Schoop Hits Twins' 300th Homer In 10-4 Win Over Tigers
DETROIT (AP) — Jonathan Schoop hit Minnesota's record 300th home run, Willians Astudillo also went deep and the AL Central champion Twins rallied past the Detroit Tigers 10-4 Thursday to move within one victory of giving the major leagues four 100-win teams for the first time.
Minnesota was tied with the New York Yankees for the big league lead with 299 homers coming in. With the Twins ahead 6-4 in the seventh, Schoop lofted Jose Cisnero's slider to deep left, and a strong breeze pushed the ball into the Tigers bullpen. Astudillo connected off Zac Reininger in the eighth.
Before this year, the record for home runs by a team was 267 from the Yankees last year.
A day after clinching its first division title since 2020, the Twins rested most of their regular starters and improved to 99-60 with their 10th win in 13 games.
Houston (104), the Yankees (102) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (102) have already reached 100 wins. The only prior years with three 100-win teams were 1942, 1977, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2017 and 2018.
Minnesota closes the season at home against Kansas City, among a record-tying four teams with 100 losses.
Detroit (46-112), already assured of the big leagues' worst record and next year's top draft pick, finished 22-59 at Comerica Park and tied the major league record for home losses set by the 1939 St. Louis Browns.
Devin Smeltzer (2-2) allowed three runs and 10 hits in five innings.
Jordan Zimmermann (1-13) lost his fourth straight start, giving up six runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. Zimmermann started 23 times this season and set a team record for fewest wins by a pitcher with 20 or more starts. Art Houtteman had two runs in 20 starts in 1948.
Willi Castro and Victor Reyes hit RBI singles in the fourth for a 3-2 lead, but Minnesota went ahead 6-3 on Astudillo's RBI single, Jake Cave's two-run triple and Victor Alcantara's wild pitch.
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