The Minnesota Twins could only muster one run off of 10 hits, and the Detroit Tigers used a Prince Fielder home run to take a 2-1 victory Sunday at Target Field. With the win, the 86-73 Tigers hold a 2.5 game lead on the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central.
The defenses ruled until the bottom of the seventh inning, when Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe led off with a single. Pinch runner Jamey Carroll reached second base on a sacrifice out, and shortstop Pedro Florimon singled to right field to push Carroll across the plate, giving Minnesota a 1-0 lead.
Detroit answered in the eighth inning after Twins starting pitcher Liam Hendriks was pulled for Jared Burton. Austin Jackson singled to lead off for the Tigers, and with two outs, Fielder launched a home run to left field to swing the game in Detroit's favor.
Detroit starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez went 6.1 innings and gave up seven hits and one run. Hendriks went seven innings and allowed five hits with no runs crossing the plate on his watch.
Jackson and Andy Dirks each had two hits for the Tigers.
The Tigers open the regular season series finale against the Kansas City Royals on Monday.