Twins starter Kyle Gibson pitched a strong 7-plus innings, but it wasn’t enough as the Twins lost their last game of the 2014 season 3-0 to the Tigers Sunday afternoon in Detroit. The win for the Tigers gives them the AL Central Division title for the fourth year in a row.
Gibson gave up only four hits in 7 1/3 innings, but three of those were to Ian Kinsler, including a solo home run in the third inning, the Star Tribune reports.
Gibson pitched well, but Detroit’s David Price was even better. He scattered four hits over 7 1/3 innings while walking two and striking out eight, according to MLB.com. Price never allowed a Twins runner to advance beyond second base, and Minnesota was 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position against him.
Former Twins closer Joe Nathan came on in the ninth to get the final three outs for his 35th save this year.
Detroit entered the game with a playoff spot already wrapped up, but they needed the win to clinch the division title over Kansas City, which was behind one game in the standings. The Tigers will face the Baltimore Orioles in the AL division series. Kansas City gets one of the two wild card spots.
As for the Twins, they finished their fourth season in a row with at least 90 losses – their final record is 70-92. That’s a bit better than the last two seasons; they went 66-96 in 2012 and ’13, according to MLB.com.
Thank you for the support this season!
— Phil Hughes (@PJHughes45) September 28, 2014
It probably won’t be long before Twins executives decide whether to make any coaching or managing changes in the wake of another lousy season. GM Terry Ryan said Sunday the status of the coaching staff will be up for discussion shortly, according to MLB.com.
It’s certainly possible that Ryan himself could be gone, as well as manager Ron Gardenhire. They both have said they’d like to return next season; Gardenhire has one year left on his contract. But he and Ryan have faced plenty of criticism during the latter stages of another disappointing season.
