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Tigers beat Twins 8-2 in series opener

DETROIT (AP) — Mark Canha hit a solo homer in first inning, Tarik Skubal pitched five scoreless innings and the Detroit Tigers went on to beat the Minnesota Twins 8-2 Friday night.

Canha, Spencer Torkelson and Matt Vierling each had two hits and two RBIs, helping Detroit pull away with six runs from the fourth to the the sixth inning.

“This is the first game in a while that we got it rolling like that,” Canha said.

Despite striking out 15 times, Detroit set a season high for runs.

Skubal (2-0) gave up just two hits and two walks while striking out five.

“He was great,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said. “Everything that he did was vintage Tarik. He dominated the strike zone. His misses were near-misses. He was relentless at coming at guys.”

Skubal, though, was not as impressed with his outing.

“I didn’t have the best feel for the fastball, but the changeup kind of made up for it,” he said.

Pablo Lopez (1-2) gave up five runs on six hits and three walks over four innings and had seven strikeouts in a 98-pitch outing.

Minnesota had six hits, including a pair of doubles, and is batting a major league-low .184. They were held scoreless until the ninth when Kyle Farmer hit an RBI double and Edouard Julien followed with a run-scoring single.

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