SEATTLE _ Rest may be becoming an issue for the Minnesota Twins' starting rotation. They're getting too much of it while their teammates bat.
The Twins became the highest-scoring team in the major leagues on Saturday night, blasted five home runs in just the first three innings, and opened a 15-run lead on the Seattle Mariners. But Jose Berrios was knocked out in the fifth inning amid a four-run uprising by Seattle and didn't earn the victory in a game the Twins ended up winning, 18-4.
Berrios' odd blowup _ he had allowed only a pair of ground-ball, shift-beating singles through four innings _ cost him a chance to become the Twins' first seven-game winner, and it snapped, in the most bizarre circumstance possible, a notable Twins streak: It had been exactly one month since a Twins starter failed to last five innings.
But it was the only glitch in a night that highlighted just how powerful the Twins offense has become. C.J. Cron homered twice and Jonathan Schoop did as well. Miguel Sano clobbered his first long ball since last Aug. 30, and Byron Buxton crushed his first grand slam since 2016.
The six home runs through the first six innings _ Cron missed a third on a fly ball that died on the warning track _ gave the Twins 87 on the year, a stratospheric number for a team that has long been home run-challenged. Tied with Seattle for the major league lead now, they are also on pace to break the franchise record for home runs in a season (225, set back in 1963) by early August. And at this rate, Minnesota will break the Yankees' all-time record of 267 home runs in a season, set last year, before September is a week old.
The Twins knocked lefthander Wade LeBlanc from the game after recording only seven outs and allowing seven runs. Cron's second-inning homer, a blast into the Twins' bullpen, opened the floodgates, with Max Kepler following with a double, Sano and Jason Castro drawing walks, and Buxton blasting a fastball off the scoreboard in left field, the Twins' first grand slam of the season.
If one five-run inning is good, two are better, and the Twins followed up by hitting three homers in the next inning. Cron, whose seven home runs in May are just two behind MLB leader Alex Bregman of Houston, led off with his second shot of the night, a blast deep to center field, and Sano followed moments later with a vintage Sano rainbow deep to left field, on LeBlanc's final pitch of the night.
Righthander Parker Markel took over, and immediately walked Castro and gave up an infield hit to Jorge Polanco, bringing up Schoop, who was hitless in the first two games of the series. He smashed one into the seats in left-center, and the Twins were in double digits just three innings in.
But Berrios couldn't take advantage of the 15-0 lead, surrendering four consecutive hits to open the fifth, plus a wild pitch that scored a run. After he retired Dee Gordon and Mitch Hanigar, Daniel Vogelbach singled and Edwin Encarnacion did too, and Rocco Baldelli reluctantly pulled his ace.
