The Twins won their sixth straight game on Friday, a 3-1 win over a good San Francisco Giants team that was less about hitting and more about the effort the Twins got out of starter Chris Paddack.
In short, Paddack had one of his best outings of the season. He went seven-plus innings on a very efficient 83 pitches, allowing just one run — a home run — on three hits with no walks and six strikeouts.
The Twins scored those three runs on one extra-base hit — a Byron Buxton triple — and six singles. Buck had a 2-for-3 day at the plate with a run scored and one walk. Decent numbers, but over the last week he has been a one-man wrecking crew. He is hitting .423 with three home runs and eight RBI.
Buck also leads the team in every offensive category: batting average (.279), runs (30), home runs (9), RBI (25) and stolen bases with eight.
All of this has produced a winning streak that now has the Twins at 19-20. Joe Ryan gets the ball Saturday.
Extra innings…
–It’s great to see the Twins get back on track, but they also need the other teams in the AL Central to pump the breaks a bit. While the Twins are 6-4 in their last 10 games, the Guardians and Tigers are 8-2 over that same span while the Royals chime in at 9-1. It’s going to be hard to catch anybody if they keep playing like that.
–The winning streak: Two wins over the Boston Red Sox, a three-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles, who are looking more and more like the St. Louis Browns these days, and the Game 1 win over the Giants. The Twins have two more games against the G-men, then hit the road to play the Orioles again.
–Ex-Twins watch: Luis Arraez had a 3-for-6 day at the plate with two runs scored in the Padres’ 13-9 win over the Rockies on Friday.
Jose Berrios looked pretty good in his last start on Wednesday, although he did not record a decision. Berrios struck out nine across six innings with two runs allowed on five hits in a 5-4 loss to the Angels. Jose also had five walks, but a closer look at the numbers show he was asked to intentionally walk a batter and he hit another with a pitch.