Tigers benefit with 4-3 win

DETROIT — Ron Gardenhire’s Minnesota Twins have spent most of the last decade finding ways to beat the Detroit Tigers.

Sunday, they handed the Tigers a game instead.

The Twins made three key defensive mistakes, one in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Tigers picked up a 4-3 victory.

“We missed some plays, and when you miss a play, you just get beat,” Gardenhire said.

The biggest blunder — the fourth of the series by Minnesota right fielder Oswaldo Arcia — directly led to Detroit’s winning run.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth and Torii Hunter on first base, Victor Martinez launched a ball to deep right field that he and everyone in the park was going to be a walk-off homer. Martinez lingered near the plate, watching the ball sail toward the bleachers, then realized he better start running.

The ball came down inches short of the top of the wall, but Arcia dropped it.

“I thought the ball was going to be further back, and when I got back to the wall, I messed up,” Arcia said.

Instead of a home-run trot, Martinez scrambled to first, while Hunter ended up at third.

“I thought that one was gone,” he said. “I got all of that one, but it just died at the end. Luckily, it got the runner to third. Every little bit helps when you are tied in the ninth.”

J.D. Martinez followed with a fly to medium-depth center. Hunter never hesitated, and scored easily when Sam Fuld’s throw was badly off line.

“You never know what is going to happen on a play like that, but once the ball came out of his hand, I knew we were OK,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. “It was an easy decision for Torii — you have to go on a ball like that and make them make the play.”

The game still wasn’t officially over, as Gardenhire had his players appeal to third, thinking that Hunter might have left early, but the umpires ruled he had scored legally.

On Saturday, Arcia misjudged two balls at the wall, both of them bouncing back over his head and forcing the centerfielder to run them down, and he struggled again on Sunday.

Hunter led off the ninth with a single off Casey Fein (3-3), and Miguel Cabrera rifled a line drive that almost knocked over shortstop Dany Santana as he made a leaping catch.

Joe Nathan (3-2) pitched a scoreless ninth. He, Fein and Hunter were all playing against the teams where they started their major-league careers — Nathan and Hunter with the Twins and Fein with Detroit.