MINNEAPOLIS -- Don¡¯t look now, but the Twins are finding ways to win games, rather than ways to lose them. After two weeks of seemingly every break going against them, now some of those defining little moments are going their way instead.
A sinking line drive that bounced just in front of a center fielder, a close play at the plate, a strange double play, and an infield single that scored a runner from second are all the kinds of plays that a week ago would have sent Minnesota to a loss. On Wednesday, they were defining moments in a 4-3 win against the Mets at Target Field that gave the Twins their first home series win of the year and second series win overall.
And they did it all without Matt Wallner, who is headed to the injured list due to a left hamstring strain, and mostly without Carlos Correa, who was unavailable to hit due to left wrist soreness. They lost infielder Willi Castro due to right oblique tightness during the game, and still kept pushing for the victory.
¡°I loved it,¡± said manager Rocco Baldelli. ¡°I love the aggressiveness that our team showed all day long. I loved the way our team ran the bases. I think we had good at-bats, bullpen days are tough to go up against, but I really liked the way we approached it. And then get out of it.¡±
Ty France¡¯s leadoff, walk-off RBI single was the deciding blow. With Byron Buxton as the automatic runner on second base, France hit a sinking liner to center field on a 1-1 pitch. Tyrone Taylor couldn¡¯t corral it and Buxton scored easily. The Twins had let a 3-0 lead get away in the eighth, but still rebounded to win the game.
Even the fact of having Buxton as the automatic runner, because he¡¯d made the last out of the previous inning, was the kind of good break that was hard for the Twins to find earlier this season.
¡°I don¡¯t think we could¡¯ve drawn it up any better,¡± France said. ¡°What he¡¯s able to do with his legs is pretty special. So yeah, I was just trying to put the ball in play and let him do his thing.¡±
There were a slew of fine-margin moments before that, though. With no one out in the second, Harrison Bader threw out Jesse Winker, who had hit a leadoff double, trying to score on a single.
Three innings later, it was defense saving the day again for Minnesota. With the bases loaded, one out and a drawn-in infield, Danny Coulombe induced a grounder to the right side from Juan Soto. Second baseman Edouard Julien fielded it and charged toward the runner on first, Francisco Lindor, tagging him before hustling to first to complete the inning-ending double play.
¡°I saw the ball and when I looked to my left, Lindor was on first base,¡± Julien said. ¡°He didn¡¯t move. I didn¡¯t see him move. I thought I was going to tag him. And he just tried to, I guess, avoid me. I was just making sure he wasn¡¯t going to break my ankle.¡±
There was another of those little moments in the sixth. With Ryan Jeffers on second base and two outs, Castro tapped an infield single to first base. On the slow developing play, Jeffers came all the way around to score. It appeared that perhaps Castro should have been called out on the play, but the Mets had already had an unsuccessful challenge and so they could not contest the call.
¡°We¡¯ve seen it a thousand times where a guy wouldn¡¯t score on a play like that, especially a catcher,¡± Baldelli said. ¡°But the fact that we¡¯re standing on home plate at the end of that play says a lot. And that¡¯s the part that I think is most relevant to our group and our players and the way we¡¯ve been playing.¡±