May 27, 2021

So far, so good: Twins improve to 20-29 with sweep of Orioles

The 2021 Minnesota Twins have their first sweep and four-game winning streak of the season after they edged the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 on Wednesday.

Once again they fell behind early in the game, but Michael Pineda gave the Twins another quality start, Miguel Sano hit a three-run home run and the bullpen did just enough to preserve the win.

Pineda allowed a run over six innings with two walks and eight strikeouts. He served up a first-inning home run, then settled down to allow only two hits the rest of the way.

Up next, the Kansas City Royals come to Target Field for three games. Royals pitcher, Danny Duffy, who usually gives the Twins a hard time, recently landed on the injured list. If he doesn’t pitch in this series, I say the Twins earn another sweep. The action begins Friday. Randy Dobnak gets the ball.

Extra innings…

-Twins shortstop, Andrelton Simmons, sure is quick with his glove. He teamed with catcher, Willians Astudillo, to throw out a runner at second base.

-On May 26, 2004, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Daryle Ward, the son of Ex-Twin Gary Ward, hits for the cycle in a win over the St. Louis Cardinals. His father accomplished the same feat on Sept. 18, 1980, making them the first father/son combination to hit for the cycle in major league history, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

Ward hit for the cycle in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers at County Stadium. Despite going 4-for-5 at the top of the order, the Twins lost 9-8. They also lost the second game 5-0.

The Twins finished the 1980 season at 77-84, but only because they were 17-7 in September, including 12 straight wins. Pitcher Jerry Koosman had three of them.

During the streak they swept the White Sox, Rangers, Royals and White Sox again. However, the winning streak was snapped in ugly fashion after the Royals beat them 17-1 on Oct. 4, 1980. Willie Wilson and Hal McRae drove in nine of the Royals’ 17 runs.

COMMENTS

Hi, I’m Rolf Boone, Twins fan.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.