Minnesota

Detroit Tigers’ Kenta Maeda hammered in 7-inning 12-3 loss to Minnesota Twins

Published

2 years ago

July 4, 2024

Detroit Tigers’ Kenta Maeda hammered in 7-inning 12-3 loss to Minnesota Twins

MINNEAPOLIS — Detroit Tigers second baseman Colt Keith swung so aggressively that his helmet didn’t stay on his head. As a result, he hit the ball 426 feet, into the second deck in right-center field for the fifth home run of his rookie season.

Keith jogged around the bases without his helmet.

The Fourth of July fireworks from Keith looked pretty, but a deluge of runs, and then an actual deluge, left the Tigers with an ugly 12-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins in Thursday’s finale of the three-game series at Target Field, all because right-hander Kenta Maeda struggled again.

Maeda had already been tagged for multiple runs when the rain started falling in Minneapolis, but the umpires kept the game going into the seventh inning. Eventually, they stopped it, and after a brief rain delay, the game was called with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

With Thursday’s loss, the Tigers (39-48) have dropped seven of their past eight series. Also, the Tigers haven’t won two games in a row since winning three in a row from June 2-4. Since then, they’ve lost 18 of 26 games.

RAVE ROOKIE: Detroit Tigers rookie Keider Montero ready for multi-start opportunity in rotation

Maeda signed a two-year, $24 million contract with the Tigers, owed $14 million in 2024 and $10 million in 2025. President of baseball operations Scott Harris expected Maeda to help the young pitchers learn to command their pitches.

He owns a 6.71 ERA in 15 starts.

This time, the 36-year-old allowed nine runs on nine hits and three walks with three strikeouts across 3⅔ innings, throwing 88 pitches. The 36-year-old continues to increase his fastball velocity, but he can’t command any of his pitches.

Maeda squandered a three-run lead to the Twins.

Keith, whom the Tigers signed to a six-year, $28.6 million contract before his first MLB game, provided a 1-0 lead when he turned on a middle-in slider from right-hander Bailey Ober for a solo home run with two strikes and one out in the first inning. The distance of 426 feet marked the longest homer of his career.

In 50 games beginning May 1, Keith is hitting .281 with all five of his home runs.

The Tigers tacked on two more runs in the second inning for a 3-0 advantage, thanks to a two-strike, two-out double from Jake Rogers.

From there, everything fell apart for the Tigers.

Kenta Maeda struggles

The Twins torched Maeda, who pitched for the Twins from 2020-23, for two runs in the second inning, three runs in the third inning and four runs in the fourth inning.

In the third inning, the Twins took a 4-3 lead when Max Kepler delivered a two-run single with two outs. An ensuing infield single from Manuel Margo pushed the Twins’ lead to 5-3 in the third.

The Twins broke open the game in the fourth inning after Maeda retired the first two batters. He then walked two batters, opening the door for Jose Miranda’s two-run double off Maeda’s slider and Ryan Jeffers’ two-run home run off Maeda’s splitter.

The score was 9-3 when Maeda walked off the mound.

Miranda finished 5-for-5 with three RBIs, posting three doubles and two singles. Jeffers went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and Kepler went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, providing the other multi-hit performances for the Twins.

Maeda, meanwhile, generated 11 whiffs on 41 swings — a 26.8% whiff rate — with five sliders, one splitter, two sinkers, one sweeper and two cutters. He entered Thursday’s start averaging a 22% whiff rate in his first 15 outings, much worse than last year’s 28.2% whiff rate in 21 games.

More bad pitchers

Left-handed reliever Joey Wentz replaced Maeda in the fourth inning and covered 2⅓ innings. He surrendered two runs (one earned run) on three hits and three walks with one strikeout.

The Twins grabbed an 11-3 lead with Jeffers’ two-run single on a ground ball to Wentz. Only one runner should’ve scored, but Wentz threw the ball away, which allowed the second runner to score on the play.

Right-handed reliever Shelby Miller gave up one run in the seventh inning, making it 12-3, and hit a batter in the head because a pitch slipped out of his hand. After that, the game entered its terminal rain delay.

Wentz has a 5.11 ERA; Miller has a 6.41 ERA.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

Listen to our weekly Tigers show “Days of Roar” every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.

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Minnesota

Minnesotans faced with sticker shock over car tab renewals: “It’s just very expensive”

Published

6 hours ago

March 24, 2026

Press Room

Minnesotans faced with sticker shock over car tab renewals: “It’s just very expensive”

March 23, 2026 / 6:55 PM CDT
/ CBS Minnesota

If you have a newer car, you may be in for some sticker shock when you renew your Minnesota license tabs. That’s because the formula for calculating fees has changed due to a 2023 bill.

If your car is less than five years old, you could even be seeing tab prices go up year over year.

Jeff Craig drives a Subaru Forester. He bought it used, but was shocked when he renewed his tabs.

