Twins score two seven-run innings in win over Cubs

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May 14th, 2023

MINNEAPOLIS — Apparently, this is what positive regression to the mean looks like.

It looks like Saturday’s outburst might have broken the seal, because the Twins pelted baseballs to every nook and cranny of Target Field on Sunday. Minnesota erupted for a seven-run third inning and another seven-run eighth inning that somehow made for an even bigger blowout in a 16-3 victory that built some much-needed offensive momentum ahead of a big road series against the Dodgers.

The slumbering bats have awoken in record-breaking fashion, as the Twins’ 29 runs in their series victory over the Cubs marked the most scored in any three-game series at Target Field since the ballpark opened in 2010. Their 16 runs and 18 hits both marked season highs, with all nine members of the starting lineup registering at least one hit apiece.

“Yesterday, obviously, it’s just a confidence boost,” left fielder Joey Gallo said of the Twins’ 11-1 victory on Saturday. “Everybody is feeling good. Everybody is getting hits. Everybody is driving the ball. You come in today, and it’s like, ‘We’re going to win again.’”

It was also promising in that the Twins didn’t just crush homers; they sustained long, two-out rallies, as 13 of their runs were scored with two outs. They batted around twice, registering a pair of seven-run innings in one game for the first time since June 13, 2017.

With the way the Minnesota starting rotation has continued to dominate, a sustained offensive breakthrough could mean big things are in store for this team. On Sunday, it was North St. Paul native Louie Varland — the Twins’ seventh starter — who cruised through a season-high 6 1/3 innings in another impressive showcase of the Twins’ pitching depth.

And seemingly all around the lineup, all at once, Twins hitters look to be busting out of extended slumps.

“You’re going to go through the ups and downs,” Gallo said. “For our offense, we kept believing. We look at our lineup, we look around our clubhouse, we’ve got a really good team. We can swing it. Sometimes you’re going to get results. Sometimes you’re not.”

The coaching staff tried to shake things up by moving Gallo to the leadoff spot for the first time in his career, and he responded with towering home runs in consecutive games — and they expect him to be fine after he exited Sunday’s game after appearing to tweak his leg while hustling down the first-base line in the seventh inning.

After the Twins gave Byron Buxton an off-day to reset on Saturday, he snapped an 0-for-26 skid with his first two-hit game since April 30 — both on hard line drives at 111 mph and 94.7 mph, respectively.

“He’s been focused and ready to go and in a pretty good mental head space even on the days he didn’t get any hits,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “But sometimes, a day off when you’ve been playing for a while, that can help some guys in some ways.”

You can keep going down the line, really.

Nick Gordon has been off to a slow start this season, but he crushed three hard-hit balls, including an RBI double off the very top of the center-field wall. Jorge Polanco had been in a 6-for-34 slump before netting a homer, double and three walks in the last two games. Christian Vázquez broke out of a 2-for-28 skid with his first multihit game since April 27.

And Trevor Larnach, in his second game back in the Majors, crushed a three-run homer to right field on a Marcus Stroman slider after struggling against offspeed pitches for most of his career, and particularly as he struggled to square up the ball for most of the month.

“I think I just happened to find it after I got sent down,” Larnach said. “And whether there was some determination in there, I don’t think there was any extra. It was just like me taking a couple days for my body, and then me just focusing on what I feel I needed.”

After the first game of this series, the Twins lamented the fact that they felt they were hitting the ball hard — but still missing opportunities and playing, seemingly, the same close games over and over. Perhaps a pair of blowout wins will open the door for more.

“You don’t want to be the guy that’s 0-for-5 and everybody’s banging,” Gallo said. “You feel responsibility: ‘I want to do my part, as well.’ That’s just kind of how the last few games have gone.”

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