Minneapolis, MN (Sports Network) - Livan Hernandez shut down the suddenly resurgent Detroit Tigers lineup with seven innings of one-run ball, as the Minnesota Twins exploded for 16 hits in an 11-1 win in the first of three meetings between the clubs at the Metrodome.

Hernandez (4-1), coming off a seven-run shelling in 2 2/3 innings in his last start, scattered eight hits and two walks as the Twins won their third consecutive game. He also struck out four while using a variety of off-speed pitches in his first victory since April 11.

Brendan Harris hit a solo home run for the victors. as five Twins recorded multi-hit games. Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer each scored twice and drove in a pair.

Carlos Gomez scored twice and stole two bases, but left the game early when Tigers' catcher Ivan Rodriguez's throw on his second steal attempt hit him in the helmet. He stayed on the ground for several minutes before making his way to his feet and being carted off the field.

Armando Galarraga (2-1) took the loss, allowing four runs -- two earned -- on six hits in his six-inning start for the Tigers, who had been victorious in eight of their last 10. Magglio Ordondez nailed a solo shot in his 2-for-3 effort at the plate, accounting for the Tigers' only run.

Gomez single-handedly manufactured a Minnesota run in the home first by drawing a leadoff walk, stealing second with relative ease and moving to third on Mauer's groundout to the right side of the infield. Galarraga followed by uncorking a wild pitch, and Gomez sprinted home for a 1-0 edge.

Ordonez got the run back an inning later by going down and smashing a low Hernandez fastball well over the left field wall to tie the game.

The Tigers would then load the bases with no outs, but Rodriguez popped out to shallow right and Jacque Jones grounded into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

"The double play was probably the play of the game," Cuddyer said. "I think it stopped their momentum and it allowed us to go out there and stay in the game. We were able to score some runs and continue to pile on. That bases loaded inning was huge."

The Twins took the lead for good in the third. With two runners on, Carlos Guillen misplayed a possible double-play ball to load the bases with no outs. Galarraga forced in a run with a walk to Mauer, and though Morneau grounded into a double play, another Twin crossed the plate to make it a 3-1 ballgame.

Gomez was again the catalyst for a Twins run in the fifth, leading off with a single to left. But as he slid head first into second on a successful steal attempt, Rodriguez's throw caromed off the left flap of his helmet, causing him to leave the game in favor of Nick Punto, who scored two batters later on a Mauer single.

Aquilino Lopez, who came into the game with a 0.49 earned run average, relieved Galarraga in the seventh and ended any chance of a Tigers' comeback.

Lopez hung a slider to Harris, who promptly relocated the pitch into the left field seats for the first tally of the frame, while Morneau and Cuddyer came along and laced consecutive RBI doubles for a six-run lead. Delmon Young came up two batters later and scored Cuddyer on a seeing-eye-single to left, and the Twins pushed ahead, 8-1.

Morneau, Cuddyer and Kubel added to the Tigers' misery by each knocking in a run in the eighth.

Matt Guerrier and Juan Rincon pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings, respectively, for Minnesota.

"[Hernandez] pitched well," Rodriguez said. "He threw a lot of strikes, used a lot of good pitches, kept the ball down. He did a good job."