MINNEAPOLIS — The Twins are in a race, or perhaps more of a struggle, though they prefer not to acknowledge it. Though their hopes of winning a third straight AL Central championship will be mathematically thwarted as early as Sunday, they can still avoid an embarrassing last-place finish.
"That's not a rallying cry," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of his disappointing team's chances of catching the Royals, a cause aided greatly by Saturday's 9-2 victory over their fourth-place rival at homer-happy Target Field. "We're not going to be worried about … things that don't matter very much."
Understandable, of course, since the point of the season is qualifying for October. But it doesn't mean the Twins can't have fun over the season's final three weeks.
And it sure looked like they had a blast, literally and figuratively, on Saturday.
Byron Buxton lasered a first-inning sinker 444 feet into the seats above the bullpens. Jorge Polanco followed by arcing a sinker into the right-field seats. An inning later, Nick Gordon roped a slider off the narrow scoreboard between decks in right field.
And they were just getting started.
Max Kepler led off the fourth inning by lacing a slider into the limestone overhang in right-center, and Polanco polished off his third two-homer game by drilling a sinker over the high wall in right-center.
More than 2,000 feet of home runs, five in all — and all off the same pitcher, something even the Twins' 2019 record-setting sluggers never managed. Royals starter Brady Singer absorbed the punishment, becoming the first pitcher in more than 58 years to surrender five home runs to the Twins in one game. Cleveland's Gary Bell was victimized by Johnny Goryl (twice), Lenny Green, Don Mincher and Zoilo Versalles on April 29, 1962, the only other time it's happened.
Michael Pineda, making his first start since Aug. 13 due to a strained oblique, was the beneficiary of all the power, not that he needed it. The veteran right-hander had only one three-batter inning, but regularly worked his way out of trouble. The lone exception came in the fourth inning, when speedy Michael A. Taylor beat the relay throw on a double-play ball — though the skeptical Twins unsuccessfully challenged the call — allowing Nicky Lopez to score the Royals' only run.
For Gordon, it was a satisfying night. The Twins' 2014 first-round pick, who played shortstop almost exclusively in the minor leagues but has been mostly an outfielder or occasional second baseman in the majors, made his first start at his preferred position. He handled the half-dozen chances he received cleanly, even starting an inning-ending double play in the eighth.
And at the plate, the rookie utility man showed surprising power by nearly reaching the upper deck with his homer. He also walked and stole second base against Singer.
The victory, the 200th of Baldelli's three-year managing career, allowed Minnesota to win for the fifth time in seven games and move within one game of the Royals once more. But the manager said he's far more happy that his team has won eight series since the start of August.
"We've played really well since the beginning of August. I want to play really well throughout September and bring us into the offseason playing our best ball of the year," Baldelli said. "If we do that, we're going to feel real good about where we're at. We should focus on that bigger point."
