Twins beat Tigers, 5-3, after Royce Lewis leaves game in sixth inning

MINNEAPOLIS — Tarik Skubal's All-Star campaign roared into Target Field on Tuesday, and Manuel Margot's turnaround June continued into July. But these are the Twins, and you probably know the history. So let's start with the part that carries far more importance than any midseason ballgame:

Royce Lewis left the game in the sixth inning after feeling tightness in his left groin, the Twins said, a condition apparently suffered as he raced to second base after hitting a two-run double into the left-field corner. The Twins described Lewis' status as day-to-day, but it's obviously too early to tell how long the problem may linger for the oft-injured slugger, who has already sat out 61 games this year.

There. Properly steeled for whatever bad news may or may not arise in the days ahead, feel free to revel in Tuesday's good news: Simeon Woods Richardson virtually matched Skubal's performance, Byron Buxton's speed is still decisive and the Twins won for the fifth time in six games, 5-3 over Detroit.

It wasn't easy, of course, just as it almost never is against the fourth-place Tigers, who despite trailing Minnesota by 10 games in the AL Central standings, have now split eight games with the Twins this season. Skubal, whose 2.45 ERA and 119 strikeouts each rank as third-best in the American League, didn't allow a hit until ninth-place Kyle Farmer lined a single up the middle in the third inning.

But that blemish seemed to briefly rattle the Tigers' left-hander, who then surrendered a Margot single and, after Carlos Correa struck out, Lewis' 100-mph liner into the corner, scoring two runs.

Skubal recovered to retire the next six hitters, but slipped again against Margot in the fifth inning. The reserve outfielder hammered a middle-of-the-plate change-up into the Tigers' bullpen in left-center, tying the game.

The Tigers, held to only one hit by Woods Richardson over the first four innings, did all their damage against the rookie right-hander in the span of four batters in the fifth. Justyn-Henry Malloy cracked an 0-2 pitch into the left-field seats to lead off the inning, and Akil Baddoo followed by beating out an infield hit.

Woods Richardson tried to pick off the speedy outfielder, but threw the ball away, and Baddoo took third. After Jake Rogers flew out, Woods Richardson compounded his mistake by leaving a slider where Ryan Kreidler could reach it, and the light-hitting shortstop pummeled his second home run of his three-year career.

When Skubal finally left the game after 6 innings and 94 pitches, the Twins took advantage of Detroit's subpar bullpen. Buxton led off the seventh against right-hander Will Vest with a ground-rule double that hopped into the right-field seats. He moved to third on a wild pitch, and when Ryan Jeffers hit a ground ball into the drawn-in Tigers infield, Buxton simply beat Colt Keith's throw, which Rogers couldn't hold on to anyway.

The play had a controversial end when first baseman Mark Canha received the ball and tagged Jeffers as he walked back to the bag. Umpire Alex Mackey ruled that Jeffers had made a move toward second base and thus was tagged out legally. But replays showed Jeffers simply reacting in surprise, but never stepping toward second base.

None of it mattered as the Twins' front-of-the-pen — Jorge Alcala, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran — didn't allow a Tiger to reach second base, while Correa added an insurance run that traveled 421 feet into the upper deck in center field.