MINNEAPOLIS — Luis Arraez's three-game mini-slump ended with a couple of hits Sunday, and Josh Donaldson finally produced a multi-extra-base-hit game. Jose Berrios got his strikeout pitch back, and Andrelton Simmons went deep for the first time all season.
But of all the what-a-relief performances turned in during the Twins' 13-4 victory over the Royals, the biggest one may have been contributed by the city-block-sized plot of land they were playing on. Yep, Target Field feels like home again.
It had never taken the Twins until the season's second month to win a series at 1 Twins Way before now. Heck, only once had it taken more than two series, and even during the year they opened 0-9, they halted the skid during the second series. So dominating the Royals, romping to their biggest single inning in two years, getting contributions from all nine players in the lineup and finally winning a series in Minneapolis on their fourth try?
Welcome home, indeed.
Simmons and Mitch Garver each homered off Kansas City starter Brad Keller during the Twins' seven-run third inning, Alex Kirilloff added another off reliever Jake Newberry in the eighth, and Arraez tripled and singled twice, his first hits since Monday.
Best of all, Berrios recorded his first win, and highest strikeout total (nine) in more than three weeks. The righthander allowed four runs over six innings and saw his ERA rise by more than half a run, to 3.58. But he was far more effective than the numbers indicate, and notably more effective than the sometimes-shaky defense behind him.
His nine strikeouts were especially encouraging, considering that after opening the season with 20 in his first two games, Berrios, now 3-2, had not recorded more than five ever since. This time, he reeled off five strikeouts in a roe at one point, and got a lot of swings-and-misses with his sharp curveball.
His hiccup came in the fourth inning, when a couple of singles and the failure to turn a double play cost him. Hunter Dozier turned on a 2-0 fastball and blasted it into the left-field bleachers for three runs — but it was only a dent in Berrios' seven-run lead at the time.
The Twins, having taken two of three from the first-place Royals, now stay home for four games against a last-place team, the Texas Rangers, beginning Monday.
