MINNEAPOLIS -- If ever there was a time for an off day, it's now for the Minnesota Twins.
A long day Sunday in a 13-4 loss to Detroit capped what turned out to be an even longer weekend at the end of an 11-game, 10-day homestand for Minnesota. The last three days were about as jam-packed as any stretch of the schedule this year for the Twins, who played four games in three days against the Tigers at Target Field.
During those three days, history was made as Minnesota's pitchers allowed 60 hits, the most in team history in a series. That included 18 hits Sunday as the Tigers ran away with the series finale.
Twins right-hander Kyle Gibson was the latest starting pitcher to fail to go deep into the game, and Minnesota certainly could have used a few more innings from him after Saturday's day-night doubleheader. Neither starter Saturday went deeper than 5 1/3 innings, and Gibson's outing Sunday was even shorter at just 4 2/3 innings.
That put more strain on Minnesota's already-overworked bullpen, which issued 10 hits and eight runs Sunday.
"They're worn out, there's no doubt. Every one of them are," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "I think this series alone was a lot of baseball games in a short period of time, and our starters didn't get too deep in the game other than Phil (Hughes). It turns into a lot of innings out of the bullpen, and that's just too much on them."
The 18 hits surrendered Sunday were the most of the weekend -- and tied for the second-most all year -- although the Twins' pitching staff surrendered 10 or more runs in each of the four games in the series. That included 15 Tigers hits in Minnesota's 20-6 win Friday, 10 hits in a 12-4 Twins victory in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, and 17 hits for Detroit in the Tigers' 8-6 win late Saturday night.
Of the 18 hits allowed, 14 of them were singles. Rajai Davis and Victor Martinez homered, while Torii Hunter hit a three-run triple to break the game open in the eighth. J.D. Martinez had the Tigers' fourth extra-base hit with a double, his 24th of the season.
"Our pitchers, we've got to get more out of them," Gardenhire said. "You can't keep going five innings. We just have to get better starts. Every time we give ourselves a chance, we normally do pretty decent. We seem to have an opportunity to win a game. But we're getting too many short starts."
The odd thing about this weekend's series was that, for as bad as the Twins' pitching was, the offense was about as explosive as it's been all season. Minnesota scored 20 runs Friday -- the most since 2009 -- and followed that up with 12 more runs in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. The Twins had a combined 34 hits in those two wins, and scored six more times on 11 hits in Saturday's nightcap.
Even in Sunday's lopsided loss, Minnesota had 12 hits but managed just four runs out of them. Meanwhile, the pitching remained shaky. Twins pitchers walked eight Tigers batters Sunday, a big reason the game took a season-high four hours and 10 minutes.
"Our offense has been really good. They're hitting the ball well for us," said Gibson, who dropped to 11-10 with a 4.31 ERA after Sunday's loss. "(It's) unfortunate that we couldn't take advantage of those runs in the last couple games. I think as a pitching staff, we're going to be better. We don't give up that many hits normally in a series."
Or ever, as the 60 hits allowed set a new club record. It broke the old mark of 59 hits allowed in a series by the Twins' pitching staff back in 2011 in a four-game stretch against Texas. Minnesota's 57 hits on offense this weekend were the third-most in a series, coming close to tying the team record of 62.
Add it all up, and the Twins and Tigers combined for 117 hits, 73 runs, 1,407 pitches and 14 hours, 44 minutes of baseball in a three-day span. Needless to say, Minnesota gladly welcomes Monday's day off.
"I think everybody needs it," Gardenhire said. "Everybody's worn out. It's a lot of baseball in three days."
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