Bailey Ober held Detroit to one hit over eight innings and the visiting Minnesota Twins downed the Tigers 5-0 on Sunday afternoon.
Ober (10-5) walked two and struck out 11 in his dominant performance, his seventh consecutive quality start. Caleb Thielbar pitched around a walk in the ninth to complete the shutout.
Willi Castro had three hits and scored two runs for Minnesota and Manuel Margot supplied three hits and one run. Matt Wallner added two hits and an RBI as the Twins took two games in the three-game series.
The first two batters of the game reached base. Detroit opener Alex Faedo (5-2) then struck out the next three.
The Twins took the lead in the next inning. Margot and Max Kepler hit back-to-back singles. Brooks Lee then scored Margot on a sacrifice fly.
Minnesota made it 2-0 in the third. Austin Martin walked and Wallner singled, allowing Martin to advance to third. After Kenta Maeda replaced Easton Lucas on the Tigers’ mound, Carlos Santana brought Martin home with a one-out sacrifice fly.
Ober set down the first nine batters he faced. Matt Vierling led off the fourth with a single but Ober induced a fielder’s choice grounder, followed by a pair of strikeouts.
Margot led off the sixth against Maeda with a double but was left stranded at third.
With Maeda still on the mound, Minnesota increased its lead to 3-0 in the seventh. Castro led off the inning with a single and scored on Wallner’s double to left.
Ober issued walks to Vierling in the sixth and Mark Canha in the seventh but neither advanced into scoring position.
Ober finished with a flourish. He struck Justyn-Henry Malloy, Carson Kelly and Javier Baez in the eighth.
Christian Vazquez led off the top of the ninth against Jason Foley with a single and Castro walked. Martin knocked in Vazquez with a double to center.
Andrew Chafin replaced Foley, and after he issued an intentional walk, Ryan Jeffers hit a single to left to score Castro. Chafin then struck out the next three batters.