MINNEAPOLIS -- Heading into the four-game weekend series against the division-leading Twins, the Tigers had lost three of five games and manager Ron Gardenhire was worried about over-extending his bullpen. After Sunday's 5-3 win, Gardenhire and Detroit are leaving Target Field with a split that included pivotal pitching performances and more of the power the Tigers have recently displayed.

Daniel Norris pitched 6 1/3 strong innings, Nicholas Castellanos and Brandon Dixon homered and Buck Farmer stopped a Minnesota rally in the seventh.

“It’s a tough series on the road, playing four games in three days,” Dixon said. “To get two, especially the way we did, I think we really battled and came through.”

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Norris (2-1) gave up just two runs, with six hits allowed and one walk. Shane Greene recorded his 15th save in as many chances.

Here are three takeaways from Sunday’s win:

A Norris pick-me-up

Detroit is now trying to figure out how to fill out its starting rotation with the news that Tyson Ross is headed to the injured list, joining fellow starters Michael Fulmer, Matt Moore and Jordan Zimmermann.

Norris’ solid Sunday start couldn’t have come at a better time. It was his longest outing since he completed 6 1/3 innings on May 24, 2017. The left-hander, who assumed a rotation spot when Moore was lost for the season, retired 14 of the first 15 batters he faced and finished with five strikeouts.

Norris said the key on Sunday was reverting to a delivery he used in Spring Training.

“That delivery that I found in the spring helped uptick my velocity a little bit more,” Norris said. “I’m not really sure why I got away from that. I think early on when I was in the bullpen, it’s like that mentality that you just kind of rear back and throw it. It got me back to sort of blocking myself off and not finishing pitches.

“I’m not really sure what it was in the first or second inning, I just kind of decided in warmups to go back to it, really just thinking about getting my foot down, shortening my stride and then out of nowhere I started getting swings and misses on my fastball and velocity was up a little bit from where it was the past few starts. So, it’s pretty obvious, just keep with that.”

Norris started the seventh inning by getting Max Kepler to fly out. But Ehire Adrianza homered and Jake Cave doubled to end Norris’ day.

“I think you see how tough it is to get the last nine outs against these guys,” Gardenhire said. “They really swing it, put a lot of pressure on you. Daniel Norris was unbelievable. He was fantastic out there. I think he had two long stints where he had to sit on the bench for a while that might have got to him a little bit. He threw great.”

Farmer threw great, too

Thanks to one reliever in particular, Norris’ day wasn’t overshadowed. Cave ended up scoring in the seventh as Victor Alcantara allowed an RBI single to Byron Buxton. Two batters later, Daniel Stumpf entered and issued two walks, including one to Marwin Gonzalez with the bases loaded.

Gardenhire went to the bullpen again, calling on Farmer to face C.J. Cron. Farmer struck out Cron on four pitches to strand three runners.

“Buck Farmer had a huge outing,” Gardenhire said. “Getting one out, that was big.”

Continuing the power surge

Castellanos hit a two-run home run in the first inning off Minnesota starter Martin Perez (5-1) to the second deck in left field. Dixon homered for the second straight day as the Tigers hit seven home runs over the final three games of the series.

Detroit hit 20 home runs as a team through the end of April, a span of 27 games. The Tigers have 12 home runs in 11 games in May.

“I still would like to put up 10 runs and not have these two-run games, one-run games all the time,” Gardenhire said. “I hope when the weather gets a little bit better we’ll put some better swings. We did early in the game today, put some really nice swings out there and that’s fun to see.”

Castellanos had three hits, falling a triple shy of the cycle.