Correa debuts HR celebration honoring Prince as 'crazy' stretch continues
Do-Hyoung Park
@dohyoungparkMINNEAPOLIS -- Thursday was Prince Night at Target Field, so the stadium speakers blared ¡°Let¡¯s Go Crazy¡± as Carlos Correa continued his tear with a homer to the left-field upper deck, then ran into the dugout, where he put on a purple vest and a purple hat and started furiously rocking out on an inflatable purple guitar shaped like Prince¡¯s Love Symbol.
Yeah, there¡¯s a lot to process there -- but the Twins might well be starting to go a bit crazy now that their trio of stars have shown a glimpse of what it all looks like when they¡¯re shining like stars at the same time.
Not only did the Twins debut their zany new home run celebration, but they also got eight combined hits, five RBIs and four runs scored from the combination of Correa, Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis as they rocked and rolled to a 6-2 win in their series opener against the A¡¯s, their fourth victory in their last five games.
And that celebration, by the way? It¡¯s not just a Prince Night-related gimmick; it¡¯s here to stay.
¡°I didn¡¯t have it planned, but once they gave me the guitar, I was like, ¡®OK, let¡¯s do it,¡¯¡± Correa said. ¡°I played a lot of Guitar Hero when I was growing up, so I knew what to do with it.¡±
Like most of the other fun things in the Twins¡¯ clubhouse, this was all Pablo L¨®pez, who worked with a website to get the vest custom-made for the Twins (then had to wait two months for it to actually get delivered). Twins social media coordinator Kassie Dunnihoo then surveyed her front office connections to requisition the inflatable guitar -- a bygone stadium giveaway -- to complete the set.
Then, L¨®pez waited until the time was right -- and when home clubhouse attendant ¡°Big Frank¡± Hanzlik told him there was a Prince Night at the ballpark coming up, that¡¯s when he knew.
¡°It was only fitting,¡± L¨®pez said. ¡°I had it for a while. Maybe not really a while, but [I got it] about the time the [rally] sausage was full force and we were winning. Can¡¯t mess with that.¡±
Many of L¨®pez¡¯s teammates had no idea their ace was doing all this behind the scenes until he brought it to the dugout on Thursday -- and there, they saw it for the first time.
¡°I was like, ¡®I want to hit a home run so bad,¡¯¡± Correa said. ¡°It happened in the last at-bat, but it happened. It¡¯s a great idea. I loved it.¡±
¡°Pablo told me before the game, ¡®Someone's got to hit a homer today, I've got something special,¡¯¡± Lewis said. ¡°I figured it would be something cool.¡±
It¡¯s only fitting that Correa got to be the one to debut the celebration, because he¡¯s given the Twins the most to celebrate over the past three days, across which he has nine hits in his last 11 plate appearances, including a five-hit game on Wednesday and his three-hit, three-RBI performance on Thursday that included the homer.
In his past eight games, Correa is 18-for-33 (.545) with only four strikeouts in what he describes as the hottest stretch of his career.
But just as promising is Buxton¡¯s recent resurgence that continued Thursday with his first three-hit game since April 23, making him 9-for-23 (.391) in the last week of games since June 7 -- and it¡¯s easy to tell that he¡¯s really feeling good, because he even turned on the jets to beat out a routine chopper to shortstop in the fourth inning as part of that performance.
And, well, Lewis continued doing his thing with two more hits, which, at this point, has almost become a given when he¡¯s healthy -- and, at last, he now is.
If they can keep this up, this is the driving force the Twins hoped would carry them -- and Buxton was elated by the energy their output provided the lineup on Thursday.
¡°Obviously, it's a small sample size, so to be able to do this over the rest of the season is something to look forward to,¡± Buxton said. ¡°I ain't going to sit here and lie: It's something to look forward to. It is. It is. I can't wait. This is what you want, you know?¡±
They picked a perfect time for that sneak peek -- because L¨®pez was ready for it with his new gift to the team.
¡°We kind of put it together, and figured tonight would be a perfect night for it,¡± L¨®pez said.