Twins endure injury-filled afternoon in loss to Tigers

MINNEAPOLIS -- The good news for the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday was that the offense scored seven runs on 13 hits.

The bad news was, well, just about everything else.

Minnesota's starting pitcher, starting center fielder and setup man all left the game with injuries. The defense contributed to an inside-the-park home run and an infield pop-up that ultimately was the winning run. And the bullpen let the floodgates open, unable to hold onto a four-run lead. That all culminated in a 10-7 loss at the hands of the Detroit Tigers in the series finale at Target Field.

Just when it looked like the Twins might steal a series from Detroit and creep to within a game of .500, the game changed in a hurry.

"The old cliche is you can't run the clock out. You've got to get those outs," said Minnesota third baseman Trevor Plouffe. "Offensively and defensively there at the end, we didn't do anything."

There were plenty of things that went wrong for the Twins in Wednesday's loss, but the injuries stood out. Starting pitcher Phil Hughes exited after five innings with a hip-flexor strain, something he said got progressively worse as the game went on. Hughes allowed three runs in five innings but the hip prevented him from coming back out for the sixth despite just 71 pitches. He said he plans to throw a regular bullpen session in a few days to see how the hip responds.

Center fielder Jordan Schafer injured his knee when he slipped rounding first base in the sixth inning but said after the game that his knee was fine. And setup man Casey Fien left in the middle of an at-bat in the eighth inning against Victor Martinez with a shoulder injury.

If there's a silver lining to the Twins' lengthy injury report, it's that none of the injuries appear serious. Minnesota did not announce any roster moves after the game, meaning the disabled list won't have to be used -- at least not yet. The Twins remain optimistic that all three players will just need a day or two of rest and treatment.

"All the guys involved we're hoping for a good result in the short-term, day-to-day type of things," said Twins manager Paul Molitor. "I guess (the disabled list) is always a possibility if we get more information. We're going to give them all a chance to see how they respond. We're not going to act too irrationally and do something until we have enough information."

Minnesota made a few plays defensively that added insult to injury -- literally -- in Wednesday's loss. The first instance came in the sixth inning when Tigers backup catcher James McCann hit a deep drive to center field. Schafer couldn't make the play at the wall, and the ball bounced off his leg and toward right fielder Oswaldo Arcia. McCann hustled around the bases for his first career home run, which just so happened to be of the inside-the-park variety.

That two-run homer capped a four-run sixth inning for the Twins, who saw their 7-3 lead turn into a 7-all game in the blink of an eye.

Minnesota's bullpen had already lost the lead for Hughes -- who is now winless in his first five starts of 2015 -- before ultimately losing the game. With the score knotted in the eighth, Fien surrendered the go-ahead run on a single to left by Andrew Romine that drove in Cespedes. It's a run that should probably not have scored, though, as Cespedes reached first base earlier in the inning on a pop up near the pitcher's mound that Plouffe didn't catch after calling for it.

"To be honest with you, I didn't really see it," Plouffe said. "It got in the sun there. I tried to get around it to get a good view of it. And by the time I did see it, I called for it and I was in no position to catch it. You saw that. It's a play I have to make. If I call the ball, I have to catch that ball."

One inning later, the Tigers added two insurance runs on Miguel Cabrera's second home run of the day, which also happened to come against Fien. Detroit finished the game with four home runs, including McCann's inside-the-parker.

On a day when Minnesota's offense scored seven runs on 13 hits -- including home runs by Plouffe and Arcia -- too much else went wrong to prevent a series win.

"It's one of those games you can put in the category that I don't feel like we got beat," Molitor said. "I feel like we obviously had an opportunity. . . . We couldn't contain them."

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