MINNEAPOLIS – The twins’ 2020 fights against left-handed players were among the most confusing developments for a team that boasted Mitch Garver, Nelson Cruz, Josh Donaldson and Miguel Sanó in the middle of a line that came back the most. much of its core from the ’19 Bomb Squad ‘of ’19, which left the smoldering ruins of southpaws scattered behind.
Minnesota finally found its mojo against a left-hander again on Thursday – and it was a sight to behold.
The tipping point was Seattle hurler Marco Gonzales, and the twins gave him two big hits in a three-run homer by Garver and a solo blast from a hot Byron Buxton, who finished with three hits and fell three times more shy than the cycle, while Minnesota won 10-2 over the Mariners in front of a crowd of 9,675 balances in its opener at Target Field.
“I felt that there are a lot of people in the stands, I will be honest with you, and for us to go out there and play a nice game for them, it’s even better,” said manager Rocco Baldelli.
Gonzales was tagged for seven wins, running only the second time since the start of the 2020 season in which the twins piled on more than four runs against a left. The Gemini moved from a leading OPS MLB team in .872 against the left-handers in ’19 to an OPS .658 team against the Southpaws in the 1920s, finishing 27th in MLB.
Even though the wounded Donaldson (right hamster stem) was left out of the group, right-handed bats – old and new – had a big impact on wandering, much more in line with what Baldelli expects from the extreme right distortion in the formations. its starting against left-handers. Kyle Garlick collected two more hits, including a double RBI, while Buxton scored two rounds, Garver got a pair of extra-base hits and Andrelton Simmons received three hits.
Buxton’s hot start made up for more than Donaldson’s temporary loss of the bat. The center fielder is the first player in Gemini history with extra-based hits in each of his first six games of a season. In fact, his first seven hits in 2021 went to additional bases – including four homers and three doubles – before his sixth-half single broke the series.
Fans didn’t seem too disappointed when he didn’t triple to complete the cycle, like chants of “MVP! MVP! It rained all over Buxton all afternoon.
“I worked a little harder in the cage to work a little harder on my routine and I trust the process of working in the cage to translate it into the field,” Buxton said. “It’s a growth process, but things are starting to come together.”
Equally significant is the production from Garver, whose regression from the Silver Slugger Award winner in 2019 to a .511 OPS in ’20, as he struggled with an oblique injury, certainly didn’t help the twins’ fights against lefties. He started displaying flashes of his old self with strong hit contact (over 95 mph) on all four balls he put into play in Thursday’s game, including the 106.3 mph homer that he walked about 435 feet to the center and a 101.3 mph double, in addition to a pair of flies to the warning track.
These are the kinds of batsmen who have given Baldelli faith in making Garver the best fighting player against many left-handers – and the twins will continue to put him in prominent places for those situations.
“[He] he has that ability to go out there, to have good bats, to learn from his previous bats, to learn from the bats he had recently, ”Baldelli said. “Again, a guy we’ll really rely on and need against left-handed pitching, and I think he’s comfortable in that role, too, in front of those guys.”
The loss of big right-handed bats like Jonathan Schoop and CJ Cron from the ’19 team didn’t help last season – nor did it hurt Garver and Donaldson. Although Donaldson is not active yet, the twins hope they are now deep enough with their right hand to not only survive, but will thrive when the left-handers are on the mound – as will happen again on Saturday.
“I expect us to be able to get a group out consistently, which makes life difficult for left-handed beginners,” Baldelli said. “Forcing those left-handers to work to get in line, I think, is important and I don’t think we have any soft spots for them.”