Almost historic pitching leads Twins to 4th straight win

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins’ run of pitching dominance this week hasn’t quite been historic -- but it came awfully close.

A bloop RBI single by the Rangers’ Nathaniel Lowe in the sixth inning of Friday’s game stopped a Minnesota pitching staff streak of 31 straight scoreless innings, one shy of matching the club record set in 2004. But even with that blip on the radar, the Twins marched on for a fourth consecutive victory fueled by their pitchers, a 2-1 triumph over Texas at Target Field for their longest winning streak since May.

“I mean, we had a guy a couple games ago go out there with a five-mile-an-hour deficiency with his fastball and still pitch good,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I like what I’ve seen up and down, starters and bullpen. So let’s keep the momentum going.”

The Twins have yet to lose on this pitching-fueled homestand against the Royals and Rangers, which has marked only the 10th stretch in club history in which Minnesota has allowed three or fewer runs in a four-game span, and the first such stretch since 2020. That helps pave the way for victory even on days like Friday, when the offense went silent after back-to-back homers in the first inning by Luis Arraez and Jose Miranda.

The bullpen, which was the weakness of the team for much of the season, has yet to allow a run in 17 innings across the past four games -- including Wednesday’s extended effort in relief of Tyler Mahle, who exited with right shoulder fatigue in the third inning.

On Friday, Caleb Thielbar allowed an inherited runner to score, but the bullpen held the lead, with a surprise seventh-inning contribution from Trevor Megill ahead of the expected duo of Jhoan Duran and Jorge López to finish the game. Entering Friday, the Twins’ relief corps ranked fourth in the American League in strikeout rate in August -- and the pitching staff as a whole is attacking the zone more aggressively.

“I think just attacking guys, limiting the walks as best we can,” said starter Dylan Bundy, who held the Rangers to one run on two hits with two strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. “Or if there's a certain situation with a base open, a walk is fine. I think most of us as starters know that, that when a base is open, it’s perfectly fine to nibble at the edges a little bit more and be a little bit more careful. A little bit weaker contact throughout the past three or four days, that always helps.”

In fact, the Twins had thrown 51.1% of their pitches in the strike zone in August entering Friday, a season best and up from their 49.3% rate last month. That’s also the second-highest rate in baseball this month, behind only the Dodgers.

The same goes for Bundy, who has now pitched to a 3.59 ERA in his past 11 starts, dating back to June 18, shoring up the back end of the Twins’ rotation despite his slow start to the season. While Minnesota is hopeful for returns from both Bailey Ober (groin) and Josh Winder (shoulder) in September, this consistency has been significant amid what has shaped up to be a tight race for the AL Central, with the Twins remaining one game back of the Guardians following Friday’s games.

“Some of the other starts, maybe [Bundy] would fall into patterns of just throwing strikes all the time,” Baldelli said. “It’s very unusual for us to be saying that about a guy throwing that many strikes. But being able to take advantage of all the great ways that he can spin, and back the ball up with the split-change or whatever he calls the pitch, being able to mix and match those pitches in the right way is a skill and art.”

It helps when the team has faced the Royals and Rangers -- a pair of young teams -- on this homestand. But coming off a 1-4 road trip through Los Angeles and with a challenging stretch of schedule coming up against the Astros, Giants, Red Sox, White Sox, Yankees and Guardians, they’re glad for the opportunity to regroup and establish some positivity.

“I think we can build on that as a group, and it ups the confidence of every other guy,” Baldelli said. “Every other guy wants to continue to get the job done for the team.”