The 2019 Minnesota Twins are making the business of hitting home runs seem routine.
After the Twins hit five home runs on Friday in a 6-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles, they returned to the field Saturday and did it all over again. The power show helped the Twins rally from a 2-1 deficit to a decisive 9-2 victory.
This time they got home runs from Marwin Gonzalez, C.J. Cron, Jason Castro and two from Max Kepler, who now has six on the season.
In addition to back-to-back days of hitting five home runs, they also got back-to-back quality starts.
Martin Perez went six innings on Friday for the win and Jose Berrios also went six on Saturday. Berrios allowed two runs, both earned, and struck out eight. The bullpen pitched scoreless baseball the rest of the way and struck out six more Orioles to give Twins pitching 14 strikeouts.
The Twins go for the sweep on Sunday. Kyle Gibson gets the ball.
Extra innings…
-Berrios is now 4-1 with a 2.97 ERA.
-Cult figure Willians Astudillo injured his hamstring in Saturday’s game and will now spend 10 days on the injured list.
-It still isn’t very warm in Minnesota. Saturday’s game was played in 45-degree weather, according to the box score.
-Prior to Saturday’s game, the Twins had the third-most home runs in the American League at 42. Add five more to that total and the Twins just might be in second place come Sunday.
-The Twins are now 15-9 and have a one-game lead over the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central. The Twins have shown they will have no trouble against the weaker teams in the American League, but what about the stronger teams? After the Orioles leave, the Houston Astros come to town. That’s the kind of team they need to beat on a regular basis.
-The four-game series with the Astros begins Monday. After that the Twins face their kryptonite: The New York Yankees.