Minneapolis – In the early parts of the season, it didn’t look like the Minnesota Twins would be digging themselves out of a 7-15 hole after the Atlanta Braves swept them on the road. They’ve turned things around by 13-5 since, including a seven-game winning streak they extended on Saturday night after a 2-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
“I think our guys are thinking about playing good,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said postgame after he was ejected in the bottom of the sixth for arguing balls and strikes. “I’ve been very pleased with what I’ve been seeing all over the place, everywhere you look. Guys are playing with great confidence right now, and again, I like what I’m seeing. I do.”
Joe Ryan has been battling flu-like symptoms all week but threw six scoreless frames, allowing no walks and striking out seven. He had some strength back but was still far from feeling 100% on the mound. Some of his pitches weren’t hitting their locations, but it all came together for those seven strikeouts.
“Yeah, there were definitely pitches in there where I was like, f—, don’t swing,” said Ryan. “And they didn’t, and so it worked out. It feels good to have that and not have them slap me in the face.”
Low-scoring games had not been going the Twins’ way coming into the Giants. They were 0-17 when scoring three or fewer runs. However, Minnesota has started to turn things around, winning back-to-back games totaling only five runs between them. But what got them over the hump in Saturday night’s win was sharpness from their defense and pitching.
It can all be pinpointed to a play between Christian Vázquez and Royce Lewis in the top of the eighth. Giants left fielder Heliot Ramos hit a lead-off double and advanced to third on a flyout to center.
He was at third with one out and Patrick Bailey at the plate. Just as Cole Sands’ first pitch thrown made it across home plate, Vázquez popped up from behind the plate and threw the ball to Lewis at third to tag out Ramos, who made himself an easy target for the Twins catcher.
“I cannot tell you the sign,” Vázquez said postgame. “But he knows I like to throw, and he’s ready always. More with a man on third and one out, they’re probably going with the contact play and were trying to get the run there, and we did it.”
“I knew when he threw it on the money like that,” said Lewis, “that we were going to get him.”
Baldelli was sitting on one of the couches in the Twins clubhouse watching the play from Vázquez, and as soon as he saw the results, he couldn’t contain his excitement.
“I was screaming. My voice is kind of gone right now,” Baldelli said. “I couldn’t have been yelling any louder from the couch in here watching the game. It takes an immense amount of confidence in a baseball player’s ability to make that play.”
Minnesota’s pitching staff didn’t need much extra help from the offense outside of Trevor Larnach’s two-run homer in the third, which scored Vázquez after he drew a lead-off walk to start the inning.
Ryan’s fastball velocity was down 1.2 MPH compared to his last start against the Red Sox on May 2, but it wasn’t all that concerning to him, considering the intense illness he was feeling earlier in the week.
He said he still didn’t feel his best on the mound against his hometown squad, but he was pleased with his results despite still battling his illness.
“I felt super dehydrated, and I felt that was where the command was leaving me even more,” he said. “And that last inning, yeah, I was going to make pitches, but I felt like that was what I was doing the whole time, so why not? At the same time, we have some great guys in the bullpen to lock it down for three, so why not do that?”
Griffin Jax, Sands, and Jhoan Duran had elite performances out of the pen with Jax facing the minimum in the seventh and Sands doing the same in the eighth, thanks to Vázquez’s incredible throw.
Duran looked like he might not have the same luck in the top of the ninth, following a bunt down the third base line from Giants second baseman Christian Koss. A few pitches later, luck went his way as he took a ground ball right back to the mound to get a 1-6-3 double play and strikeout the last batter of the game.
Back-to-back wins scoring three runs or fewer, the stellar pickoff from Vázquez behind the plate, and the pitching keeping hitters guessing have brought everything together to bring the Twins to .500 for the first time this season. There’s still plenty of the season left to go, but the vibes in Minnesota’s clubhouse have lifted knowing everything is heading in the right direction.
“I think it just shows you things that you already believe,” said Baldelli, “but it’s nice to actually bring it out there on the field when you can go out there and win with some really good pitching and some good defense and some playmaking.”
“We’re beating really good teams, and we’re beating them with good baseball,” said Ryan. “I think we’re doing a lot of really good things, and I think it just feels consistent. It doesn’t feel streaky, so that adds another layer of confidence.”
“I feel like I’m making a difference regardless,” Lewis said regarding his 0-for-13 start. “I keep it humble, but we’re 5-0 since Royce has been here. So I don’t even have to do anything, so this is great.”
