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Final Score: Minnesota 7 - Detroit 6

Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Justin Morneau capped his five-hit day with the go-ahead home run in the top of the 11th for the Minnesota Twins, who edged Detroit, 7-6, in the opener of a four-game set with the Tigers.

The Twins trailed by two in the top of the ninth, but took advantage of a fielding error to force extra innings.

Nick Punto singled off of Todd Jones to begin the frame, and came home to score on a Denard Span single one batter later. Span's single went through the legs of right fielder Matt Joyce and all the way to the right field wall, plating Punto and allowing Span to reach third with no outs. Pinch-hitter Joe Mauer followed with a sacrifice fly down the left field line to drive in Span and tie the game at 6-6, as Jones blew his second save.

The Tigers loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but Joe Nathan got both Jeff Larish and Ivan Rodriguez to strike out swinging.

"It was a big win for us," Morneau said. "We were down a couple in the ninth, they made a mistake and we took advantage of it. The bullpen came in and shut them down and we broke the losing streak."

After a scoreless 10th, Morneau came up with one out in the 11th and blasted Freddy Dolsi's pitch over the wall in right for the lead. Matt Guerrier (5-4) worked around a Joyce double in the home half to finish the game and earn the win for the Twins, who snapped a three-game losing streak.

"It was a combination of a couple things," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "We didn't add any runs on, we went too long without scoring runs and we let a three-run lead get away late. You really can't do that but we did."

Guerrier threw the final two innings for Minnesota, and was the last of five Twins relievers who didn't give up a run following Kevin Slowey's rough start. Slowey went just 3 2/3 innings and gave up six runs on nine hits with a pair of walks, and just one strikeout.

Morneau had his second career five-hit day, and along with the homer hit two doubles and walked once. Span finished 4-for-4 with a triple, and Punto had three hits.

Dolsi (1-3) took the loss despite a solid relief outing, as he threw 2 1/3 innings and allowed just the one run on two hits. Kenny Rogers scattered nine hits and two walks over seven innings, allowing three runs with one strikeout for the Tigers, who had won three in a row.

Larish was 3-for-5 with an RBI, while Marcus Thames went 3-for-4 and Joyce homered.

Brendan Harris doubled to lead off the third and scored on Span's triple two batters later. Span came home on a Carlos Gomez groundout to make it 2-0, Twins.

Detroit cut the lead in half in the home third, on Curtis Granderson's RBI double, before storming ahead in the fourth.

Joyce's seventh homer with one out in the fourth tied the game and sparked a five-run inning. Thames reached on an infield single and moved to second on a throwing error by Punto. Larish followed with another single to score Thames. The hit parade continued with a base hit by Rodriguez before Ramon Santiago doubled to score Larish and Rodriguez.

A Granderson groundout moved Santiago to third before a Placido Polanco single brought Santiago home for a 6-2 Detroit lead.

The Twins made it 6-3 in the seventh on an Alexi Casilla sacrifice fly, and got another run back in the eighth when Morneau scored on a Delmon Young groundout.