Detroit Tigers can't keep perfect extra innings record in 11-5 loss to Minnesota Twins

The Detroit Tigers fell apart in the top of the 12th inning.

The Minnesota Twins scored seven runs in the third chapter of extra innings, with Tigers utility player Zach McKinstry responsible for six of them. He made a three-run fielding error as the third baseman and gave up a three-run home run as the pitcher, both with two outs.

The Tigers lost to the Twins, 11-5, in an exhausting 12-inning showdown in Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader at Comerica Park. The loss ended the Tigers' perfect 3-0 record in extras this season.

"I tried to make a play, and it just didn't happen," said McKinstry, an American League Gold Glove finalist last season. "I played myself into a bad hop and got a little too aggressive on it. I should have maybe retreated a little bit. It just took a weird hop on me."

In the 12th inning, right-handed reliever Alex Lange walked Austin Martin with the bases loaded, giving the Twins a 5-4 lead. But Lange wasn't the only player to blame for the free run.

First baseman Spencer Torkelson fielded a sacrifice bunt, but instead of getting the easy out at first base, he failed in his attempt to get a speedy runner advancing to third base. Had Torkelson simply recorded the out at first base, the bases wouldn't have been loaded for the ensuing walk.

Lange struck out the next two batters.

After the strikeouts, Ryan Jeffers won a 12-pitch matchup against Lange. He hit a curveball inside the strike zone for a ground ball directly to McKinstry at third base. The ball skipped past McKinstry and rolled into the left-field corner, clearing the loaded bases.

The Twins upped their lead to 8-4 on McKinstry's three-run mistake.

"Just make the play," McKinstry said. "I'll make 20 of those same plays this year, and you guys won't even look at it twice. Trying to make a play in the 12th inning to get us out of a jam there, and it just went under my glove."

READ MORE: A crazy schedule will put even more pressure on Tigers 'special' bullpen

The Tigers then had McKinstry pitch, still with two outs in the 12th inning, for his second career appearance on the mound. He walked Manuel Margo and gave up a three-run home run to Matt Wallner, making it 11-4.

Manager A.J. Hinch didn't mean to pitch McKinstry at that point in the game.

Here's what happened: Hinch had forgotten pitching coach Chris Fetter visited Lange earlier in the lengthy 12th inning, and according to the rules, a pitcher must be removed from the game if visited twice in one inning, so that's what happened when Hinch visited Lange after McKinstry botched the ground ball.

"I messed up," Hinch said. "I wanted to go tell Lange that I was bringing a position player in after one more batter, so I asked CB (Bucknor, home plate umpire) if I had a visit, and he took it to be the (total) visits on the board, and Fett had gone what felt like forever ago to the mound. I screwed that up totally."

The Tigers (8-5) received a solid start from right-hander Kenta Maeda. He struggled to generate swings and misses, but allowed just two runs (one unearned run) on five hits and zero walks with five strikeouts across six innings.

It was his best of three starts this season.

"What led to success today was the pitching mechanics," Maeda said in Japanese, interpreted by Dai Sekizaki. "I think that's starting to click. I think that led to the command of my pitches. It's just the overall mechanics in general. I just felt off, so I cleaned up the overall mechanics a little bit."

And it was enough to keep up with Twins right-hander Joe Ryan. He struck out a career-high 12 batters across six innings, but the Tigers got to him early and late for three runs, of which two were unearned.

[ MUST LISTEN: Make "Days of Roar" your go-to Detroit Tigers podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) ]

The Twins, though, tied the game at 3-3 in the eighth inning, when Jeffers blasted a pinch-hit solo home run to left-center field off right-handed reliever Shelby Miller's third-pitch fastball.

Miller had just replaced left-handed reliever Tyler Holton as a counter move to the Twins pinch-hitting Jeffers, a right-handed hitter, for Alex Kirilloff, a left-handed hitter, with two outs.

