The Twins have spent enough time this season making the offense look sturdy that it’s fair to ask whether the floor is about to drop out.
The warning signs showed up in plain view over the weekend against the Cubs. In the final two games of the post-break series, Minnesota got next to nothing when the moment called for a big swing.
On Saturday, the Twins went 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position, and that lone hit was Brooks Lee’s drive into the gap that turned into a double play after a baserunning mess. Sunday was even quieter: 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
Across the two losses, the Twins scored only three runs, and just one of their 16 hits came with runners in scoring position.
That kind of stretch can make a lineup look a lot thinner than it seemed a week earlier. It also comes at a time when several Twins have already outperformed what they’ve done in the past.
Trevor Larnach has posted an .821 OPS, which is nearly 100 points better than his career mark entering the season. Kody Clemens has done something similar, sitting at .792 after coming into the year with a career number under .700.
Ryan Kreidler has also supplied far more offense than he had ever shown in the majors.
So the question becomes whether this is a real step forward or just a hot run that will cool off.
There’s a case to be made that some of this can stick. Clutch hitting, to a point, can be shaped by mindset and approach.
The idea that performance in big spots is purely random has always been too neat for me. Anyone who has played, or even just watched long enough, knows a bases-loaded at-bat late in a close game feels different from one with the bases empty in the third inning of a scoreless game.
Maybe the Twins really have become a better clutch team. Maybe Larnach and Clemens really have found something lasting.
They’ll need that to be true. With a starting rotation battered by injuries and a bullpen that still sits among the worst in the majors, the offense is the one thing that can keep this team in the conversation this year.
Elsewhere, longtime Star Tribune high school sports writer David La Vaque died Saturday at 50 after a battle with leukodystrophy. I visited him a couple of months ago as the disease continued to take away his ability to communicate and move around.
I was his editor for five years beginning in 2007, and what always stood out in his work was how clean it was - no wasted words. Even more than that, he was a friend and a peer.
He will be missed by all of us.
In Other News...
Byron Buxton's Return Forces Twins Into A Telling Roster Decision
Byron Buxton is back on the active roster, and for a Twins club trying to keep itself in the postseason picture, the timing could hardly be better. Minnesota reinstated its center fielder from the 10-day injured list and sent infielder Tristan Gray to Triple-A St. Paul, a straightforward transaction on paper that still says plenty about where the team stands as it tries to stay in the race.
Buxton had been sidelined with a right hip strain, and his return gives the Twins the kind of impact presence they have missed in the middle of a stretch that has little margin for error. With the club still chasing ground in both the division and the Wild Card hunt, every healthy regular matters, and Buxtons activation at least gives Minnesota a little more certainty as the trade deadline approaches. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Make Another Pitching Change As Roster Pressure Keeps Building
The Twins latest roster shuffle came on the heels of a rough night in Cleveland, where the opener of the series slipped away and the pitching staff once again had to absorb the fallout. Minnesota responded by lining up Kendry Rojas to start the next game, another sign that the club is still searching for the right combination as it tries to steady a rotation and a bullpen that have both been asked to do a lot.
Byron Buxton also rejoined the active roster Monday night, giving the Twins a needed boost in the middle of all the turnover. At the same time, Woo-Suk Go was sent to Triple-A after another difficult relief outing, a move that underscores how quickly roles can change when a team is under pressure and every inning seems to carry extra weight. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Trade Deadline Pressure Is Starting To Feel Very Real
The Twins are heading toward the Aug. 3 trade deadline with the kind of record that makes every front-office decision feel a little more fragile, even as general manager Jeremy Zoll says the club is planning to buy. Minnesota has stayed in the market for pitching help, and the need is obvious enough: the rotation has been thinned by injuries, and the organization is trying to keep itself in position for a run while the rest of the league starts to sort out its own deadline plans.
Byron Buxtons return is also part of the backdrop, with the Twins hoping to get him back during the Cleveland series, perhaps as soon as today. But the bigger question hanging over the week is whether Minnesota can stay close enough to justify acting like a buyer, because the deadline can turn quickly on a club hovering around .500 and still searching for the kind of arm that would make the rest of the summer look a lot different. [Read more 🡒]