MINNEAPOLIS -- Sunday’s series finale against the Royals ended in disappointment for the Twins with a 2-1 loss in 10 innings at Target Field, but it was still a positive rain-shortened homestand. Minnesota went 3-2 against Cleveland and Kansas City, and now a 10-game, three-city, multi-time-zone road trip awaits.
Here are five takeaways from the homestand as the Twins prepare to board a flight to Florida.
Starters are the strength of the team
Bailey Ober turned in 6 2/3 strong innings on Sunday, continuing a trend that goes back to about the second week of the season. Twins starters have been simply exceptional since roughly their second or third turn, back in early April.
They’re sixth in the Majors in starters’ ERA (3.34), and even that doesn’t tell the whole story, considering the couple of disaster starts they encountered at the beginning of the year. Even their fifth starter, Zebby Matthews, lasted only four innings on Saturday, but struck out nine.
“Our guys have good stuff,” said manager Rocco Baldelli. “When they make pitches like that, most of the time they’re going to get good results.”
Reinforcements are needed -- and they’re coming
The offense has done enough to win for the most part -- after all, the Twins have won 16 out of 19. But overall, production at the plate has slowed. Minnesota averaged 3.2 runs per game on the homestand.
Sometimes you just run into good pitching. But also, relying on role players to step up is a strategy that can have an expiration date. The Twins will be better when they have their full complement of offensive players.
That could be soon. Byron Buxton is slated to fly with the team to Florida and is progressing toward a return from his concussion. Matt Wallner could return from his strained hamstring in a matter of days.
“The group of guys we have, the depth that we have, is super important and has shown over this time with them all down,” said catcher Ryan Jeffers. “We’ve played some of the best baseball we’ve played with some of our best players not in the lineup. Yeah, we’re super excited to get our guys and be able to send our 'A' lineup out there more often, but health is part of the game and having depth keeps the good teams afloat.”
They’re in position
For this even to be a big homestand, the Twins had to string wins together. If they were still seven games under .500, these games against division rivals wouldn’t have mattered as much. Now that they’ve made their run, fans can be forgiven if they begin to do a little scoreboard watching.
And the news is mostly good. With the run, Minnesota is now tied with Cleveland for second in the American League Central, and tied for first in the AL Wild Card race. The Twins’ plus-34 run differential is third best in the AL. They’ve dug out of the hole, and they’re playing games that matter.
Royce Lewis is close, but not quite there
When the Minnesota offense is at full swing, one of the key parts of attack is Royce Lewis. He’s had some moments since returning from a Spring Training hamstring injury, but he’s not quite there yet. Lewis hit another ball hard, but not quite hard enough on Sunday, the third time in the past eight days that he’s drilled a ball deep but not gotten anything to show for it.
He’s playing excellent defense, and controlling the strike zone. He’s just still looking for that last bit of sharpness that turns deep fly balls into extra-base hits.
“Doing all the right things,” Lewis said. “That’s why they call it a grind. I think it’s more mental than physical. I have a really good routine right now. These guys believe in me, which is awesome. I believe in myself. Just going out there. The results -- they’ll come eventually.”
They’re decent on defense
One concern coming into the year for this club was defense, but they’re catching the ball pretty well. Carlos Correa has been his usual outstanding self. The outfield defense has been strong with or without Buxton. Lewis looks good.
On Sunday, a critical caught-stealing helped force extra innings, and Correa and Trevor Larnach both made excellent catches to help snuff out rallies. The Twins rank 13th in baseball in defensive efficiency, a measure of how often batted balls are turned into outs.