Tigers waste Justin Verlander's gem, lose 4-1 to last-place Twins

DETROIT — The offense continued to sputter. The Tigers continued to waste a stellar performance by a starting pitcher.

The normally reliable Francisco Rodriguez gave up a pair of home runs in the ninth inning and the Tigers went on to lose, 4-1, to the Twins Wednesday afternoon at Comerica Park.

Max Kepler’s two-out solo home run to right on a full-count change-up broke a 1-1 tie. Eddie Rosario added a two-run home run on an 0-1 count.

The Tigers, which lost two of three to the Twins, begin a seven-game road trip on Thursday in Chicago against the White Sox.

“Haven’t been able to get anything going (offensively), although we hit the ball pretty hard today,” said Tigers manager Brad Ausmus. “Just didn’t get any hits, didn’t put up any runs.”

Ausmus quickly corrected himself, given that the Tigers outhit the Twins, 9-4.

“I shouldn’t say we didn’t get any hits,” he said. “We got some hits. We couldn’t put up any runs. But we squared some balls up that they ran down.”

Verlander gave up one run on two hits over eight innings for the Tigers. He walked two, hit a batter and struck out nine.

He gave up a one-out home run to Joe Mauer in the first inning. It was the fourth time Mauer has homered off Verlander, the first time since 2009. Mauer came into the game batting .338 (24-for-71) in his career against Verlander, but 0-for-6 against him since 2014.

Verlander talked Ausmus out of taking him out of the game in the eighth with Mauer due up with a runner on first with two outs. Verlander got Mauer to ground out to second.

Ian Kinsler tied the game when he homered on the first pitch from Twins right-hander Ervin Santana in the bottom of the first. It was Kinsler’s fourth leadoff home run of the season and 36th of his career.

Santana allowed one hit over the next four innings, a single to Miguel Cabrera in the fourth.

Andrew Romine, who started at shortstop and batted ninth, led off the bottom of the six with a four-pitch walk. Kinsler followed with a bunt single. Romine went to third as Cameron Maybin grounded into a double play.  Santana got behind 2-0 against Cabrera, who eventually fouled out to first on a full count.

The Tigers had runners on second and third with two outs in the seventh, but failed to get the go-ahead run. Ausmus chose not to pinch-hit Jarrod Saltalamacchia for James McCann at that time. McCann, hitless in his first two at-bats, flied out to center.

“In the seventh inning, I was a little concerned there,” Ausmus said. “You only have one catcher, and if something happens to him, you’re in trouble.”

The Tigers had two on with two out in the eighth inning, before Victor Martinez flied out to the warning track.

“Victor hit the crap out of that ball to left-center,” Ausmus said. “I didn’t think there was a chance anyone was going to catch it. If that ball falls – he did exactly what he’s supposed to do. He got the barrel on the ball, he hit it hard. He hit it 400-something feet and they ran it down.

“So, we just gotta keep plugging away.”

The Tigers had two on with one out in the bottom of the ninth when Ausmus did bring in Saltalamacchia for McCann. Saltalamacchia struck out looking at a 94 mph fastball from righty Brandon Kintzler, then Romine flied out to left to end the game.

“Kintzler had struck out Mac the night before, so I just said we’ll throw the numbers to the wind and see if Salty can get ahold of one,” Ausmus said.

The Tigers wasted a quality start from Anibal Sanchez in a 6-2 loss on Tuesday night.

Asked about the frustration of losing twice to the Twins, who are in last place in the AL Central, Martinez said:  “We have to play better baseball. Doesn’t change anything. We gotta do it. We’ve got 25 guys here, and we can’t wait for somebody else to come in here and play for us. We gotta go out there and keep playing hard, play better baseball.”

Santana allowed one hit on six hits over seven-plus innings for the Twins. He walked one and struck out two. The home run Kinsler hit snapped a homerless streak of 31 2/3 innings for Santana dating back to June 19.