MINNEAPOLIS – The Twins can’t hit lefties. You know this. They know this. Everyone knows it.
But what if everyone was wrong? It’s early, but so far in 2026, Minnesota is making a habit of beating left-handers -- and not just beating them, but absolutely taking it to the best lefties in the American League.
The latest victim was Red Sox star and mega-contract recipient Garrett Crochet, who allowed more than twice as many runs (11) as he recorded outs (five) in a 13-6 Minnesota win at Target Field. The Twins have won five straight home games, seven of eight overall, and their last five games against left-handed starting pitchers.
Less than a week after chasing the Tigers' Tarik Skubal in the fifth inning and blasting Framber Valdez for six runs in the first, Minnesota hammered Crochet on Monday. All of this from a team that faced huge questions about its ability to hit left-handed pitching and, in fact, started the year 1-4 in games started by opposing lefties.
“Our hitters, I mean, we’re talking about one of the best pitchers in the game, and we executed our approach about as well as we could do it,” said Twins manager Derek Shelton. “I don’t think you could do it any better. To get off to that start, it was fun to watch. And then the energy in our dugout. It was palpable. They were after it. They were into it. It was really cool to see.”
It was a steady drip for the Twins against Crochet in the first, with two doubles, a single, a walk, a hit batter and a single adding up to four runs. But in the second, they brought the thunder.
With the bases loaded and one run in, Josh Bell hit a two-run double high off the wall in right field. Victor Caratini followed with a massive homer into the second deck in left field, making it 10-0. Ryan Kreidler added his first homer of the year to finish the onslaught, making it 11-0 and chasing Crochet.
“I think everybody did his job,” said Caratini, who hit his first homer as a Twin. “Be calm and look for a pitch you can handle and hit it to the middle of the field. … We just have the mentality to go out there and compete. Compete with every pitcher who’s on the mound that night and try to pull everything together to get a good at-bat.”
It was the kind of showing that happens pretty much never against Crochet. It was the worst start of his career.
“They had a really good approach against us, attacking the inside of the zone,” said Red Sox catcher Carlos Narváez. “It caught us off guard a little bit. Everyone has one of those days. Tonight was one of those. The approach they had was pretty quick. He was attacking the strike zone, and they were aggressive.”
The Twins, who began the year 3-6, are now tied with Cleveland for the best record in the American League. They’re second in the AL in run differential, second in runs scored, and tied for the AL lead in homers.
But rarely, if at all, have they drilled an opposing pitcher the way they did Crochet on Monday.
“We weren't about him,” said Byron Buxton, who became the all-time Target Field home run leader with a solo shot off Ryan Watson in the fifth. “We were pushing it down the line to each other. That's what we talk about all the time, picking each other up. Today was a perfect example of that, focusing on what we can control. What we can control is what's on our side.”