Lynn rebounds as Twins shut out Detroit

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins finally saw the version of Lance Lynn they envisioned when they signed him to a one-year, $12 million deal in Spring Training.
Lynn turned in his best outing of the season, throwing 6 2/3 scoreless innings to lift the Twins to a 6-0 win over the Tigers on Tuesday night at Target Field. Lynn, who scattered five hits and a walk, recorded an out in the seventh for the first time this year.
"That was the highlight of the game," Twins manager Paul Molitor said of Lynn's performance. "There was a lot of good things that happened, a lot of contributions, but to see him go out there and put up zeros like he did, we've talked about his command, which has been been an issue for him, but he threw a lot of strikes."
It was good timing for Lynn, especially with injured right-handers Ervin Santana and Trevor May nearing their returns. Lynn lowered his ERA from 7.47 to 6.34, while picking up his first win since May 5. He threw 100 pitches, with 64 going for strikes, including seven swings and misses and 11 called strikes.
Lynn, though, wasn't pleased when leaving the game with two runners in the seventh after plunking JaCoby Jones and walking José Iglesias on four pitches with two outs. But right-hander Ryan Pressly came in and struck out pinch-hitter Mikie Mahtook to get out of the jam.

"It felt good until the end," Lynn said. "When you hit a guy and walk a guy, it really puts a damper on a pretty good outing up until then. There's still work to do. It's not as good as it can be, but it's a lot better than it's been. So, that's good."
Ehire Adrianza and Brian Dozier paced the offense for the Twins, as Adrianza connected on a pair of doubles and Dozier had two doubles and three RBIs. Minnesota didn't score until the fifth, when Tigers lefty Matthew Boyd walked the first two batters of the inning before departing with a left oblique spasm.
Adrianza ripped an RBI double off reliever Warwick Saupold and Dozier smacked a two-run double the other way with Byron Buxton running on the pitch to give the Twins a three-run lead with two runs charged to Boyd.

"You gotta love it when guys get into scoring position and you have a chance to bring them in," Dozier said. "They gave me a couple good pitches to hit and did some damage with them."
Minnesota tacked on three runs in the seventh against reliever Buck Farmer, as Max Kepler and Adrianza roped back-to-back doubles before Buxton plated Adrianza with a single to left. Dozier followed with an RBI double to right to score Buxton.
"We came up with some big hits," Molitor said. "Adrianza, who was having a little bit of a tough time from the left side, got a couple nice hits to get us going. Dozier did a nice job going to the opposite field a couple times. Buxton had a nice hit."

SOUND SMART
Since losing 12 of 14 from April 17 to May 1, the Twins have turned it around, as their 12 wins since May 2 is tied for the most in the Majors. The club has posted a 2.93 ERA over that stretch, going 12-7.
HE SAID IT
"There's a lot of positives. You've got to build on the positives and don't let the negatives creep back in. There's some things to grow on. It's good to kind of get back on even ground and now hopefully I can kind of get going here." -- Lynn
UP NEXT
Right-hander Kyle Gibson (1-2, 3.96 ERA) is set to take the mound in the series finale against the Tigers on Wednesday at 12:10 p.m. CT. Gibson is coming off a rough outing against the Brewers, allowing five runs -- including two homers -- over 5 1/3 innings. The Tigers counter with right-hander Michael Fulmer (1-3, 4.35 ERA).