Twins' offense firing on all cylinders as confidence flows through lineup

MINNEAPOLIS -- Obviously, there’s been plenty of talk the past week about Jose Miranda’s refusal to make an out. But Miranda’s exploits are just part of a larger story about one of the hottest offenses in baseball.

Willi Castro had three of the Twins’ 14 hits and Brooks Lee hit his first Major League homer as Minnesota defeated Houston, 9-3, on Saturday.

Miranda singled in his first two at-bats to tie an MLB record with hits in 12 consecutive at-bats. The streak finally ended on a routine flyout to left field in the sixth inning.

By then, every Twins starter had at least one hit -- capped by Max Kepler’s single in the fourth inning. Castro’s three hits came in the first three innings. Miranda, Kepler and Byron Buxton each had two hits on the day as the Twins raced out to a 7-1 lead and never looked back.

“[The] offense was awesome,” said Joe Ryan, who pitched 5 2/3 innings to earn his sixth win of the season. “Doing it early, long ABs, putting up runs, just making contact in really good ways. Brooks getting his first homer was pretty fun to watch, and Miranda is special. So awesome for him to get those accolades and watch him do his thing.”

It almost seems impossible that this is essentially the same lineup that was scuffling so badly in early June. Those back-to-back shutouts at Pittsburgh seem like a distant memory, thanks to the tidal wave of runs, hits and homers that began in the series finale against the Pirates, when the Twins scored 11 runs on 13 hits.

Three days later, Twins hitters piled up 24 hits against the Rockies. Going forward from there, they had double-digit hits in nine of their next 10 games. They pounded out 16 hits in a win at Oakland, and 14 hits in back-to-back wins at Arizona. In the last three games they’ve had 45 hits, including 17 in a wild loss to Houston on Friday.

“We’re clicking as a team, and it’s fun to see everyone have good at-bats, hitting the ball hard, seeing Buck going deep today, seeing Kep get a couple knocks, it’s great,” said Miranda, who’s hitting .328 on the season. “As an offense, I think we’re doing a really good job, and obviously we’re having a good game plan, which is really important for us.”

Sometimes you make your own breaks as an offense, and the Twins took advantage of one in the first inning to take an early lead. Castro and Carlos Correa led off with singles. Trevor Larnach was up next, and he worked the count to 2-2.

Castro took off with the next pitch, and as third baseman Alex Bregman ran to the base to await a throw, Larnach hit a chopper through the spot Bregman had just vacated on the left side of the infield, allowing Castro to score. Correa came around on Kepler’s sac fly to center field, putting the Twins on top 2-0.

But the Twins’ offensive success has been widely attributed to the work put in by the players, under the supervision of hitting coaches David Popkins, Rudy Hernandez and Derek Shoman.

“Our hitting group does a really nice job. I couldn't be more pleased with the work that they do,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It's a very unique game, being a hitter, trying to react and perform against the pitching you see these days, trying to do it early in the year in Minnesota-type weather. It's not easy to do, and our game, as much as you don't like to rely on patience because you can't do that all the time, you have to be patient in our game and things will eventually even out.

“Our hitting guys, they have our players ready. They eat, breathe and sleep what they do and the players have great confidence in those guys, as do I.”