MINNEAPOLIS — Apparently, this is what positive regression to the mean looks like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It looks like\u00a0Saturday\u2019s outburst<\/a>\u00a0might have broken the seal, because the Twins pelted baseballs to every nook and cranny of Target Field on Sunday. Minnesota erupted for a seven-run third inning and another seven-run eighth inning that somehow made for an even bigger blowout in a\u00a016-3 victory<\/a>\u00a0that built some much-needed offensive momentum ahead of a big road series against the Dodgers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The slumbering bats have awoken in record-breaking fashion, as the Twins\u2019 29 runs in their series victory over the Cubs marked the most scored in any three-game series at Target Field since the ballpark opened in 2010. Their 16 runs and 18 hits both marked season highs, with all nine members of the starting lineup registering at least one hit apiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYesterday, obviously, it’s just a confidence boost,\u201d left fielder\u00a0Joey Gallo<\/a>\u00a0said of the Twins\u2019 11-1 victory on Saturday. \u201cEverybody is feeling good. Everybody is getting hits. Everybody is driving the ball. You come in today, and it’s like, ‘We’re going to win again.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was also promising in that the Twins didn\u2019t just crush homers; they sustained long, two-out rallies, as 13 of their runs were scored with two outs. They batted around twice, registering a pair of seven-run innings in one game for the first time since June 13, 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the way the Minnesota starting rotation has continued to dominate, a sustained offensive breakthrough could mean big things are in store for this team. On Sunday, it was North St. Paul native\u00a0Louie Varland<\/a>\u00a0— the Twins\u2019 seventh starter — who cruised through a season-high 6 1\/3 innings in another impressive showcase of the Twins\u2019 pitching depth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And seemingly all around the lineup, all at once, Twins hitters look to be busting out of extended slumps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou’re going to go through the ups and downs,\u201d Gallo said. \u201cFor our offense, we kept believing. We look at our lineup, we look around our clubhouse, we’ve got a really good team. We can swing it. Sometimes you’re going to get results. Sometimes you’re not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The coaching staff tried to shake things up by moving Gallo to the leadoff spot for the first time in his career, and he responded with towering home runs in consecutive games — and they expect him to be fine after he exited Sunday\u2019s game after appearing to tweak his leg while hustling down the first-base line in the seventh inning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the Twins gave Byron Buxton<\/a> an off-day to reset on Saturday, he snapped an 0-for-26 skid with his first two-hit game since April 30 — both on hard line drives at 111 mph and 94.7 mph, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe’s been focused and ready to go and in a pretty good mental head space even on the days he didn’t get any hits,\u201d manager Rocco Baldelli said. \u201cBut sometimes, a day off when you’ve been playing for a while, that can help some guys in some ways.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nick Gordon<\/a>\u00a0has been off to a slow start this season, but he crushed three hard-hit balls, including an RBI double off the very top of the center-field wall.\u00a0Jorge Polanco<\/a>\u00a0had been in a 6-for-34 slump before netting a homer, double and three walks in the last two games.\u00a0Christian V\u00e1zquez<\/a>\u00a0broke out of a 2-for-28 skid with his first multihit game since April 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And Trevor Larnach<\/a>, in his second game back in the Majors, crushed a three-run homer to right field on a Marcus Stroman slider after struggling against offspeed pitches for most of his career, and particularly as he struggled to square up the ball for most of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think I just happened to find it after I got sent down,\u201d Larnach said. \u201cAnd whether there was some determination in there, I don\u2019t think there was any extra. It was just like me taking a couple days for my body, and then me just focusing on what I feel I needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the first game of this series, the Twins lamented the fact that they felt they were hitting the ball hard — but\u00a0still missing opportunities<\/a>\u00a0and playing, seemingly, the same close games over and over. Perhaps a pair of blowout wins will open the door for more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou don’t want to be the guy that’s 0-for-5 and everybody’s banging,\u201d Gallo said. \u201cYou feel responsibility: ‘I want to do my part, as well.’ That’s just kind of how the last few games have gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do-Hyoung Park<\/a> covers the Twins for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter at @dohyoungpark<\/a> and on Instagram at dohyoung.park<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MINNEAPOLIS — Apparently, this is what positive regression to the mean looks like. It looks like\u00a0Saturday\u2019s outburst\u00a0might have broken the seal, because the Twins pelted baseballs to every nook and cranny of Target Field on Sunday. Minnesota erupted for a seven-run third inning and another seven-run eighth inning that somehow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":272287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-272286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=272286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":272288,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272286\/revisions\/272288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/272287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=272286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=272286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=272286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}