ANAHEIM, Calif. _ Due to travel, weather and rest, the Twins have taken batting practice only once in the past six days. Just imagine if they weren't so rusty.
Minnesota smacked around another helpless pitching staff on Thursday, crushing a franchise-record eight home runs en route to a 16-7 drubbing of the Angels. Jonathan Schoop and Miguel Sano each connected twice, while Jorge Polanco, Max Kepler, Eddie Rosario and C.J. Cron all joined in as well as the Twins completed, albeit a day later than planned, their most successful West Coast swing in 23 years.
Minnesota won six times in seven games, going 3-1 in Seattle and 3-0 in Anaheim, and did it by simply bludgeoning their opponents with one of the most overwhelming displays of power hitting in baseball history. Despite being without injured sluggers Nelson Cruz and Mitch Garver, the Twins clobbered 22 baseballs over the fences during their weeklong travelogue, and outscored the Mariners and Angels, 67-29. The last time they visited two Pacific Time Zone cities and lost only once was in August 1996, when they went 8-1 on a swing through Anaheim, Seattle and Oakland.
The Twins' 98 home runs this year ties them with the 2000 Cardinals and 1999 Mariners for most ever through 49 games of a season. They have now hit eight home runs in a game three times in franchise history _ once in 1963, and the other last month, on April 20 in Baltimore. Coincidentally, both eight-homer games this year have procured in a makeup of a rainout the day before.
Martin Perez (7-1) was the beneficiary of the Twins' latest outburst, on a day when the left-hander's control largely eluded him. Perez walked four for his second straight start, and lasted only five innings before Rocco Baldelli turned to his bullpen for three uneventful innings and a ninth-inning meltdown by Austin Adams. Perez gave up a home run to David Fletcher and a double to Mike Trout that turned into three bases when it bounded past Rosario in the left-field corner; Trout scored on an Albert Pujols groundout.
Adams allowed the Angels a futile five-run rally in the bottom of the ninth on a solo homer by Brian Goodwin and a grand slam by Tommy La Stella, requiring Matt Morin to enter the game to record the final out.
But the Angels rally couldn't have added much stress to the Twins' day, not after they made quick work of Angels starter Matt Harvey with a six-run second inning and a two-run third.
Oddly, the Twins' first run was scored on a sacrifice fly that was actually a popup. Rosario, on third after an infield hit and a wild pitch, shocked Angels shortstop Zack Cozart by tagging up and charging home once Cozart gloved Luis Arraez's pop to short left field.
Then came the fireworks. Schoop start it by blasting the longest home run, according to MLB's Statcast system, by any Twin this year, a 467-foot rocket far into the left-field seats, scoring three runs. Three batters later, Polanco hit his ninth of the year to right-center, scoring two more. And in the third, Cron and Sano both went deep, knocking out Harvey.
Sano's third-inning homer marked the first time in more than a year, since March 31-April 1, 2018, that he had homered in back-to-back games. And his sixth-inning belt off Noe Ramirez gave him his first two-homer game since Aug. 18, 2017. Schoop's second blast gave him his first two-homer game since ... Saturday.
And in really big news, Willians Astudillo, batting ninth, the only position he had not started a game in this season, walked and struck out _ the first time the Twins' free-swinger had done both in a major league game.
The Twins return to Target Field on Friday having added at least 2 { games to their lead in the AL Central over Cleveland. They'll open a five-game homestand with three against the White Sox.