“We paid the tab on it for the first time and the next year it was more expensive,” Craig said.

The new formula means the average driver paid $178 in registration taxes this year — a 20% increase. Craig thinks it unfair.

“The car depreciates, but the tax goes up? Really? Is that how that’s supposed to work? I don’t thing so,” he said.

But the 2023 bill didn’t just change the state’s overall formula for calculating license tab fees; it also changed the way it calculates the depreciation of your vehicle.

The state calculates that your new car loses 5% of its value a year, so 10% over two years. The Kelley Blue Book estimates that over two years, the average new car loses 30% of its value.

GOP state Sen. John Jasinski has a bill to roll back the changes.

“People are frustrated. It’s just very expensive,” Jasinski said. “You’re paying a lot more up in the first couple years now, and it’s very expensive on a new car.”

But the state says tabs for older cars are going down, and that many Minnesota drivers will pay less. And If you can hang onto your car for 11 years, your renewal cost is a flat $35 plus taxes and fees.

The bill to roll back the changes is moving forward in the GOP-controlled House, but it’s stalled in the state Senate.

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Minnesota

Minnesota lawmakers push to repeal César Chávez Day after allegations

Published

19 hours ago

March 23, 2026

Press Room

Minnesota lawmakers push to repeal César Chávez Day after allegations

DFL and Latine community leaders are pushing for the repeal of César Chávez Day in Minnesota after sexual abuse allegations against the late civil rights icon have surfaced.

The New York Times published a report on March 18 detailing several allegations of sexual abuse by Chávez, a farm labor activist, including the sexual abuse of two minor girls and the assault and rape of Dolores Huerta, who led the farmworkers’ movement of the 1960s and ’70s alongside Chávez.

“The farmworker movement has always been bigger and far more important than any one individual,” Huerta, now 95, said in a statement. “Cesar’s actions do not diminish the permanent improvements achieved for farmworkers with the help of thousands of people. We must continue to engage and support our community, which needs advocacy and activism now more than ever.”

State and local leaders have quickly responded, and an effort is underway at the state Capitol to repeal the quickly approaching March 31 “César Chávez Day.”

The House passed a repeal late Monday afternoon. The Senate still have to consider it. It’s not clear whether the state would eventually designate the day with another person’s name or another farmer union-related title.

Rep. María Isa Pérez-Vega, DFL-St. Paul, how authored repeal legislation, said “it was gutting” to read the sexual abuse allegations.

“This legislation to repeal César Chávez Day out of the Minnesota Constitution marks one crucial step in a multi-faceted process. We acknowledge that this is merely the beginning. Constantly, we must advocate for numerous causes, recognizing that a movement transcends individual figures,” she said.

‘Drawing a clear line’

Emilia Gonzalez, executive director of Unidos Minnesota, said the repeal is about “drawing a clear line.”

“Repealing César Chávez Day is about drawing a clear line that no legacy, no matter how powerful, no matter how important, stands above the safety and dignity of our children and our community. We can honor farm workers, we can honor the movement, La Causa. We can honor the struggle of labor rights, but we don’t have to enshrine a single figure in a way that leaves no room for truth, complexity or accountability,” she said.

Rep. Liish Kozlowski, DFL-Duluth, said accountability starts with the repeal of César Chávez Day.

“Our community is showing the nation how to respond to sexual violence and violence in all of its forms,” they said. “We are showing what it means to listen and believe survivors when they break their silence. We believe them, we stand with them, and we hold individuals and institutions accountable.”

A street in St. Paul

Minnesota also has a street named after Chávez in St. Paul, as well as a charter school, Academia César Chávez.

St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, who was at the Capitol on Monday, didn’t provide a timeline for when the street name could be changed, but said she’s getting a group of stakeholders and residents together to discuss the issue.

Ramona Arreguín de Rosales, an activist who personally met Chávez and the co-founder of Academia César Chávez, said she has recommended that the Board of Academia César Chávez change the school’s name, but said she does not want to “diminish the good work that the movement has accomplished.”

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Minnesota

NCAA women’s tournament takeaways, Day 3: Minnesota drains buzzer-beater as LSU, Texas dominate again

Published

1 day ago

March 23, 2026

Press Room

NCAA women’s tournament takeaways, Day 3: Minnesota drains buzzer-beater as LSU, Texas dominate again

The Sweet 16 field is halfway filled as the first weekend of the NCAA tournament starts to wrap up. There weren’t a ton of surprises on Sunday for the start of the second round, but we did get our first buzzer-beater.

Minnesota reaches Sweet 16 on buzzer-beater

After a buzzer-beater was called off on Saturday, we finally got one.

Amaya Battle got her game-winner to fall on Sunday afternoon, which lifted Minnesota to what is its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2005. Battle, with less than a second left on the clock, drilled a contested jumper from the short corner to push the Gophers past Ole Miss 65-63. Naturally, that sparked a massive celebration on their home court.