Polanco's 4-hit game sets up Twin bill sweep
Do-Hyoung Park
@dohyoungparkMINNEAPOLIS -- Jorge Polanco started Friday’s doubleheader with a big swing. His final hit of the day didn’t travel quite as far, but it was equally big for the Twins.
The Twins’ shortstop assumed leadoff duties in Max Kepler’s absence and made the most of that increased opportunity with a leadoff homer in Game 1 and a four-hit game in Game 2, including a game-tying single in the seventh inning. That put Minnesota in position for Marwin Gonzalez to plate the winning run in extras with an RBI single, pushing the club to a 3-2 win in eight innings and a sweep of the seven-inning twin bill in an odd game during which thw Twins played as the visiting team in their home park.
“Circumstances, they are a little crazy, a little odd,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You’re reminding yourself what inning it is. You’re reminding yourself that if you score and go ahead that the game’s not over. You do have to remind yourself of a few things. I don’t think our guys let anything get to them. Our guys just kept playing. They were tight ballgames, both of them.”
The pair of victories extended Minnesota’s winning streak to four and pulled it within a half-game of the American League Central lead, with Cleveland and Chicago playing later in the evening.
Polanco entered the day with a .675 OPS in 37 games, a far cry from his 2019 All-Star performance, but the eighth four-hit game of his career helped account for both runs in the second game, when the Twins had a baserunner in every inning but clutch knocks didn’t come easily.
That is, until Polanco got an opportunity in the seventh with the Twins down, 2-1. Following a leadoff walk by Ehire Adrianza and another free pass to pinch-hitter Josh Donaldson, Polanco worked a 2-2 count against Detroit left-hander Gregory Soto and finally poked a fastball up the middle to tie things up.
“There was a lot going on that inning, took a number of very good baseball plays,” Baldelli said. “Our guys remained focused. [Adrianza] with the at-bat and with his baserunning. [Donaldson] going up there cold and taking the at-bat, getting on base and making things happen. That’s what we talk about. We talk about, ‘Sometimes you just got to go out there and make something happen.’”
Polanco has been a better hitter against right-handers for most of his career, but it hasn’t escaped Baldelli’s notice that his shortstop has been much-improved against lefties this season. Four of Polanco’s hits Friday, including the homer and the game-tying single, came against southpaws.
“He's getting it done in a little bit of a different way, I think, this year,” Baldelli said. “His right-handed swing has seemed very compact and direct and strong, and he's had continual good at-bats against left-handed pitching. Truthfully, I'm not basing that off of any information. That's just watching him. And he's looked really good going up there from the right side.”
Though Miguel Sanó and Nelson Cruz struck out and pinch-hitter Willians Astudillo lined out to strand the go-ahead run at third base in the seventh, the Twins made sure Polanco’s clutch knock didn’t go to waste when Gonzalez dribbled a one-out knock up the middle in the eighth with Astudillo, the automatic runner, coming around to score the decisive run.
Astudillo was in the game at that point as the catcher partly because Alex Avila, who started behind the plate, was removed following the second inning with a recurrence of the low back tightness that also scratched him from Wednesday’s game. The Twins will evaluate Avila before making a decision on Saturday.
Until those late rallies, Polanco’s third-inning single had led to the Twins’ only other run. Two-out knocks by Cruz and Brent Rooker broke a scoreless tie, with Rooker’s first career hit, a 112.2 mph scorcher to left field, marking the eighth-hardest-hit ball by a Minnesota batter this season.
“We just have depth top to bottom -- that’s what the mark of a good team is,” said Caleb Thielbar, who threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief. “Anyone from the bullpen can go out and throw up a shutdown inning at any time. Anyone can come in and get a big hit. I mean, you just see the resilience of the team, and the depth is such a big factor. That’s kind of what separates this team.”