Detroit Tigers lose 6-5 to Minnesota Twins on walk-off single in 10th inning

Detroit Tigers manager AJ Hinch called on Robbie Grossman in the ninth inning.

The veteran leader entered as a pinch-hitter for Harold Castro with one out, trailing by two runs against the Minnesota Twins in Monday's series opener at Target Field. He hammered a first-pitch cutter from reliever Alex Colome — who only took the mound because Taylor Rogers exited with a left middle finger sprain — over the right-field wall for a game-tying two-run home run.

But the Tigers (47-55) couldn't complete their comeback. They lost, 6-5, in the 10th inning on Max Kepler's walk-off single to score Kenta Maeda — the free extra-inning runner on second base — against left-handed reliever Gregory Soto.

Detroit has dropped four games . The Tigers won their first seven games coming out of the All-Star break against the Twins and Texas Rangers at Comerica Park but were swept by the Kansas City Royals in three games at Kauffman Stadium.

Gregory Soto protected the tie in the bottom of the ninth, but not without drama. He walked Brent Rooker and Josh Donaldson, allowed them to advance with a wild pitch and walked Mitch Gaver to load the bases with two outs. Pinch-hitter Willians Astudillo struck out swinging on a third-pitch 100.4 mph fastball for extra innings.

Soto needed 26 pitches to record three outs in the ninth, and he used 16 pitches for two outs in the 10th frame before Kepler's single. Caleb Thielbar pitched a perfect 10th to set up Minnesota's win.

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The Twins built momentum early behind starter Michael Pineda. He kept the Tigers at bay for most of his outing, allowing two runs on five hits with zero walks and six strikeouts over six innings. His only mistake came in the sixth, when Miguel Cabrera followed Jonathan Schoop's two-out single with a home run — No. 495 of his 19-year career.

Cabrera's blast tied the game at two runs, but the Twins quickly responded. Tigers starter Matt Manning gave up a solo home run and was replaced by righty reliever Jose Cisnero, who allowed a crucial two-run home run to Donaldson in the sixth inning for a 5-2 Twins lead.

Minnesota benefited from a three-run sixth and turned to reliever Tyler Duffey for the seventh inning. The first batter he faced, Eric Haase, crushed a solo home run to left field. It marked Haase's 16th homer this season and cut the Tigers' deficit to 5-3.

Detroit didn't score again until Grossman's pinch-hit homer in the ninth. Jeimer Candelario singled to open the inning.

Manning advances

The last time Manning took the mound, he posted the best performance of his MLB career in a 4-2 win Wednesday over Rangers. Returning for a matchup with the Twins, the 23-year-old took the next step in his development in his seventh start.

He trusted his secondary pitches, got ahead in counts and worked out of the few jams he found himself in throughout five-plus innings. The most impressive aspect of Manning's performance was his pitch mix. He threw 46% fastballs, 24% curveballs, 16% changeups and 14% sliders. The rookie fired 47 of 74 pitches for strikes.

Simply, Manning didn't use his fastball too much and kept the Twins guessing.

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Manning recorded four strikeouts: Rooker (swinging, curveball), Miguel Sano (swinging, changeup), Trevor Larnach (swinging, curveball), Jake Cave (foul tip, curveball). He proved he didn't need his heater to put the Twins away.

In the second, Donaldson and Garver recorded consecutive hits to open the inning. Both players hit Manning's fastball, with Garver's going for an RBI double to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. But Manning generated three outs in a row.

The Twins scored their second run in the fourth inning. Garver drilled a 1-1 slider for a double to left field and, after Larnach struck out, Sano ripped an 0-1 changeup single down the third-base line for a 2-0 lead. To end the inning, Haase threw out Sano trying to steal second base. (Haase also caught Garver stealing in the eighth.)

In the sixth, Manning was pulled after facing two batters.

He hung a 1-0 curveball to Rooker, who homered to give the Twins a 3-2 lead. Polanco then drew a five-pitch walk. Manning allowed four runs on five hits and one walk. He was removed by Hinch after 74 pitches.

Going to Cisnero

That's because Hinch wanted Cisnero to face Donaldson, one of the most dangerous hitters in the American League Central. Two pitches into the at-bat, Donaldson belted a slider for a two-run home run. (Because Polanco was on first base, an additional run was charged to Manning.)

Although Cisnero escaped the sixth without further damage, the Twins took a 5-2 lead.

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The Tigers went to right-hander Buck Farmer for the seventh inning, trailing by two runs after Haase's solo homer. Two of four batters reached safely, so righty Joe Jimenez took over with two outs to face Donaldson. This time, Donaldson was shut down. He grounded out to third base to end the inning.

Jimenez returned for a scoreless eighth.

Extending the streak

With Schoop's single in the sixth inning, he extending his hitting streak to 16 games.

The streak is the longest of Schoop's nine-year career and the longest active streak in the big leagues. In his past 16 games, Schoop is hitting .359 (23-for-64) with one home run, 11 RBIs, three walks and 11 strikeouts.

He has a .289 batting average in 98 games this season.

Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers lose 6-5 to Minnesota Twins on walk-off hit