The Twins countered a 6-1 defeat with a 9-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.
The club scored early and then piled on late with two runs in the sixth, two runs in the seventh and four runs in the ninth to seal the victory.
The Twins scored nine runs on 14 hits. Kyle Garlick, who does in fact hit lefties well, cracked two home runs, Max Kepler added a third and Carlos Correa had three hits.
This team feels a bit like the 2019 club that won 101 games. When somebody cools off, another player steps up. Byron Buxton powered the Twins to a recent sweep of the Chicago White Sox, but hasn’t been as hot since. No matter: Kepler and Correa have picked up the slack.
Chris Archer and four relievers limited the Rays to one run on four hits.
Josh Winder gets the ball on Sunday.
Extra innings…
-The Twins are 12-9.
-Oregon State man Trevor Larnach hit another double on Saturday and now leads the team with six. I’d hate to see Alex Kirilloff automatically replace Larnach in the lineup when he comes back. I think Larnach has earned his keep and should continue to have a role with the team.
-Although the Twins won easily on Saturday, Rays’ starter Shane McClanahan still struck out 11 over five innings. The Twins struck out 14 times as a team.
-On May 1, 1984, pitcher Dwight Gooden, 19, became the first teenager since Bert Blyleven to strike out at least 10 batters. The Twins’ Blyleven made his major league debut in June 1970 when he was still 19. He would go on to strike out 12 Milwaukee Brewers on Aug. 4, 1970 in a 5-2 Twins win.
“He (Blyleven) has a lot of God-given talents,” said Twins manager Bill Rigney to the Minneapolis Tribune after the win. “He has a great curve and a sneaky fastball. But the biggest thing is his control. Without that the rest of it wouldn’t be worth much.”
Blyleven finished 1970 with a record of 10-9, but with a 3.18 ERA and 135 strikeouts in 164 innings pitched.
Gooden finished 1984 at 17-9 with a 2.60 ERA and led the major leagues in strikeouts with 276.
Source: Baseball-Reference.com, Newspapers.com