Twins 3, Tigers 1: Mick Abel Shoves, Brooks Lee Delivers Late to Seal Sweep

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Mick Abel - 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6K (102 pitches, 70 strikes (69% strikes))
Home Runs: Josh Bell
Top 3 WPA: Mick Abel (0.37), Brooks Lee (0.31), Josh Bell (0.17)
Win Probability Chart (via Baseball Savant): 

The Twins came into Thursday afternoon riding a three-game winning streak, with a chance to finish off a four-game sweep of the Tigers—who started the season as the favorites to win the AL Central. Behind a bounce-back effort from their starter and a late offensive breakthrough, they did exactly that, grinding out a 3-1 win to wrap up the series.

They didn’t dominate from start to finish. But they pitched, they adjusted, and when the moment finally came late, they delivered.

MICK ABEL RESPONDS
After a tough start to his season, Mick Abel really needed a clean outing. It didn’t start easy, though. For much of the afternoon, Abel was pitching with traffic on the bases. Soft contact, long at-bats, and a couple of walks pushed his pitch count up early, forcing him to work through constant pressure.

With any young pitcher, the risk is that mounting pressure will eventually burst the pipe. Happily, Abel never let it do so. He leaned on his fastball to generate whiffs and consistently got ahead in counts, throwing first-pitch strikes to 19 of the 25 batters he faced. Even when Detroit put runners in scoring position, which they did in five of his six innings, he found a way out every time.

By the middle innings, things started to settle. A much more efficient third and fourth frame stabilized his pitch count, and from there, he was in control. He mixed all five pitches, generated swings and misses throughout the day, and kept hitters from ever connecting on a big swing—though there were a few long, loud fly balls, including a double by Javier Báez that dented the right-field wall.

The final line tells part of the story: six scoreless innings while working around traffic in nearly every frame. But the bigger takeaway was how Abel handled adversity. Detroit went hitless in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position, and Abel never looked uncomfortable.

For a pitcher looking to reset his season, this was a big step in the right direction.

QUIET EARLY, JUST ENOUGH TO STAY CLOSE
The Twins had chances early, but couldn't break through against Jack Flaherty. They put together quality at-bats right away. Trevor Larnach worked a one-out walk in the first, and Josh Bell followed with a single. Matt Wallner smoked a ball 102 MPH, but right into a double play that killed the rally.

That set the tone for much of the afternoon. There was traffic, and there was hard contact. But there wasn’t a run until the fourth inning.

Bell changed that with one swing, jumping on a first-pitch slider and driving it out to right-center for a solo home run. It came off the bat at 106 MPH and traveled over 400 feet, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead in a game where every run felt massive.

From there, it settled into a true pitcher’s duel. Flaherty matched Abel for most of the day, keeping the Twins from adding on and forcing them to wait for another opportunity. Meanwhile, they came back to knot things up 1-1 as soon as Abel left, in the seventh.

BROOKS LEE DELIVERS THE MOMENT
The game finally cracked open in the eighth, and it came down to one at-bat. After a Wallner walk and a Victor Caratini base hit, Royce Lewis fought through visible discomfort to reach base and load them, and the Twins had their shot. Two outs, tie game, bases loaded.

Brooks Lee stepped in. He worked the count full, giving himself a chance to live out every young baseball player’s dream, and he delivered. Lee ripped a single through the right side, scoring two and turning a 1-1 game into a 3-1 lead. After a slow start to his season, that swing felt significant—not just for the game, but for the embattled Lee, who hadn't started the game and erupted with uncharacteristic emotion when he came up with the game-winning hit.

BULLPEN HOLDS ON
The tablesetter for that feast was an uncomfortable stint from the bullpen. Newly acquired reliever Garrett Acton made his Twins debut in the seventh and immediately ran into trouble. A hit batter and a ground ball through the infield set up Detroit’s first real breakthrough, and a sacrifice fly tied the game at 1-1. It wasn’t clean, and the inning took 23 pitches—not ideal for a bullpen that had already been heavily used in recent days. But Acton bounced back.

After the stressful seventh, he went back out in the eighth and needed just 12 pitches to retire the side in order. That quick inning ended up being massive, keeping the game tied and giving the offense a chance to respond.

Once the Twins grabbed the lead in the bottom half, it was up to Eric Orze, and he delivered. Despite a couple of balls in play to start the inning (including one that looked like it might fall for a hit; Byron Buxton made a great play), the defense held up. Orze finished it off with a strikeout, locking down the save and sealing the sweep.

The bullpen bent, but it didn’t break. That group deserves some credit, especially in the context of the series as a whole. With four different relievers recording a save in this series (Cody Laweryson, Justin Topa, Kody Funderburk, and Eric Orze), the Twins leaned on a mix of arms to navigate tight games and protect leads throughout. It’s a sign of both the workload they’ve taken on and the trust the staff has in different options late in games.

What’s Next
The Twins will head north of the border tomorrow to start a three-game series with the reigning American League champions, the Toronto Blue Jays. Simeon Woods Richardson will take the hill for the Twins, with left-hander Patrick Corbin throwing for Toronto. First pitch is set for 6:07 PM CT.

Postgame Interviews
Coming soon!

Bullpen Usage Chart