Because the Twins won seven in a row, on national TV, you know?
Folks, the Twins are back to .500.
A week that’s reminded the fanbase why there’s reason to believe in this core of players was capped on Saturday night by the kind of complete performance that felt like wishful thinking just a few days ago. Minnesota took home a gritty, 2-1 nailbiter win over the San Francisco Giants, with elite pitching paving the way.
First, the credit to Joe Ryan. Still visibly ill — deep breathing, lying on the floor between innings, and none of his usual swagger on display in a major energy conservation effort — Ryan nevertheless turned in six innings of two-hit ball, walking none and surrendering the lone Giant score on a second-inning Heliot Ramos homer.
At only 76 pitches upon exit, Ryan almost certainly would have pitched deeper into the game had he not spent all of Monday vomiting “20-30 times” after attending a screening of Sinners. Vampires aren’t for the faint of heart, Joe.
As characteristically solid as Joe Ryan was, so too was Logan Webb. For those in Twins Territory unfamiliar with Webb’s track record given his NL West stomping grounds, wonder no more, as it was assuredly on display tonight. Carving up Twins hitters with plenty of groundball outs and nine K’s to boot, Webb pitched 7 innings (103 pitches) and was tagged with just the one homer himself — however, Trevor Larnach’s came with a man on, and it made all the difference in the game.
The Twins haven’t been too good this season when failing to score more than three runs, so you’d be forgiven for thinking two wouldn’t be enough. So too would Rocco Baldelli, tossed in the middle innings for a balls-and-strikes argument; in a 2-1 game, every minor swing counts, and Rocco got his money’s worth with a hat toss that national announcer Jason Benetti likened to Mary Tyler Moore. (To Rocco’s credit, it had to have been the most convincing outburst I’ve ever seen from the Minnesota manager; generally speaking, his ejections are extremely finger-waggly, more evoking the anger that would get a skipper tossed, rather than actually containing any.)
The Twin bullpen had to be perfect all the way home, and they basically were — assist to Christian Vazquez. Griffin Jax breezed through the seventh, but Cole Sands’ eighth began with another extra-base knock from Ramos, a leadoff double to turn the heat up.
Ramos took third on a sac fly — then was erased one play later in one of Vazquez’s clutchest moments as a Twin, period.
All that was needed now was a clean ninth from Duran, and after demonstrating a little PFP work with a 1-6-3 double play turn, the star closer froze Willy Adames with a beautiful breaker to end the ballgame.
So, seven in a row. The Twins have come all the way back to a 20-20 record, six back of the league-leading Detroit Tigers. After a rough go in Cleveland, the team has won consecutive series against the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles (a sweep), and San Francisco Giants (with a chance for the sweep tomorrow.)
It wasn’t too far off from now on last year’s calendar, when the Twins went on a roll for 12 in a row — against weaker competition, I might add. Most positive stretches happen more gradually, over a broader time horizon — at least for normal baseball teams. But the Twins haven’t seemed like a very normal baseball team lately; who knows how far this year’s run will go?
STUDS:
Twins Pitching (9 IP, 4 H, ER, 0 BB, 9 K)
DH Trevor Larnach (2-for-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR)
C Christian Vazquez (0-for-2, R, BB, PO)
DUDS:
NO DUDS! TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN!