Carlos Correa hadn’t hit a first walk-off home run in the regular season until his two-run blast off of Devin Williams beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-5, on June 13. Still, Correa instinctively knew what to do. He tossed his bat to the side, looked at his teammates in the dugout, and tapped his wrist. Correa had done the “My Time” celebration in the postseason, where he’s tied with David Ortiz for the most walk-off hits in playoff history. At that moment, it felt like he was back.
It also felt like the Minnesota Twins were turning things around. They curtailed a five-game losing streak with a 10-inning win in Toronto, then took the series. Minnesota beat Milwaukee on June 14 to take the two-game set. After dipping below .500 at the end of their five-game losing streak, the Twins had won four of five and were 35-33. Were they meeting preseason expectations? No. But the Detroit Tigers were coming to town with a 1-11 record in their past 12 games. They had an opportunity to get right.
We all know what has happened since. Detroit took three of four games and split the Boston Red Sox series. Boston has a similar record to the Twins and is last in the AL East. Minnesota may be able to make the playoffs with a .500 record by winning the AL Central, but they’re going to face a team that’s been battle-tested in the AL East or West. To break their postseason losing streak, they will have to play like they belong to one of the junior circuit’s other divisions.
Rocco Baldelli said there were no actionable items after Minnesota’s 10-4 loss on Tuesday. They can’t overreact to a single game in a 162-game season. But they had started losing again, dropping five of their next six after playing Milwaukee. Baldelli’s playing days are behind him; he can’t pinch-hit or take the mound in the eighth. However, Baldelli felt there were a few things he could do to break the drought they were in.
You can shake things up is what you can do. What are actionable things? You can change the lineup. You can play certain people and not play other people. You can have roster debates and things like that. But ultimately, when the guys get in the batter’s box, no one can do anything except allow them to do their jobs — and you have to trust them to do their jobs. If you’re sending them up here, that means you believe in them to do it.
There are things Baldelli believes he can do to bring out the best in his stars, but there isn’t a surefire answer. He couldn’t look back at what he did before the Milwaukee series and apply it when they were playing Boston. Ultimately, they spent $300 on Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa to drive winning. They traded for Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, and Pablo López to suppress runs. Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff have reached the majors and can support Buxton and Correa in the lineup. But Minnesota’s stars needed to take over for the team to go anywhere. And on Thursday, they homered for the first time since May 4.
Until then, Baldelli had to hold things together and enable them the best he could.
I do what I can to help guys when things aren’t going well or guys need kind of an added layer of discussion, or support, or even direction. So, have we reached that with some of our guys at different points already this year? Yes, we have. And I’ll take part in those discussions, sometimes in a group, sometimes one on one.
It’s finding the right moment to say something or do something, and there’s no playbook for what that is. Most of the time, it’s allowing the guys the ability to work through their struggles without layering on the added pressure. But sometimes you look in the mirror and say, ‘All right, enough is enough here, and it’s time to change something big-picture.’ The only person that can really do that is me, and there’s not just one thing to do about it.
By nature of playing in baseball’s worst division and having plenty of healthy, talented players, the Twins have a pathway to the playoffs. There is still time to allow their talent to manifest and position themselves to win a playoff game – let alone a series. But that felt far-fetched during their two slumps. Buxton is still battling his knee injury; Correa has plantar fasciitis. Neither have hit to their standards. The bullpen isn’t as deep as it should be, and they occasionally don’t get a great start. But that matters a lot less if Buxton and Correa do their jobs.
The Twins should be taking advantage of playing in the AL Central. They ought to be better, given how deep and talented they are. But they are what their record is. It’s been a disappointing season. Buxton and Correa can’t carry the team on their own. However, they can be the catalyst for turning things around. They have to build off of Thursday’s game, though. Every loss tethers Minnesota to a .500 record or worse. The stars aligned in the final game against Boston. It’s time for them to take over.
