MINNEAPOLIS — Obviously, there was a lot of talk last week about Jose Miranda’s failure to get an out, but his performance is only part of a larger story about one of baseball’s most buoyant offensive lines.
By that point, every Twins starting pitcher had at least one hit, culminating with a single by Max Kepler in the fourth inning. Castro’s three hits came in the first three innings. Miranda, Kepler and Byron Buxton each had two hits, and the Twins took a 7-1 lead that they held on to the rest of the way.
“[The] “Our offense did a great job,” said Joe Ryan, who pitched 5 2/3 innings to earn his sixth win of the season. “We got some runs in the early innings, we got some good contact, and it was fun to see Brooks hit his first home run, and Miranda is a special player. It was great to see him get the recognition and play to his potential.”
It seems nearly impossible that this is essentially the same lineup that struggled so badly in early June, when the winning streak in Pittsburgh seems like a distant memory thanks to a flurry of runs, hits and home runs that began with the Twins scoring 11 runs on 13 hits in the series finale against the Pirates.
Three days later, Twins hitters gave up 24 hits in a win over the Rockies. After that, the Twins had double-digit hits in nine of their next 10 games, giving up 16 hits in a win over Oakland and 14 in consecutive wins over Arizona. They gave up 45 hits in their last three games, including a 17-hit loss to Houston on Friday.
“We’re doing well as a team and it’s fun to see guys hitting well and hitting strong. It’s awesome to see Buck hit a home run today and Kaep get a couple of hits,” said Miranda, who is batting .328 this season. “I think as an offensive team we’re doing a really good job and obviously we have a good game plan, which is really important for us.”
Sometimes the offense can take advantage of opportunities, and the Twins did just that in the first inning, taking an early lead. Castro and Carlos Correa each led off with singles, and Trevor Larnach came up to bat next to tie the count at 2-2.
Castro reached base on the next pitch, and as third baseman Alex Bregman ran to the bases to wait for the throw, Larnach hit a chop through the left side of the infield just wide of the space Bregman had left, scoring Castro. Correa scored on Kepler’s sacrifice fly to center field for a 2-0 Twins lead.
But the Twins’ offensive success is widely credited to the efforts of players under the guidance of hitting coaches David Popkins, Rudy Hernandez and Derek Showman.
“Our hitting staff is doing a really good job and I couldn’t be happier with the work they’ve done,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “As a hitter, it’s a very unique game to try to perform in response to recent pitching and try to do that early in the year in weather like Minnesota. It’s not easy and in our game you don’t want to rely on patience because you can’t always do that, but you have to be patient and it will even out in the end.”
“Our batters are preparing the guys, they know what they’re doing and the guys have a lot of faith in them, and I do too.”
