DETROIT -- Brad Ausmus has been frustrated watching his offense in recent games. The Detroit Tigers manager wasn't thrilled once again Tuesday, but his team did just enough to get a bounce-back victory.

Ian Kinsler slapped an opposite-field single to bring home Anthony Gose and give the Tigers a 2-1, 10th-inning victory over the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park.

Detroit scored two runs or less in eight of the last 13 games, including the last three. It lost an extra-innings game by the same score to Kansas City on Sunday night after leaving the bases loaded twice in the last two innings.

"It's anemic right now," Ausmus said. "It just tells me at some point this offense will bust out. You always go through stretches where you have trouble scoring runs. I'm very confident in this offense in the long term, even though it's been a little struggle lately to score."

The Tigers had the right guy at the plate to push across the game-winner. Kinsler collected his fifth career walk-off hit and second of the season. Gose, the Tigers' center fielder, drilled a one-out double to left-center before Detroit's second baseman knocked him in.

"That's two games in a row that were very similar," Ausmus said. "Fortunately, we were on the winning end of this one."

Angel Nesbitt (1-1) picked up the victory with one inning of scoreless relief while Ryan Pressly (1-1) took the loss.

Right fielder J.D. Martinez homered for the Tigers (20-13) while Gose, Kinsler and left fielder Yoenis Cespedes had two hits apiece.

Right fielder Torii Hunter drove in the lone run for the Twins (18-15), who had won nine of their previous 11 games before the opener of the three-game series.

Both starting pitchers were sharp but neither factored in the decision. Minnesota's Kyle Gibson gave up one run on five hits and struck out six in seven innings, while Detroit's Alfredo Simon allowed one run on six hits with six strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings.

"When you hold the Tigers down like that, like (Gibson) did tonight, you want to win that game," said Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe, whose team lost six of seven to Detroit. "They've had our number this season. I think it will even itself out throughout the course of the year."

Ausmus left Simon in to start the eighth but the Twins pushed across the tying run. Shortstop Danny Santana led off with a triple and scored one out later on Hunter's sacrifice fly.

Simon has given up one or no earned runs in four of his starts.

"It might have been the best outing we've had from him in terms of efficiency and pitches and swings and misses," Ausmus said. "He got big outs with runners in scoring position. His splitter was working but I thought he used his fastball very effectively, too."

Twins reliever Blaine Boyer escaped a ninth-inning jam. Cespedes ripped a one-out double and advanced on a groundout. Hunter then tracked down catcher James McCann's fly ball to send the game into extra innings.

Gibson extended his streak of scoreless innings to 20 before Martinez smacked an opposite-field home run with one out in the fourth. The blast was the right fielder's team-leading seventh home run but his first since April 29, also against Minnesota.

"It was so much of a line drive, Torii turned around and it looked he was playing it off the wall. But it got up enough," Gibson said. "He's a good hitter, he's done that to me a couple of times this year. That's probably the most frustrating thing from the game. You get beat on a long ball when normally I'm a guy who's able to keep it in the park."

NOTES: The Twins placed OF Shane Robinson on the family emergency list and recalled OF Aaron Hicks from Triple-A Rochester. Hicks, who started in center field, batted .336 with two home runs and 14 RBIs in 27 games with Rochester. ... Tigers RHP Justin Verlander threw a 25-pitch light bullpen session as he continues to rehab from a right triceps strain. "It's just another step that needs to happen for me to get back out there," he said. Verlander, who has not pitched this season, hopes to throw a full bullpen session in the coming days. ... Detroit SS Jose Iglesias was in the lineup after missing the previous four games with a groin injury. ... Minnesota began the day with a major-league-best 135 runs since April 15. ... Through Monday, Detroit LF Yoenis Cespedes was batting .379 with five homers and 25 RBIs in 21 career games against the Twins, including 11 multi-hit games.