Carson Kelly hit his first career grand slam, Riley Greene and Matt Vierling each socked a two-run homer and the Detroit Tigers cruised to a 9-2 win over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night in Minneapolis.
Wenceel Perez added a solo homer for Detroit, which evened the series at one win apiece with the decisive game scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Minnesota’s Brooks Lee finished 2-for-4 with an RBI in his big-league debut. Christian Vazquez homered for the Twins.
Tigers right-hander Keider Montero (1-2) notched his first career victory in his second career start and third outing overall. The 23-year-old from Venezuela limited the Twins to two runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings. He walked one and fanned four.
Twins right-hander David Festa (1-1) surrendered seven runs on nine hits in five innings. He walked none and struck out six but gave up three homers.
Festa pitched a pair of scoreless innings before the Tigers jumped on him for five runs in the third.
Kelly started the scoring when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. He hit a 95 mph fastball an estimated 387 feet to left field for his sixth homer of the season.
Perez made it back-to-back blasts moments later when he launched the first pitch he saw 410 feet to center for his fourth homer to make it 5-0.
The Twins got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third when Vazquez led off with a solo shot, his third homer.
Detroit continued in the fifth. Greene hit a two-run homer — his team-leading 16th of the season — to make it 7-1.
Lee recorded his first career RBI in the seventh to cut the deficit to 7-2. He singled to center to drive in Byron Buxton, who had hit a leadoff double.
Vierling finished the scoring with a two-run blast in the ninth. It was his 11th homer of the season and his second in the past five games.