MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- It has been feast or famine for the Minnesota Twins so far in 2003.
Kenny Rogers pitched eight sterling innings and Bobby Kielty had his first career multi-homer game as the Twins completed a three-game sweep of the Tigers with a 6-0 victory.
Minnesota has played five series this season and have swept three while getting swept in the other two. The Twins have swept the Tigers twice this season to extend their winning streak against Detroit to 15 games.
"We always seem to play well against Detroit," Minnesota catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. "We just seem to hit against them. We went out and played a good game. Kenny pitched a good game. He's really easy to talk to. He's great. He throws strikes, keeps the ball down and saves himself by diving around the mound."
Rogers (2-0) shut down the anemic Detroit offense on Thursday, allowing just seven hits and recording a season-high nine strikeouts.
"I definitely was more comfortable this time out," said Rogers, who made his third start with the Twins. "I wasn't making nearly as many mistakes. A lot was going right for me. I'm feeling a lot better with each start I get here."
The veteran lefthander threw 80 of 111 pitches for strikes and did not allow a runner past second base.
"I was curious to see how we would react to a guy throwing 60 percent changeups," Detroit manager Alan Trammell said. "Rogers took us to school and abused us."
The Tigers have lost 13 of the first 14 games and are the worst offensive team in baseball, managing just 26 runs thus far.
"We need to get some wins," Trammell said. "It's disappointing, why we're not making adjustments, I can't tell you. I'm not getting into detail, but we're going to have a meeting."
Tony Fiore pitched a perfect ninth as Minnesota recorded its second shutout of Detroit this season.
Kielty belted a solo homer off Tigers rookie Jeremy Bonderman (0-3) to open the second inning. He started the eighth with a solo shot off reliever Matt Anderson.
Corey Koskie also homered for the Twins, who have won six straight games for the first time since July 17-22, 2002.
Bonderman continued to struggle in his brief major league career, surrendering four runs - three earned - and 10 hits in six innings.
The 20-year-old righthander has given up 14 earned runs and 23 hits in 12 innings in his first three starts.
Minnesota took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Torii Hunter's two-out double. Kielty's first home run doubled the lead and Koskie homered off Bonderman with one out in the third.
Mike Cuddyer opened the fourth with a triple before scoring on a wild pitch by Bonderman. Kielty's second homer made it 5-0 and Jacque Jones capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly four batters later.
