The global domination continues.
The train will just not stop.
Tonight on FOX, the Twins won their 13th consecutive game, broke a team record for consecutive scoreless innings, moved into second place in the division, and dominated every facet of the game against the Milwaukee Brewers. They’ve only lost twice in the entire month of May, have erased generally every qualm about the season’s first six weeks, weathered every blow to their depth, and looked last year’s improbable streak dead in the eye and said, “I’ll do you one better.”
The vibes were great right from the jump yet again, as Minnesota opened the scoring on the game’s third pitch, with a bomb off the bat of #2 hitter Ryan Jeffers — 420 feet into the stands.
Even more runs were to be had in the early going, establishing Saturday night’s contest as another masterclass experience. Royce Lewis added onto a string of his own good at-bats with a leadoff double in the second, and scored when Christian Vazquez picked him up with a two-out single.
Then, another in the third, though it could have been more — three straight hits plated Jeffers again (he’d led off with a double), but Brooks Lee was thrown out at home by right fielder Sal Frelick on a Kody Clemens single, and Minnesota failed to add anything further.
And yet, the philosophy tonight seemed to be “just hit it, baby”, and it worked. A dramatic failed catch in right-center was already morphed into an RBI Twin hit back in the third; then, a two-out, run-scoring Lee knock — right off the laces of second baseman Brice Turang — marked Minnesota’s 11th hit in just the bottom of the fourth inning. It chased Tobias Myers from the game early, and put the Twins into consideration for “BABIP GOTY.”
Because nothing bad can ever happen to the Twins anymore, cash acquisition Kody Clemens decided that his early-season success with Minnesota isn’t an anomaly, and opted to launch yet another homer to sort of illustrate this point in the fifth.
The BABIP shenanigans continued in the sixth, with Trevor Larnach blooping a leadoff triple into possibly the shallowest part of left field that you can earn a non-little-league-triple from. That meant that a Lee flyout could produce a run; 6-0 Minnesota, with a run in each of the first four innings (the first time the Twins have done so since a 2017 game vs. the Padres.)
Then the fifth inning, then the sixth inning; don’t forget the ninth inning. The national commentators described the scoreboard as a picket fence, with routine posts littered along the box score with just one entryway toward the later innings. Minnesota notched 18 hits as a lineup; even DeShawn Keirsey Jr. checked in with a run-scoring single in the ninth.
Throughout this streak, the resurgence of the offense into a competent unit has been the biggest surprise, even amidst all the roster shuffling and delving through the barrel of depth. But as this has happened, it’s incredible that we’ve come to expect the kind of pitching performances we’ve been receiving — even as those performances establish new team records.
The Milwaukee offense was nearly completely lifeless until the bottom of the seventh, when Justin Topa entered the game and the Brewers promptly loaded the bases on a HBP with one out. Isaac Collins was tabbed off the bench to try and deliver the Crew’s first hit with RISP in the series. He’d fail to do so, blooping a soft busted-bat liner right back to Topa. And Brice Turang bounced out to leave ‘em loaded, eliciting boos from the Brewer faithful and cheers from the well-sized Minnesotan contingent filling the rest of the sold seats.
They’d register just three hits on the day, in their second straight shutout against Minnesota. On that note, it’s officially 33 consecutive scoreless innings for the Twins, the most since July 2004, and officially the most in team history. (They only really need a solid start from Zebby Matthews tomorrow to challenge the franchise record, just a few ticks higher.)
After Topa, Jorge Alcala and Kody Funderburk combined to wrap this one up.
What more is there to say? Apart from continued injuries, nothing has gone wrong for the Twins in over two weeks. LITERALLY nothing — it’s a 13-0 run that would make the Timberwolves jealous. They go for their fourth straight sweep tomorrow afternoon under the retractable roof of American Family Field; and boy, wouldn’t it be something if they returned to Minneapolis with the win streak intact?
Don’t change anything you’ve been doing since May 2nd. We’re all counting on you.
STUDS:
SP Pablo Lopez (6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K)
BP (3 IP, H, 0 R, BB, 4 K)
RF Trevor Larnach (2-for-5, 2 R, 3B)
DH Ryan Jeffers (4-for-5, 2 R, RBI, 2B, HR)
SS Brooks Lee (2-for-4, 2 RBI)
1B Ty France (2-for-4, RBI)
2B Kody Clemens (3-for-5, 2 R, RBI, HR)
3B Royce Lewis (2-for-4, R, 2B)
DUDS:
NO DUDS! TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN!