MINNEAPOLIS -- Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire knew his pitching staff would be extended with a four-game weekend series in Minnesota.

A Saturday doubleheader allowed two Detroit pitchers to make their Major League debuts.

Gregory Soto, 24, started Saturday’s nightcap after being recalled from Double-A Erie as the team’s 26th man for the twin bill. Nick Ramirez, 29, followed in relief as the Tigers lost 8-3 on Saturday night.

• Box score

“When I got out there, I expected everything to just have the feeling that it’s really big out here,” Ramirez said. “I got out there and the plate looked like it was right in front of me, so I was like, ‘Ah, this is nice.’ It’s always nice when the plate is feeling close. Once I got kind of settled in, that’s when I was able to just go to work and pitch.”

Detroit won the first game, 5-3, on the strength of two home runs by Ronny Rodriguez, and solo homers by Brandon Dixon and John Hicks.

Soto, who took his first loss, pitched four innings and gave up seven runs on nine hits, with two walks and one strikeout. Ramirez allowed only one run in four innings and struck out five.

“I don’t know how to explain this, but as soon as I threw the first pitch, all the nerves ran away,” Soto said through interpreter Carlos Guillen. “I was comfortable. I did my best and I gave four innings to my team. Obviously, it’s a mix of feelings, but I felt really good.”

Making just his fourth career start above Class A, Soto took an accelerated route to the Majors, while Ramirez capped a long journey that included a switch from playing first base to pitching.

“These kids get an opportunity like this and it’s a big moment, something you’ll never forget,” Gardenhire said. “No matter what happened, you’ll never forget it. Those smiles when they came out of the ballgame, that means everything in the world.”

Soto, the team’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2017 and No. 26 prospect per MLB Pipeline, had made three starts for Erie this season before getting the call on Thursday to make his way to Minnesota.

Using a mix of mainly mid-90s two-seam fastballs and sliders, Soto struggled early against the Twins’ veteran bats. He allowed two runs on three hits in the first inning, and another two runs in the second before he settled down to retire seven of the next eight hitters.

He ran into trouble again in the fifth when C.J. Cron’s three-run homer ended his night after 88 pitches.

“I will try to improve my changeup, and also today I didn’t have the best command on my slider,” Soto said through the interpreter. “That’s one of the things I will have to work on.”

After serving as the team’s 26th player for the doubleheader, Soto was optioned back to Double-A after the game.

Ramirez, who was a fourth-round Draft choice by Milwaukee in 2011 out of Cal State Fullerton, started his career as a first baseman, but topped out at Triple-A before making the switch to the mound.

He signed a Minor League deal with the Tigers in the offseason and made five starts between Erie and Triple-A Toledo. The left-hander featured a two-seam fastball and changeup, the latter leading to his first career strikeout of Mitch Garver to end his first inning of work.

“He’s got pitchability,” Gardenhire said of Ramirez. “He’s got a great changeup. He spots his fastball pretty decent and [he's] got a nice, little breaking ball. He kept them off-balance pretty good. He did a really nice job. Soto, he was fine. ... Coming out of Double-A, he wasn’t afraid. Made some bad pitches early but hung in there for a few innings. That’s what we needed more than anything else.”

The only run against Ramirez was a solo homer by Marwin Gonzalez leading off the sixth.

“Can’t miss, can’t miss here,” Ramirez said of what he learned. “I made some poorly located offspeed pitches, and obviously they put some barrel on them. Just have to execute every pitch and just be as good as you can be out there.”

Cabrera gets tossed, too

After Gardenhire was ejected in the first game of the doubleheader, Miguel Cabrera was sent to an early exit in the second game.

While Minnesota was batting in the first inning, home-plate umpire Chad Whitson motioned toward Detroit's dugout to toss someone, which led to Gardenhire immediately coming out to argue. Video replay later showed Cabrera, who served as the designated hitter in the nightcap, yelling from the dugout.

It was the 10th career ejection for Cabrera, though Gardenhire did at least manage to make it all nine innings in the nightcap.