SEATTLE _ Now the Twins don't have to hit home runs to show off their explosive offense.
Ehire Adrianza connected on a long one, sure, to keep alive the Twins' streak of 12 straight games with a home run, now just four short of the franchise record. But the real damage was done Friday on a much smaller scale. The Twins peppered Seattle starter Marco Gonzales with four straight singles in the fourth inning, added three more one-baggers and a walk in the fifth, and Martin Perez converted that support into a 7-1 victory at T-Mobile Park.
The Twins' fourth consecutive victory widened their lead over Cleveland in the AL Central to a season-high 5 { games.
Perez improved to 6-1, becoming the Twins' third six-game winner in just 44 games, and he did it in an equally subtle way as his offense: With a change-up. Perez showed a 96-mph fastball early in the game, but continually confounded Mariners hitters with the slow stuff, getting a half-dozen swing-and-misses on pitches that averaged just 85 mph.
"He's made so many adjustments just since spring training. He looks like a different pitcher than what I've seen from him in the past," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of the Twins' lone left-handed starter. "He can do so many things. He commands the ball very well, which allows him to kind of add these new tricks to his arsenal."
Perez struck out seven batters in 6 2/3 innings, and while his control occasionally wavered _ he walked a season-high four _ his ability to strand Mariners runners did only once. Six times the Mariners advanced runners into scoring position, and only once, on an Edwin Encarnacion single in the fifth, did Perez allow anyone to score.
His own offense, on the other hand, kept pecking away at Gonzales, the first of three straight Seattle left-handers they will face this weekend. Adrianza's blast off the top of the scoreboard in left field got the Twins on the board in the third inning, but it was a collective effort that produced their next five runs. Marwin Gonzalez and C.J. Cron led off the fourth inning with singles up the middle, and Willians Astudillo poked the ball away from the shift and into right field to load the bases. When Max Kepler followed with a ringing hit to center, Gonzalez scored, and Cron came home on Adrianza's sacrifice fly.
An inning later, Jorge Polanco got a hit without swinging the bat: A pitch hit wood as he ducked away from it, and floated over first baseman Ryon Healy's head. Gonzalez moved him up with another single and Cron drew a walk, loading the bases.
Then the Mariners' defense, which has been noticeably terrible so far this series, cost Gonzales three runs. Astudillo hit a fly ball to medium-depth left field, and Polanco tagged up. The Twins' runner got a slow start off the base and appeared to be running into an inning-ending out at the plate. But Domingo Santana's throw one-hopped catcher Tom Murphy, who couldn't prevent it from getting past him, and Polanco was safe.
Even better for the Twins, Gonzalez and Cron moved up a base on the error, Seattle's 50th of the season _ by far the most in the majors. (The White Sox are second with 37; the Twins have committed only 21). When Kepler singled again, both runners scored, and the Twins' victory was all but sealed.
Minnesota added another run in the ninth against reliever Matt Festa, another run that could have been prevented with better defense. Adrianza singled again, and with two outs, Jonathan Schoop hit a fly ball to deep right-center. Mallex Smith made a diving catch, but allowed the ball to bounce free when he hit the ground, and Adrianza scored.
