DETROIT -- Andrew Romine came feet first, then Jose Iglesias dove in with his left arm sweeping across the plate. Pirates Jerseys China .Both Detroit runners were safe on close plays at home in the seventh inning, helping the Tigers rally for an important win.Were good sliders, Romine joked afterward.Miguel Cabrera and Ian Kinsler homered, and the Tigers scored two runs in the seventh on those slides at the plate in a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night. Detroit pulled within a game of Baltimore for the American Leagues second wild card.With the Tigers down 2-1 in the seventh, Romine walked and Iglesias hit a double to the corner in left field. Romine was waved around, and he made it home right as the relay was arriving. Catcher Kurt Suzuki had to move to his left to catch the throw, and he lunged back as Romine stretched his left leg toward the plate.He was called safe, and the run stood after a review. Iglesias moved up to third on the play at home.For me, that was the most important play of the whole thing, Iglesias said. Read the ball and get to third base on that.Kinsler flied out to center, Iglesias tagged up, and Suzuki had to reach to his right this time to receive Byron Buxtons throw home. Iglesias reached his left arm toward the plate and scored to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.Shane Greene (4-4) got the win in relief, and Bruce Rondon worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the eighth. Cabreras homer in the bottom of the eighth gave Detroit an insurance run.Francisco Rodriguez walked two in the ninth but held on for his 41st save in 45 chances.Brian Dozier hit his 40th homer, and Suzuki also went deep for the Twins.Alex Wimmers (1-2) took the loss.Daniel Norris struck out a career-high 11 in 6 1/3 innings for the Tigers. Kinsler led off the bottom of the first with his 26th homer of the season, but solo shots by Dozier and Suzuki gave the Twins a 2-1 lead.Cabreras home run was his 32nd of the year.Ervin Santana allowed one run and three hits in five innings for the Twins. He was lifted after throwing 95 pitches.I felt great, but I was at 95 pitches so if anyone gets on, Im out of the game, Santana said. It made more sense to start the inning with a fresh arm.SLUGGERDozier extended his hitting streak to 16 games. He now has 33 home runs in his last 76 games and is the second Minnesota player to reach 40 in a season. Harmon Killebrew was the other. He did it most recently in 1970.Im sure when the season is over, it will mean a lot more, but I just wish this was happening in (first-place) Clevelands position or Detroits position, where we were making a run, Dozier said. Were still looking at losing 100 games. ... That takes something away from this.QUALITY STARTNorris allowed two runs and five hits, throwing a season-high 106 pitches. This equaled his longest start of 2016, innings-wise. He also went 6 1/3 against the Twins on Aug. 25.TRAINERS ROOMTwins: 3B Miguel Sano left the game in the seventh with lower back tightness.Tigers: LF Justin Upton came out at the beginning of the fourth with a left calf strain.UP NEXTTwins: Minnesota sends RHP Kyle Gibson (5-9) to the mound Tuesday night in the second game of this four-game series.Tigers: LHP Matt Boyd (5-3) starts for Detroit. He won his previous two starts against Minnesota this season.---Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister Custom Pittsburgh Pirates Jerseys .C. -- Calgarys Kevin Koe did it the hard way again. Stitched Pirates Jerseys .500 on the season. The Jets are now 0-5-1 in the second game of back-to-backs. The game started the same way the Vancouver game started the night before, with the Jets taking the first two penalties of the game and killing off the first, but the Oilers getting on the board first, scoring on the second man-advantage. https://www.cheappiratesjerseys.us/ . - Connor McDavid scored 53 seconds into overtime as the Erie Otters came from behind to defeat the visiting Guelph Storm 4-3 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action.CHASKA, Minn. -- Give Phil Mickelson credit for being prepared for a Ryder Cup that has his fingerprints all over it.He tees off Friday morning secure in the knowledge that this is his team, even if the official title of captain belongs to Davis Love III. Hes paired with his choice of partners, and doesnt have to worry about Tiger Woods stealing any of the credit for what he surely believes will be the biggest U.S. win ever.Just to make sure he hasnt forgotten anything, Mickelson went over his list of things to do while waiting for play to actually begin:- Welcome rookies with tales of Ryder Cup failures of the past. Check.- Give out gift of dog tags to teammates to signify just how important this is. Check.- Make sure the pingpong table in the team room has extra balls. Check.- Publicly trash former captain Hal Sutton for a Ryder Cup debacle from 12 years ago. Double check.Its been a busy week for Mickelson, who shoulders the burden of being both the leader of the Ryder Cup team and the smartest guy in golf. With all thats been going on, its amazing hes even had time to practice.Still, everything finally seems to be like Phil wants it as he tees off in his 11th Ryder Cup.Hes playing a ball he likes. Hes playing clubs he likes. Hes playing with whom he likes.Not having to answer to any captain? Well, that he really likes.That wasnt the case two years ago when Mickelson publicly grumbled about how bad a captain Tom Watson was. It certainly wasnt the case 12 years ago when Mickelson and Woods were put together in a dramatic pairing by Sutton.Mickelson took it upon himself Wednesday to dredge up the past failure, complaining that Sutton didnt give him enough time to get used to Woods and a different golf ball in the alternate-shot foursomes format. For reasons unknown to anyone but Lefty, he tossed Sutton under the bus without being prompted.It all starts with the captain. I mean, thats the guy that has to bring together 12 strong individuals and bring out their best and allow them on a platform to play their best, Mickelson said. Thats the whole foundation of the team. I understand and I hear, `Well, guys just need to play better or they just need to putt better. Absolutely you do. But you play how you prepare.Mickelsons preparations apparentlly havent been that great during much of his Ryder Cup career. Pittsburgh Pirates Gear. Hes played on only two winning teams since 1995, and has an overall record of 16-19-6.Hes the leader of this Ryder Cup team only through longevity and the force of his own personality. Still, he seems sure that only he understands the key to getting 12 players to work together over three days to win back the Ryder Cup.When you look back on what the difference is, when players are put in a position to succeed, more often than not they tend to succeed, Mickelson said. And when they are put in positions to fail, most of the time they tend to fail.Mickelson backed off a bit Thursday, saying he didnt mean to disparage Sutton like he did. But words hurt, and Sutton was taken aback when told what Mickelson said.Making it worse was that Sutton is here as part of a U.S. plan to bring former Ryder Cup captains together to foster some camaraderie for a team that has won only two of the last 10 Ryder Cups.My God, somebodys got to be the fall guy, Sutton told Golfweek magazine. If it needs to be me, I can be that. I dont have anything to say to that. My God. The world saw what happened. They saw it. I didnt have to cover it up.The world did see what happened, and on the U.S. side it wasnt pretty. Mickelson and Woods lost both their matches, and the Europeans ended up trouncing the American squad.What Mickelson failed to mention this week, though, was that he had just switched equipment companies right before the Ryder Cup, something that may have been as much to blame for his bad play as having to play an unfamiliar ball.No reason to let the facts get in the way of his revised narrative.Sutton said hes surprised Mickelson isnt focusing more on what he has in front of him.I think Phil better get his mind on what he needs to have it on this week instead of on something that happened 10 years ago, he said.Thats the kind of advice that should come from a captain.But its hard to imagine Mickelson giving it to himself.----Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg ' ' '