Twins Win Opening Series With Thursday Victory Over Tigers

The Minnesota Twins topped the Detroit Tigers 8-2 Thursday afternoon at Target Field. The Twins win their season opening series 2-1 and will head to Baltimore for three weekend games.

Twins outfielder Josh Willingham erased a 2-0 Detroit lead with a two-run home run in the bottom of the third inning. Trevor Plouffe's solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning gave Minnesota a 3-2 lead that they would not relinquish.

The Twins roughed up Tigers reliever Brayan Villarreal in the bottom of the eighth inning to pad their lead. Pedro Florimon and Aaron Hicks each had a pair of RBI in the inning.

Mike Pelfrey got the win for the Twins by tossing 5.1 innings without allowing an earned run.

Minnesota is at Baltimore on Friday afternoon.