MINNEAPOLIS _ Nelson Cruz was asked Friday night, upon the occasion of his 387th career home run, whether he had thought much about reaching 400.
He must have misunderstood the question. Nobody was asking him to get there this weekend.
But Cruz, who until July 25 in Chicago had never belted three homers in a game, on Saturday became just the second player in more than a decade to do it twice in the same season. The Twins' designated hitter _ already the most homer-iffic DH in franchise history _ launched three more rockets into the Target Field seats, left Johnny Bench in his long-ball wake, and powered his team to its fifth win in six games, 11-3 over the Royals. Minnesota's AL Central lead over Cleveland, which beat the Angels, remains at three games.
On a team poised to shatter baseball's all-time home run record about a month from now, it's not easy to stand out with power hitting, but Cruz has done it with one of the most blistering hot streaks in franchise history. In his last 11 starts as DH, Cruz has crushed 12 home runs, driven in 24 runs, and batted .455, with an absurd 1.341 slugging percentage.
"Nelson definitely changes the game on the offensive side for us. He changes the way that teams have to approach everything over the course of a game," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "And then, of course, facing him is no treat, either."
Cruz wasn't the only Twin adding to the long-ball haul on Saturday _ C.J. Cron, just back from the injured list, and Jorge Polanco connected, too _ but the 39-year-old slugger's performance was the one that the 36,823 in attendance will be talking about for years to come. The fireworks show started with an excuse-me, opposite-field first-inning fly ball that drifted just inside the right field foul pole.
If that one was unremarkable by his standards, though, Cruz made amends an inning later with his longest Target Field lightning bolt of the season, a majestic 466-foot launch that struck the facing of the club above the batter's eye in center field. And in the sixth inning, Cruz reached history _ and passed Bench, a Hall of Famer, for No. 63 on the career homer list _ with another opposite-field deposit.
That gave Cruz 390 career homers, and 30 for the season, a familiar milestone for him _ he's reached it for six consecutive seasons _ but a breath-taking elevation for the Twins, who had never had a DH pile up so many. Chili Davis' 29 homers in 1991 had stood as the most by a designated hitter in Twins history, until Cruz's arrival.
With 215 homers as a team, the Twins will surpass their franchise record for homers in a season, 225 by the 1963 team, during this homestand.
All the numbers, all the homers seem to overwhelm Royals starter Danny Duffy, who allowed as many home runs Saturday as in his five previous starts. The lefthander allowed eight hits over 4 2/3 innings, but when four of them leave the park, it's going to add up. The damage: nine runs, a season high.
Kyle Gibson, meanwhile, had few problems in earning his fourth straight win. Oh, he got caught up in long-ball fever, too, when Jorge Soler crushed the night's most towering shot, a 465-foot third-deck blast to left field. But Gibson quickly settled down, retired 13 consecutive Royals, and departed with a satisfying night: four hits and three runs over 6 2/3 innings.
