hits and three runs.
Tigers starter Jackson Jobe (1-2) gave up five runs, four earned, on six hits in five innings. He walked two and fanned four. Hao-Yu Lee homered and singled for the Tigers, who took their 10th loss in 12 games.
Minnesota grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Keaschall led off with a double to left field, went to third on Brooks Lee’s groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly from Clemens.
Clemens’ solo shot into the right field seats doubled the advantage in the fourth.
The Twins tacked on three more in the fifth inning. Keaschall reached when third baseman Hao-Yu Lee bobbled the ball, then stole second with Clemens at the plate. Clemens worked a 12-pitch plate appearance to draw a walk. Jeffers followed, mashing a fastball 420 feet to left field to push the gap to 5-0.
The Tigers got on the board in the top of the sixth on a home run from Hao-Yu Lee into the Minnesota bullpen.
Detroit reliever Yilber Diaz struggled as he replaced Jobe to start the sixth. He walked Royce Lewis to open the inning, and with one out, he issued back-to-back four-pitch walks to Walker Jenkins and Keaschall, loading the bases.
Brooks Lee followed with a single deep to right field that drove in Lewis, Jenkins and Keaschall, widening the Twins’ lead to 8-1.
Jeffers connected for his second home run of the game opening the seventh, putting a slider just over the wall in left field.
Jenkins added to the rout in the eighth with his first major league home run off Zach McKinstry, who switched from right field to the mound to start the inning. After Kaelen Culpepper walked, Jenkins knocked a two-run shot off the right field pole.
