Tigers lean into new-found momentum against Twins

The Detroit Tigers will look to build off their productive week of the season when they host the Minnesota Twins in a three-game series that begins Tuesday.

Detroit went an alarming 6-22 in May, but rebounded to go 5-1 last week. The Tigers swept a road series from the Tampa Bay Rays, then took two of three at home from the Seattle Mariners. The Tigers' latest victory came Sunday on a game-ending two-out, two-run single in the ninth inning from rookie Kevin McGonigle.

"The more momentum we can build now, the better," said Tigers outfielder Matt Vierling. "We have to keep on doing what we're doing, winning series."

Detroit is still 12 games under .500 as its six-game homestand continues. After making the playoffs the past two seasons, the Tigers have plenty of work to do in order to taste the postseason again.

They also have a score to settle with the Twins, who swept them in a four-game series April 6-9 at Minnesota.

McGonigle, who is having an All Star Game-worthy first season in the major leagues, also supplied a solo home run Sunday, his fourth of the season.

"We got to celebrate a walk-off in front of our fans against one of the best closers in the game (Andres Munoz) and a really good team, a team that eliminated us from the playoffs last year," Detroit manager AJ Hinch said. "It feels different. We've played back-to-back series against really good teams and you can see how small the margin is. It's right there for us."

Tigers right-hander Troy Melton, who made his major league debut last season, will start the series opener. Melton (2-0, 1.74) has made three starts this season as right elbow inflammation pushed his debut to May 24.

Melton went a season-high eight innings against the Rays on Wednesday, allowing two runs and four hits. He retired the last 17 batters he faced.

"Troy was tremendous," Hinch said. "Those last five innings he just pounded the strike zone. ... They were obviously swinging early, which made him not just throw strikes but make pitches. (Catcher Jake Rogers) did a good job adjusting on a couple of hitters and helped create a dominant performance."

Melton tossed two scoreless innings in relief against Minnesota last season.

Twins right-hander Taj Bradley (5-2, 3.56) is set to start Tuesday while coming off back-to-back wobby outings. Last time out, Bradley allowed four runs on seven hits and walked five in 4 2/3 innings while taking the loss against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday.

Bradley had one of his best outings of the season against the Tigers on April 7, giving up one run over 6 1/3 innings with a season-high 10 strikeouts.

The Twins have lost four of their last five, but manager Derek Shelton might place an asterisk next to the most recent loss. Trailing 6-1 entering the ninth inning Sunday against the Kansas City Royals, the Twins scored four runs but left the potential tying and winning runs on base in the 6-5 loss.

"What I take from it, I'm trying to take the positive from it first," Shelton said. "We played 17 (days) in a row, we're down 6-1 in the ninth and we bring the winning run to the plate twice. So, they continued to battle, they continued to grind. We just had, unfortunately, one bad inning that got away from us on the pitching side."