The homer snapped Miller's streak of 19 games without allowing a run, dating to last season.

The Tigers sent the top three hitters in their lineup to the plate in the bottom of the 10th inning with a free runner on second base, but the Twins shut them down in order: Riley Greene (intentional walk), Mark Canha (double play groundout) and Torkelson (swinging strikeout).

"We had tons of opportunities," Hinch said. "In the new rule of extra innings, when you hold the opponent in the top half of the inning to no runs, you got to score. That's where you got to put the game away and come up with a big hit or move the runner up and create an inning to where you can score. You don't even have to get a hit. Easier said than done, certainly easier from this side than in the batter's box, but those missed opportunities are missed wins."

The Twins took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 11th inning on Jeffers' RBI single off right-handed reliever Jason Foley; the Tigers answered for a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the 11th on Colt Keith's RBI single off righty reliever Jorge Alcala.

Greene hit an RBI single in the bottom of the 12th inning for the Tigers' fifth and final run, but it was too little, too late.

Joe Ryan piles up strikeouts

The Tigers struggled against Ryan, who generated 20 whiffs on 53 swings, in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings.

But there was success in the first and sixth innings.

KEEPING CALM: Tigers' Parker Meadows maintains confidence while trying to time up fastballs

In the first inning, Kerry Carpenter put the Tigers in front, 2-0, with a two-run home run to right-center field. He demolished a splitter with a 108 mph exit velocity for a 415-foot homer, extending the Tigers' streak of scoring at least one run in the first inning to four games.

After that, the bats went cold against Ryan.

Ryan struck out five in a row across the second and third innings, plus eight outs in a row with strikeouts during the second, third and fourth innings. He set a career high in strikeouts in the fifth inning.

"He missed a ton (of bats)," Hinch said. "He's got new weapons this year. He looks a little bit different. The fastball is still really good. The split, outside of the one he threw Kerry, was pretty good. The two shape sliders. He dominates the strike zone. It's first-pitch strikes."

The momentum finally shifted — away from Ryan — in the sixth inning with a runner on third base and one out.

Keith fell behind 0-2 in the count with back-to-back fouls, but he refused to chase the next two pitches to even the count at 2-2. He tagged the fifth-pitch, a splitter, for a ground-ball single. Torkelson, who scored on the single for a 3-2 lead, set the table with a leadoff double, advancing to third base on Carpenter's groundout.

Kenta Maeda's big mistake

Maeda created trouble for himself in the fifth inning.

He fielded a comebacker from Edouard Julien and tried to start an inning-ending double play, but he sailed the ball into center field. The throwing error put runners on the corners with one out.

The Twins tied the game, 2-2, on the next play.

Carlos Santana hit a ground ball to Torkelson at first base, and although Maeda pointed for Torkelson to throw home to get the runner scoring from third base, Torkelson turned to second base and tried to start an inning-ending double play. The runner advancing to second was out, but the Tigers couldn't get Santana at first to complete the double play, allowing the tying run to score.

Had Torkelson thrown home at Maeda's request, the tying run probably wouldn't have scored.

FUN SERIES: Tigers host reigning AL Central champions, but the message stays the same

The Twins scored their first run in the third inning on Martin's RBI double.

Maeda threw 36 splitters, 22 sliders, 18 fastballs, nine sweepers and two cutters. He generated just six whiffs on 43 swings — a below-average 14% swing-and-miss rate — with three splitters, two sliders and one fastball.

His fastball averaged 89.9 mph, his highest in three starts.

"There was a little more energy in his delivery," Hinch said. "I thought his fastball was better, I thought the split came with it. The one error was the tough one for him because he could have been out of that inning very quickly with the double play. He makes that play a ton. ... The stuff was a step better than it was last start, which is a good sign moving forward."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

Listen to our weekly Tigers show "Days of Roar" every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers crumble in extras to Twins, losing 11-5 in 12 innings