To say that things got ugly for the Detroit Tigers on Friday night would be a serious understatement.
The Minnesota Twins unloaded on the Tigers for a whopping 20 runs — a major-league high this season — on 20 hits during the 20-6 beatdown. The Twins chased starter Robbie Ray after just 1 1/3 innings, tagging him for six runs and six hits. The Detroit bullpen didn’t fare much better, though, with Minnesota batting around in the sixth inning to tack on nine more runs, leading manager Brad Ausmus to turn to his shortstop in the eighth inning.
With the Tigers trailing 17-5 in the bottom of the frame, Andrew Romine, who had never pitched an inning during his five-year MLB career, took the mound and also took a thumping. Romine gave up a leadoff double to Kennys Vargas before surrendering back-to-back home runs to Oswaldo Arcia and Trevor Plouffe. Romine settled down from there without allowing another run, and he even picked up his first major-league strikeout, getting All-Star Kurt Suzuki to go down looking.
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Regardless of the monster blasts he gave up, Romine’s manager was just pleased that he came in and was able to save the Tigers’ bullpen somewhat.
“He took one for the team,” Ausmus said. “He picked us up, really. Didn’t really matter how he pitched, we just were hoping that he could get through three outs without an injury or overextending himself.”
With the loss to the last-place Twins, the Tigers are now 2 1/2 games behind the Kansas City Royals in the American League Central.
Thumbnail photo via USA TODAY Sports Images/Jesse Johnson
