MINNEAPOLIS — Rocco Baldelli identified Tuesday night’s victory as one of his team’s best of the season. He wasn’t making any misleading statements, either.
Everywhere you looked Tuesday night, the Minnesota Twins seemingly received a key contribution. From shutdown pitches throughout the staff to timely hits, Byron Buxton speeding around the diamond, productive outs, superb defense or even a good-old 103 mph fastball via Jhoan Duran, the Twins received contributions from throughout their roster.
All of it added up to a tidy 4-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals, the Twins’ sixth win in seven games.
With one-third of the season complete, the Twins are on pace for 90 victories even though one of their best players lasted only three innings on Opening Day before suffering a major injury. As they prepare for Royce Lewis’ return to the lineup, the Twins feel pretty confident about where they are.
“You really feel it — the enthusiasm is really there,” Baldelli said. “Everyone is into the game as you could possibly be because they’re all in it, contributing and bringing a lot to the table. … There is no one highlight or two highlights that we’re all going to point back to this game about. But under the radar, this is one of our best games of the season.”
Baldelli highlighted a key sequence in the ninth as the contest’s critical moment. Carlos Correa picked another involving a Willi Castro at-bat. Simeon Woods Richardson found enough crucial plays to bring a handwritten note to his postgame news conference and rattled them off.
“Just acknowledging the fact that, that was great, quality baseball, and it had to be noted and brought to light what our team did,” Woods Richardson said.
Jhoan Duran, on Carlos Correa’s ability to make tags at second base:
“For me, he lives on another planet. He’s f***ing great with his hands.” pic.twitter.com/mwPGmQohe0
— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) May 29, 2024
The leverage index indicates Duran’s ninth-inning escape with help from Correa and Christian Vázquez was the biggest moment. Adding an insurance run in the eighth, the Twins entered the ninth inning with a 92.7 percent chance of winning, according to FanGraphs.
But Duran, who was pitching for the fourth time in five days, yielded a long leadoff double to Salvador Perez and a pinch hit single to Adam Frazier. By that point, the Twins’ chances of victory dropped to 70 percent. Trailing by two runs, Kansas City pinch ran for Frazier with speedster Dairon Blanco, which equated to a five-alarm fire in the minds of Correa and Vázquez.
“We knew if Blanco came in it was to steal a bag,” Correa said.
Kansas City’s strategy sparked a conversation during a mound visit. Correa and Vázquez decided they would perform an unofficial pitchout, with Vázquez focused on a quick release and Correa racing in front of the base to the second base side of the bag to try to apply a slap tag as the runner slid in. Equally important to it all was Duran, who needed a quick slide step toward the plate to give his defenders enough time to perform the task.
Sure enough, Blanco ran on Duran’s 2-2 delivery and Vázquez fired a throw offline to a waiting Correa, who tagged out the tying runner and improved the team’s chances to win to 90.5 percent.
“I didn’t want them to take second base and I know Vazqy has a really good arm, you know?” Duran said. “And I know at some point, he’s going to second base. … (Correa’s) incredible, you know? For me, he lives on another planet. He’s f—ing great with his hands.”
One pitch later, Duran turned the game on its head, striking out pinch hitter MJ Melendez for the second out of the inning. Then he unleashed fastballs registering at 102.2 and 103.1 mph, the second resulting in a game-ending groundout by Nick Loftin.
“Major League Baseball kind of at its finest,” Baldelli said. “It took all that to really shut that down.”
It took much more than a sequence in the ninth to claim a second straight win over the surprisingly hot Royals. Facing impressive left-hander Cole Ragans, the Twins put together a series of strong first-inning at-bats to grab an early lead.
Manny Margot, who started the game with a nice sliding catch, singled to start the first inning. Correa followed with a double and Jose Miranda delivered a two-run single past a drawn-in infield, which raised the Twins’ chances of victory to 73.8 percent. The Twins continued to pile up good at-bats against Ragans, driving up his pitch count in a hurry. Though they scored only one more run off Ragans on consecutive two-out doubles by Vázquez and Margot in the fourth, Kansas City’s starter was out of the game after five innings.
“The first inning was huge, coming out, swinging the bat well, getting those runs,” Correa said.
The early lead gave Woods Richardson plenty of wiggle room, and he made the most of it again. The rookie right-hander retired 12 of the first 14 batters he faced before finally stumbling in the fifth inning. Loftin walked to open the inning, Hunter Renfroe doubled and Garrett Hampson singled in a run to put men on the corners and get the Royals within 3-1. All of a sudden, the Twins dropped from an 85.8 percent chance of winning down to 59.1.
Yet Woods Richardson settled down with the help of Correa. Though Kyle Isbel’s RBI groundout made it 3-2 and moved the tying run into scoring position, Correa ranged far to his left to take a hit from Maikel Garcia for the second out. Woods Richardson then retired Bobby Witt Jr. on a flyout to keep the Twins ahead by a run, giving them a 71.1 percent chance to win.
Woods Richardson limited Kansas City to two earned runs and three hits in five innings, earning his second career win.
“It just builds confidence,” Woods Richardson said. “You learn in those situations what you can take away from after and go, ‘OK, I could have done this differently, I could have done that differently.’ Results are always going to be the results, but taking away those moments, seeing what you can learn from it and just applying it again.”
Several key takeaways from May 20’s players-only meeting in Washington surfaced during a critical late rally that included Correa’s key to the victory. Buxton, who earlier had an infield single and a triple, drew the second of his two walks to open the eighth inning, a 10-pitch base on balls.
A little insurance from Julien! #MNTwins #MLB pic.twitter.com/EE3F1VgX3p
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) May 29, 2024
With Castro batting left-handed, Buxton quickly stole second base. Rather than look for a pitch to drive, Castro worked a 2-2 count and moved Buxton to third with a grounder to the right side. The productive out set the table for Edouard Julien, who worked a full count before singling over a drawn-in infield to put the Twins ahead 4-2 and improve his team’s chances of victory to 94.1 percent.
“That’s how you play winning baseball,” Correa said. “That says a lot about this team. Not just swinging for the fences every time, but also understanding the situations of the game and where we stand at a certain point. That for me was the play of the game right there, give Julien an at-bat where the infield was drawn in and he could get that single. That’s just beautiful baseball we played.”
(Photo of Jhoan Duran: David Berding / Getty Images)
