Detroit Tigers can't keep perfect extra innings record in 11-5 loss to Minnesota Twins

The Detroit Tigers fell apart in the top of the 12th inning.

The Minnesota Twins scored seven runs in the 12th inning, with Tigers utility player Zach McKinstry responsible for six. He made a three-run fielding error as the third baseman, then gave up a three-run home run as the pitcher, both with two outs in the inning.

The Tigers lost to the Twins, 11-5, in an exhausting 12 innings in Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader at Comerica Park. The loss ended the Tigers' perfect 3-0 record in extra innings this season.

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In the 12th inning, right-handed reliever Alex Lange walked Austin Martin with the bases loaded, giving the Twins a 5-4 lead. He struck out the next two batters before a 12-pitch battle with Ryan Jeffers.

Jeffers hit the 12th pitch for a ground ball to third base.

The ball skipped past McKinstry and rolled into the outfield.

All three runners scored for an 8-4 lead.

Then, the Tigers put McKinstry in the game as the pitcher. He walked Manuel Margo, then gave up a three-run home run to Matt Wallner. With the homer, the Twins took an 11-4 lead.

The Tigers (8-5) received a solid start from right-hander Kenta Maeda. He struggled to generate swings and misses, but he allowed just two runs (one unearned run) on five hits and zero walks with five strikeouts across six innings.

It was his best of three starts this season.

And it was enough to keep up with Twins right-hander Joe Ryan. He struck out a career-high 12 batters across six innings, but the Tigers got to him early and late for three runs, of which two were unearned.

The Twins, though, tied the game at 3-3 in the eighth inning, when Jeffers blasted a solo home run to left-center field off right-handed reliever Shelby Miller's third-pitch fastball.

Miller had just replaced left-handed reliever Tyler Holton as a counter move to the Twins pinch-hitting Jeffers, a right-handed hitter, for Alex Kirilloff, a left-handed hitter, with two outs in the eighth.

The homer snapped Miller's streak of 19 games without allowing a run, dating back to last season.

The Tigers had the top three hitters in their lineup due up in the bottom of the 10th inning with a free runner on second base, but the Twins shut them down: Riley Greene (intentional walk), Mark Canha (ground into double play) and Spencer Torkelson (swinging strikeout).

The Twins took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 11th inning on Jeffers' RBI single off right-handed reliever Jason Foley, but the Tigers evened the score, 4-4, with Colt Keith's RBI single off right-handed reliever Jorge Alcala in the bottom of the 11th.

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Joe Ryan

The Tigers struggled against Ryan, who generated 20 whiffs on 53 swings, in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings. But there was some success from the Tigers in the first and sixth innings.

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In the first inning, Kerry Carpenter put the Tigers in front, 2-0, with a two-run home run to right-center field. He demolished a splitter with a 108 mph exit velocity for a 415-foot homer, thus extending the streak of scoring at least one run in the first inning to four games.

After that, the bats went cold against Ryan.

Ryan struck out five batters in a row in the second and third innings, plus eight outs in a row with strikeouts in the second, third and fourth innings. He set a career high in strikeouts when he struck out Canha in the fifth inning.

The momentum finally shifted — away from Ryan — in the sixth inning with a runner on third base and one out.

Keith fell behind 0-2 in the count with back-to-back fouls, but he refused to chase the next two pitches to even the count at 2-2. He tagged the fifth-pitch splitter for a ground-ball single past the second baseman and into right field.

The RBI single from Keith put the Tigers ahead, 3-2.

Torkelson, who scored on the single, set the table with a leadoff double, advancing to third base on Carpenter's groundout.

Kenta Maeda

Maeda created trouble for himself in the fifth inning.

He fielded a comebacker from Edouard Julien and tried to start an inning-ending double play, but he sailed the ball into center field. The throwing error put runners on the corners with one out.

On the next play, the Twins tied the game at two runs.

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Carlos Santana hit a ground ball to first baseman Spencer Torkelson, and although Maeda wanted him to throw home to get the runner scoring from third base, Torkelson turned to second base and tried to start an inning-ending double play. The runner advancing to second base was out, but the Tigers couldn't get Santana at first base to complete the double play.

Therefore, the run scored for a 2-2 tie.

The Twins scored their first run in the third inning on Austin Martin's RBI double.

Maeda threw 36 splitters, 22 sliders, 18 fastballs, nine sweepers and two cutters. He generated just six whiffs on 43 swings — for a below-average 14% whiff rate — with three splitters, two sliders and one fastball.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers crumble in extras to Twins, losing 11-5 in 12 innings