Twins thoughts: Offense returns to life in comeback win over Orioles

The Minnesota Twins took the first step in turning around their fortunes Wednesday afternoon with a comeback victory to secure a series win.

Powered by a 14-hit performance, the Twins rallied from an early three-run deficit to beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-5 and earn their first series win since late July. Josh Bell continued a torrid August with three hits, Alan Roden bounced back from a tough game with three hits of his own, and Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee each finished with two knocks.

The Twins scored 18 runs and finished with 35 hits in three games against Baltimore, and an offense that has mostly languished since the All-Star break is showing signs it could be returning to form.

“It was only a matter of time,” Bell said in a postgame TV interview. “We make a lot of contact, and went through a rut there for a couple of weeks, hitting balls right at people. But we knew we would turn things around. Just keep playing our game, keep putting the ball in play, and good things happen.”

Entering Wednesday’s finale, the Twins had produced three or fewer runs in 14 of their last 24 games. Overall, the team was hitting .227/.301/.364 in that span and averaging 3.9 runs per game with only 23 home runs.

Part of the drop in production can be attributed to the absence of three-time All-Star Byron Buxton, who could come off the 10-day injured list as soon as Thursday. Since the break, Buxton has been limited to seven games with a right hip impingement. Even when he has played, he has produced only a .382 OPS in 27 plate appearances.

Not having their best hitter surely accounted for some of the Twins’ struggles, but they were also slowed by facing three top-10 pitching staffs in series against the Seattle Mariners, Cleveland Guardians and Milwaukee Brewers, and they can’t seem to figure out left-handed pitching.

Collectively, a chunk of players who excelled in June and early July are slumping in August. Catcher Ryan Jeffers has a .611 OPS this month; Trevor Larnach is sitting at .578; Victor Caratini is at .495; Kody Clemens is at .414; and Ryan Kreidler dropped all the way to .361.

On Wednesday, however, the bats woke up, and the Twins knocked Orioles starter Shane Baz out of the game after three innings and five earned runs.

The performance was a 180-degree turnaround from Tuesday, when the Twins went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position in a disappointing 5-2 loss.

“It was the ability to extend innings, some big two-out hits,” Twins manager Derek Shelton told reporters in Minneapolis. “Royce had a big one there to extend the lead. We were just able to keep the line moving the entire day, which yesterday is something we were looking for and weren’t able to do. I’m really proud that in less than 12 hours we came out and did a nice job with our approach.”

Here are three more Twins thoughts after the team’s first series win since July 30.

1. Lewis gave the Twins much-needed breathing room with a two-out RBI double in the fifth inning that extended the lead to three runs. Lewis has played well since returning from the minors June 6, and his performance has reached another level in August.

Through 11 games this month, Lewis is hitting .413/.438/.674 with six doubles, two home runs and nine RBIs in 46 at-bats.

Bell is equally hot, batting .375/.444/.625 with three home runs and nine RBIs.

Luke Keaschall has a .905 OPS in 39 August plate appearances, and Roden’s, in a more limited sample, is .900.

In the past, Lewis has proved capable of carrying the Twins offense for a month at a time. He homered nine times and drove in 15 runs with a .972 OPS in June 2024.

Now more than ever, the Twins need Lewis to provide that kind of production again.

2. Buxton worked out on the field Monday and Wednesday, which suggests he’s nearing a return. Before Wednesday’s game, Shelton suggested Buxton could return for Thursday’s MLB at Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa.

“(Thursday) is a possibility,” Shelton told reporters in Minneapolis. “I don’t want to say (Thursday) is the day. … As we continue to add volume — and Monday was the big day of adding a ton of volume — we’ll see how he is.”

Shelton described Buxton as jubilant during Monday’s workout. The manager also told reporters he’s encouraged that Joe Ryan, who’s on the 15-day injured list with a mild left glute strain, played catch before Monday’s game.

3. Dean Kremer has been outstanding in his first two games with Minnesota, limiting the opposition to two earned runs in 12 innings. Whether he can maintain that level remains to be seen. But the Twins liked what they saw from him during his time with Baltimore and had ideas about slight adjustments.

Pitching with fresh ideas can work in a pitcher’s favor. Yennier Cano couldn’t throw strikes with the Twins, but once he arrived in Baltimore, he made an arm slot adjustment and has since taken off. Ryan Pressly and Louis Varland made pitch-mix adjustments and improved their careers.

As was the case with Cano and Pressly, sometimes hearing the same message from a new voice can convince pitchers to make necessary changes.

“When we get a new pitcher, I try not to put a ton of stock into what they’ve done,” Jeffers told reporters in Minneapolis. “I want to see how their pitches move, see how hitters react to their pitches. Before we put a stamp on, like, ‘Hey, this is the guy they are.’ Because every org kind of treats everyone different.

“I saw people talking about how (José) Soriano went to the (Toronto) Blue Jays and he’s throwing a completely different mix,” Jeffers said. “That’s kind of how it works. Some orgs, you get stuck in a lane. Dean’s been a really good pitcher. He’s had really good moments. It hasn’t gone his way this year. And you look at what he did (Monday), I think that’s what we believed that he was, and he can keep being that person.”