Twins 7, Tigers 3: Buxton and Kepler lead Twins past Tigers

The kitties pounced first with Nick Castellanos belting a solo HR in the second, and for a moment it looked like Kyle Gibson had reverted once again to his old bad ways.

But thankfully Max Kepler has no sympathy for any endangered species (such as tigers) and homered for the second night in a row to tie things up in the third.

The Tigers answered right back plating another run in the bottom half of the third, taking a 2-1 lead on a bloop RBI single by Ian Kinsler.

Byron Buxton had a great night going 3-4, including a 2 run double in the fourth scoring Jorge Polanco and Eddie Rosario to give the Twins back the lead. Kepler followed that up with another RBI to score Buxton and make it 4-2.

Gibson pitched fairly solid going seven frames, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts. The other run coming from a solo HR by Kinsler in the sixth.

The Twins meanwhile would tack on a couple more runs and the bullpen did a fine job of not allowing any more runs. Eduardo Escobar added a RBI single in the fifth, and Robbie Grossman’s run-scoring double in the sixth. Brian Dozier slapped a solo dong in the 9th for good measure and the Twins win 7-3.

W: Gibson (12-10)

L: Norris (4-8)

HR: Kepler (19) , Dozier (32)

Note: Minnesota's magic number to clinch its first postseason berth since 2010 is seven with eight games remaining. At the time of this writing both the Angels and Rangers are losing.

Studs:

Buxton, Kepler, Gibson, Dozier

Duds:

No duds Twins win!!

September call-up commenters:

COTG: Gonzobob ~ Joel is an astronomer.

The world may or may not be ending tomorrow, my guess is not ....so have a great weekend. But if it does at least we got a Twins win to go out on.