Derek Shelton didn’t need many words after the Twins got swept by the Phillies on Sunday. His club had built a 5-0 lead in the first inning and still walked away with a 7-5 loss at home, the kind of collapse that can linger if a team lets it.
When asked how important it was to respond this week, Shelton answered with one word: “Extremely,”
Three days later, the Twins had answered in the loudest possible way. They beat Atlanta three straight at Target Field, and Shelton’s tone - and the clubhouse mood - had changed with it.
“I’m proud of our group,” Shelton said after the sweep was complete and the Twins were set to head west for three games in San Diego and three against the Athletics in Sacramento, Calif.
The way Minnesota handled the setback was the point. A rough loss like the one that ended the Philadelphia series can push a team either way, and Shelton said this group has a habit of staying steady.
“It’s a situation of like, how are they going to respond or what are you going to say,” he said. “One of the things I’m most proud of with the culture of our group is I really don’t have to say much to them. They handle themselves extremely well.”
The sweep was Minnesota’s first over the Braves since 2007, back when the two clubs were still playing on the other side of downtown Minneapolis in the Metrodome. This time, the Twins got help everywhere: early offense in two of the three games, answers each time Atlanta tried to rally on Wednesday, and a bullpen that has started to show the impact of the trade-deadline additions.
Josh Bell summed up the mood after the final game.
“It’s definitely huge to bounce back after the series against the Phillies. Positive vibes,” said Bell, who turned a seventh-inning double into the winning run one batter later.
Shelton said after Monday’s win in the opener - which snapped a three-game losing streak - that he may lean on the word “resilience” too often. But the message fit what he saw this week, especially after Sunday’s frustration.
“I think the culture that we have of our group, nothing ever gets them too high, too low, and, you know…we’re in a tough stretch, and we’re playing really good teams, and the fact that they were able to bounce back, especially after the Sunday game,” he said. “Anybody who was in the room Sunday knows how I felt about that and how frustrated I was.
I think that was pretty clear. But I think the fact that, you know, they are resilient and they just move on to the next day is probably the thing that I’m most proud of.
We’ve talked about, you know, throughout the year, hunting the good. We talked about playing 27 outs, and they really embody that.”
For Shelton’s first Twins team, the sweep was more than a clean finish to the homestand. It kept the club in the postseason chase, and it showed exactly the kind of response Shelton had been asking for.
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