Julien homers off college teammate Mize, Twins beat Tigers 5-1 to end 3-game slide
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Edouard Julien and Byron Buxton each homered as the Minnesota Twins snapped a three-game skid with a 5-1 win over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.
Julien took former Auburn teammate Casey Mize deep with an opposite-field shot that clipped the left field foul pole in the sixth inning — his first home run of the season. Buxton also went yard in the first inning and added a double, while Ty France chipped in with two hits and an RBI.
Minnesota, which had lost six of its last seven, finally broke through with solid contributions on both sides of the ball. Simeon Woods Richardson (1-1) gave up one run on five hits across five innings, striking out five. Four relievers — Louis Varland, Cole Sands, Griffin Jax, and Jhoan Duran — each tossed a hitless inning to close it out, combining for seven strikeouts and a single walk.
Spencer Torkelson homered for the second consecutive game for Detroit, and Kerry Carpenter added a pair of hits. The Tigers came in having won seven of their last eight.
Mize (2-1) allowed four runs and seven hits over 5 2/3 innings.
The Twins jumped out to a 2-0 lead with Buxton’s solo shot in the first and a run-scoring single from Brooks Lee in the second. Lee was playing in his first game of the season after rehabbing a back strain.
Minnesota extended its lead to 4-1 in the sixth when Buxton doubled and scored on Ty France’s RBI single. Julien’s homer earlier in the inning had made it 3-1.
In a roster move, struggling infielder José Miranda was optioned to Triple-A St. Paul. Miranda was hitting just .167 with 13 strikeouts and drew criticism after failing to hustle on a potential force play on Saturday, which led to a missed out.
Detroit missed a couple of scoring chances. Riley Greene ended the third by striking out with runners at the corners and flew out to end the fifth with two on. He’s just 1-for-24 over his last seven games.
Willi Castro reached base for the 15th consecutive game, the longest season-opening streak for a Twin since Brian Dozier’s 17-game streak in 2018.
Up Next:
- Tigers: LHP Tarik Skubal (1-2, 3.78 ERA) will start Monday in Milwaukee against LHP Tyler Alexander (1-0, 2.84 ERA).
- Twins: RHP Joe Ryan (1-1, 2.65 ERA) takes the mound Monday to open a series at home against the New York Mets, who will counter with RHP Clay Holmes (1-1, 4.30 ERA).
