DETROIT -- When "El Caballo" -- The Horse -- gallops, everybody gallops.

And when The Horse -- Miguel Cabrera -- hits, it seems everybody with the Detroit Tigers hits.

Cabrera slammed a pair of two-run home runs and triggered a three-run first inning with an RBI single Thursday to lead a 20-hit Detroit attack that produced a 13-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

"When he explodes, it makes a huge impact on the game," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "That's the kind of player he is."

Cabrera has eight home runs this season, with six evenly divided between three games. He is now two home runs shy of 400 and one away from tying Andres Galarraga for most by a Venezuelan player.

"I don't play the game to pass somebody," Cabrera said. "Our goal is to get in the playoffs again. But I know it's going to be big in Venezuela."

Right-hander Anibal Sanchez checked Minnesota on five hits, striking out nine and walking one over eight innings. Right-hander Al Alburquerque pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.

Buried by the hit avalanche was a snazzy double play initiated by shortstop Jose Iglesias after a game-opening hit in the first inning. He gloved a ground ball hit right over second and backhanded it from glove to second baseman Ian Kinsler, who barehanded it and threw in one motion to Cabrera on one hop to complete the double play.

"That saved me a lot," said Sanchez (3-4). "That was definitely the play of the game."

"You almost have to wait for the ball to hit the grass, because of what he (Iglesias) can do," said center fielder Anthony Gose, who had his first career four-hit game. "He's got a great gift. Not many people can do what he can do with a glove."

Detroit ended a stretch of 28 games in six weeks against American League Central opponents, winning 18 of them. It was the first time in five games the Tigers had scored more than two runs, though they won three of the five.

Cabrera's first home run came after Kinsler doubled to lead off the sixth inning and his second, his eighth homer of the season, came the next inning after consecutive triples by Gose and Kinsler.

Gose grounded a single up the middle in the first. He advanced on a ground ball back to losing right-hander Mike Pelfrey (3-1) and scored on a line single to left-center by Cabrera.

Designated hitter J.D. Martinez singled Cabrera to third and left fielder Yoenis Cespedes drove him home with a sacrifice fly to center. Right fielder Rajai Davis doubled in the third run of the inning, the first of his three hits.

Iglesias drove in an unearned run in the third when his ground ball to short glanced off Pelfrey with one out and runners on first and third. Third baseman Nick Castellanos opened the fifth with his third home run of the season, a blow that glanced off the iron railing atop the fence in right-center.

Tigers catcher Bryan Holaday doubled in a run in the sixth to make it 8-1 and his two-run homer in the eighth upped the lead to 13-1. He also had a three-hit game.

Pelfrey reached 95 pitches by the time he was taken out with two outs in the fifth. He gave up 10 hits with two walks and a strikeout.

"He didn't start very well right out of the chute," Molitor said. "Mike had trouble finding a rhythm. We only had one chance to get back in the game and we didn't do much with that."

First baseman Kennys Vargas grounded into a double play after Eduardo Escobar hit an RBI single in the fourth. The Twins lost for just the fourth time in 14 games.

NOTES: Detroit INF Andrew Romine was listed as the shortstop in the starting lineup posted by manager Brad Ausmus -- but Romine was quickly removed when a pregame question about SS Jose Iglesias getting a day off made Ausmus realize he had written down a name from his B lineup. ... Twins RF Torii Hunter did not start. "He's been out there a lot," manager Paul Molitor said. ... DH Victor Martinez, struggling as a left-handed batter, did not start and also won't play this weekend in St. Louis, a National League park in which the designated hitter is not used. ... Molitor put Kennys Vargas, normally the designated hitter, in at first base so he could make Joe Mauer his DH for a day and give him a break from playing in the field.