Twins add thunder early, often to rainy night

Lineup tallies season-high 14 hits, 2 homers to extend streak

April 19th, 2016

MINNEAPOLIS -- The only thing that could stop the Twins' offense on Monday was apparently the rain.
The Twins banged out a season-high 14 hits in a 7-4 win over the Brewers that was officially called after six innings due to rain at Target Field. It extended Minnesota's win streak to four games after its 0-9 start, and all nine position players had at least one hit.
It was a welcome sign for Minnesota, which scored a total of 13 runs in its losing streak to open the season. But the offense has come alive recently, scoring 21 runs over its last four games.
"It was good," said first baseman Joe Mauer. "I think today we kind of opened it up. We've had some close ballgames early this season. It was nice to get a couple-run lead here tonight."

The outburst came against Brewers right-hander Chase Anderson, who entered without having allowed an earned run early this season. But that changed in a hurry, as Miguel Sano launched his first homer of the season with a solo blast in the second. Kurt Suzuki nearly joined him, but had to settle with an RBI double off the top of the wall in right-center field.
They were helped by a run-scoring throwing error from Anderson in the third before breaking out for two more runs in the fourth. Byung Ho Park launched his third homer of the year, a solo shot to right field. It was the 30th time a right-handed batter hit an opposite-field homer at Target Field, which opened in 2010.
"He's hit some balls pretty hard," Mauer said. "I hope people give him time to adjust. He's going to be just fine. He's a quick learner."
Byron Buxton, making his first start since Thursday after suffering a bruised left wrist, got in on the action with an RBI triple to left. He got to third in an astonishing 10.75 seconds, which was the fastest mark from home to third this season, as tracked by Statcast™.

The Twins got two insurance runs in the fifth on back-to-back RBI doubles from Brian Dozier and Mauer. Mauer was the final Twins batter to get a hit, extending his hit streak to nine games.
"There was a lot of action in that game," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "We kept scoring. A lot of people contributed. It was good to see Park hit another homer, [Oswaldo] Arcia get a couple hits, Joe had a double and Dozier had a really big hit to extend the lead from one to two before Joe got his hit before the delay."
Mauer said he's hopeful the team gets on a roll.
"We knew it would turn," Mauer said. "The first nine games wasn't the way we planned or hoped it would go. But we knew it wouldn't be the case all year. We're glad it's turning it in the right direction and hopefully it'll continue."