DETROIT (AP) — Riley Greene broke up a pitcher's duel with a sixth-inning homer and the Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins 3-0 on Thursday.
Detroit's third straight victory gave the Tigers a 3-1 win of the work-week series. Minnesota had won five straight after taking Monday's opener.
The Twins managed two singles, the last in the fifth inning.
Reese Olson (2-5) pitched six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out eight.
With set-up man Jason Foley on bereavement leave and closer Alex Lange dealing with control issues, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch had to improvise with the back end of his bullpen. Chasen Shreve pitched the seventh, and converted starter Beau Brieske pitched the last two innings for his second save.
Kenta Maeda (3-7) took the loss despite only allowing Greene's homer in his six innings. He gave up three hits and a walk with four strikeouts.
Maeda and Olson traded scoreless innings until Greene hit his homer to left-centerfield with two out in the sixth.
The Twins had runners on the corners with one out in the fourth, but Olson struck out Ryan Jeffers before Matt Wallner popped out.
There was a similar situation in the fifth with a perfectly executed hit-and-run putting Joey Gallo on third and Christian Vazquez on first, but Olson struck out Edouard Julien and got Jorge Polanco to ground out.
Detroit added two runs against Minnesota reliever Dylan Floro in the seventh. With one out, Kerry Carpenter singled, Javier Baez bunted for a base hit and Jake Rogers loaded the bases with another single.
Zack McKinstry hit a two-run double before Floro got out of the inning.
BULLPEN WOES
Along with Foley and Lange being unavailable, Hinch couldn't go to his third late-inning reliever as Tyler Holton got seven outs on Wednesday to record his first career win.
UP NEXT
The Twins continue their road trip Friday in Philadelphia, where LHP Dallas Keuchel (0-0, 1.80) will pitch against LHP Cristopher Sanchez (0-3, 3.44) in the opener.
Detroit starts a three-city trip on Friday in Boston and will start LHP Tarik Skubal (2-1, 3.67) in the first game. The Red Sox have not announced a starter.
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