DETROIT — Max Kepler had three hits and drove in three runs to help the Minnesota Twins to an 8-2 win over the Detroit Tigers in the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader.
Kepler is hitting .320 with four homers and 12 RBIs in 25 at-bats against Detroit this season.
Minnesota's Devin Smeltzer (2-0) picked up the win, giving up two runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings.
Tigers starter Rony Garcia (0-1) took the loss, allowing six runs and seven hits in five innings.
Minnesota took a 2-0 lead in the first on a two-run double by Trevor Larnach, and the Twins added four more runs in the third.
Byron Buxton led off with a single — his first hit in 24 at-bats against Detroit this season — and scored on Kepler's double.
Jorge Polanco singled, and Gary Sanchez hit a three-run homer to left for his sixth homer of the season.
Miguel Cabrera singled — career hit No. 3,030 — and scored in the fourth to make it 6-1, but Kepler added a two-run single in the seventh.
Daz Cameron ended Smeltzer's day with an RBI double in the seventh.
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