MINNEAPOLIS MN – Seattle’s pitching staff is elite there’s little question of that. It’s just that there’s really not much getting in the way of the red-hot Twins and their most productive hitters right now.

Let’s talk streaks, even though Minnesota’s 12-game winning streak ended last week. Max Kepler is on an 11-game hitting streak, the longest of his career; Ryan Jeffers has an extra-base hit in eight straight games, tied for second-most in club history. Behind their continued torrid hitting and a 10-strikeout gem from Pablo López, the Twins thrashed the Mariners, 11-1, on Thursday to claim their fifth consecutive series victory.

The question was if Kepler, Jeffers and the Twins could maintain their offensive success against the much tougher pitching staffs of the Red Sox and Mariners on this homestand after a week and a half of beating up on the White Sox and Angels.

They won the games started by Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Logan Gilbert to win three in this four-game series — so let’s consider that a yes, especially coming off an emphatic showing in which Manuel Margot matched a career high with five RBIs as the Twins tagged Gilbert with a five-run first inning and eight earned runs overall, the second-highest total of his career. Margot tied an AL/NL record for the most RBIs (5) in a game with one hit that wasn’t a homer, since RBIs became official in 1920.

“It’s just guy after guy who has dominant-type stuff, and we went out there and scored runs in a competitive series,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I don’t know what more I could ask for from our offense and the way they did their jobs. I know I was sitting back for a period of time, just watching and being very impressed with the whole group.”

It really helps that Jeffers has continued to show that his huge offensive breakout of 2023 was no fluke — and that he’s perhaps even better than what he showed last season, when he led all primary catchers in MLB with a 138 wRC+, indicating his overall offensive performance was 38 percent above average.

Thanks to his torrid start to 2024, Jeffers isn’t just among the best hitting catchers; he’s been one of the best hitters, period — and that was even before he added a solo homer, sac fly, walk and hit-by-pitch for four more productive plate appearances on Thursday.

Highest wRC+, qualified hitters, 2024 (entering Thursday)

1. Shohei Ohtani, LAD — 210
2. Juan Soto, NYY — 191
3. Mookie Betts, LAD — 191
4. Marcell Ozuna, ATL — 190
5. Ryan Jeffers, MIN — 177

Jeffers entered last season having scrapped his old swing mechanics and having remade his mechanics altogether — and didn’t feel fully comfortable with them until July, he said. He’s now had an offseason to refine and continue developing comfort with the new approach — and it’s paying off, bigtime.

“It worked, but it was still very new,” Jeffers said. “I was still learning a lot about myself, a lot about the swing. This year, it’s just that learning curve. We’re through that learning curve and we’ve really figured out what works and what doesn’t and where my body wants to go. It’s showing and paying off, for sure.”

One of the most noticeable changes for Jeffers is in his ability to avoid the strikeout, with his strikeout rate having plummeted from 27.8% last season to 17.6% in ‘24 — and that’s the product of a simplified two-strike approach that Baldelli acknowledges isn’t necessarily possible for all hitters but has paid dividends for Jeffers in his way to find productive endings to battles.