The Twins’ winning streak reached lucky No. 13 on Saturday with another shut out victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Three more wins and the Twins will break the team record of 15 straight victories, which was set in the World Series-winning season of 1991.
However, Saturday’s 7-0 victory punched the Twins’ ticket in another way: Twins pitching has tossed 33 innings of scoreless baseball, a new team record.
“The most important thing is we’re pounding the zone with strikes,” said reliever Danny Coulombe to the Associated Press. Coulombe has worked 16⅔ innings this season without allowing a run. “We have a lot of really good stuff in this bullpen, so when you pound the zone with good stuff, generally good things happen.”
Starter Pablo Lopez and three relievers blanked the Brewers on three hits, while the lineup provided a season-high 18 hits.
The Big Bopper was Ryan Jeffers who had four hits in five trips to the plate, including a single, double and home run. And Kody Clemens, who the Twins picked up after he was designated for assignment by the Phillies, perhaps is not such a light-hitting hitter after all. Clemens had three hits, including a home run.
“It’s been a pretty nice run the boys have been going on, but I’d prefer not to talk about it too much,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli told the Associated Press. “I’d prefer to just let them keep playing the way they’re playing and pitching the way they’re pitching.”
The Twins go for their 14th straight win on Sunday. A starter has not been named.
Extra innings…
–The Twins are 26-20 and now find themselves in second place in the division, four games behind the Detroit Tigers.
–Carlos Correa is on the seven-day injured list for a concussion after colliding with Byron Buxton, and now Buxton is on that same list for the same reason, according to MLB.com. MLB.com also reports that the Twins are likely to call up slugging minor leaguer Carson McCusker, who currently is slashing .350/.412/.650 with 48 hits, 36 RBI and 10 home runs in 38 games at Triple-A St. Paul, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Over three seasons in the minors, he has hit 43 home runs with 147 RBI. What are we waiting for, Minnesota?
–Baltimore Orioles’ manager Brandon Hyde was fired Saturday after his team has gone from one of the best in baseball to one of the worst in just 43 games. Unfortunately, the change in leadership did not help, at least in the short term, because the O’s lost to the Nats, 10-6.
Ex-Twin Kyle Gibson got the ball and was terrible. He couldn’t get out of the first inning, allowing six runs, all earned, on six hits. Gibson is now 0-3 on the season with a 16.78 ERA.