Suddenly, the Twins are talking about a winning streak, about playing the type of baseball they believe they are capable of playing, about hot bats and playing well in all facets of the game. A four-game sweep can lead to that, and the Twins saw their wishes become reality on Thursday afternoon, beating the Chicago White Sox 6-3 before an announced crowd of 20,363. “I think going into this series we felt that this was a stretch that we have the opportunity to turn some stuff around,” said Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers, who hit his fourth home run of the season. “Kind of get some mojo back, start ..read more

A season-high three-game winning streak. A season-high 13 hits. The first win of the season by starting pitcher Joe Ryan. The Twins had a lot to feel good about after beating the Chicago White Sox 6-3 Wednesday night before an announced crowd of 12,546. Perhaps most important of all, they are starting to feel good about themselves again. Three wins against what is widely considered the worst team in baseball tempers the excitement at least a bit, but positive results are positive results, and for the 10-13 Twins, they have been in short supply. The Twins go for the sweep of the four-game serie ..read more

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli raised some eyebrows when he penciled in Alex Kirilloff as the team’s leadoff hitter the first two games of the series. Wednesday it was 6-foot-4, 235-pound catcher Ryan Jeffers getting the nod and serving as the Twins’ designated hitter. It was the first time in Jeffers’ five-year career, which spans 294 games, that he hit at the top of the order “He’s finally realizing how fast I am around the bases,” Jeffers said with a smile. In reality, Baldelli said the idea was to get his best two right-handed hitters, Jeffers and Byron Buxton, as many at-bats as possible ag ..read more

The Twins seemed to have the pieces in place for a win on Tuesday — they had their ace, Pablo López, on the mound and were facing the team with Major League Baseball’s worst record — but sometimes it takes a few extra ingredients to perfect a recipe. In this case, it was a sprinkle of power and some clutch hitting. Byron Buxton’s first home run of the season came at the most opportune time for the Twins, tying the game up in the ninth. Alex Kirilloff followed that up with a walk-off single to right later the inning, shaking off a tough night in which he had struck out four times. That sent the ..read more

Had he been healthy, Brooks Lee likely would have debuted and seen plenty of action on the left side of the infield at this point of the season with both Carlos Correa and Royce Lewis nursing injuries. Instead, Lee is dealing with an injury of his own — one that will likely keep him out another month. Initially called back spasms when he was removed from a spring training game in late March, the Twins revealed Tuesday that the top prospect’s injury has instead been diagnosed as a herniated disk in his back. “I’d say he’s in the same midrange of what we heard is the return-to-play protocol,” pr ..read more

Maybe it was the presence of the dogs in the stands on “Bark at the Park” night on Monday at Target Field that changed the Twins’ mojo. Maybe it was the presence of the Chicago White Sox in the visitors’ dugout. Minnesota fans can draw their own conclusions — and deliver any one-liners — after the up-until-now offensively challenged Twins knocked out 11 hits in a 7-0 win over the White Sox before an announced crowd of 12,443. The Twins (8-13), who entered the game with a team batting average of .195 (only Chicago was worse in the majors), matched a season-high with the 11 hits, including four ..read more

Right fielder Max Kepler returned to the Twins’ lineup on Monday after missing 13 games due to a right knee injury and declared himself ready, willing and able to kickstart an offense that has gotten off to a rocky start. The early returns are promising. Kepler came through in his first at-bat on Monday against the Chicago White Sox, driving in a pair of runs in the first inning with a double to right-center. “It’s been tough,” Kepler said of the team’s struggles. “I can’t really watch the games; it’s too upsetting not being able to help my team win games or even just battle through whatever i ..read more

At this point, Bennie López, Pablo and Kaylee’s eight-pound Shih Tzu mix is a seasoned veteran of Bark in the Park events. The six-year-old pup attended a few of them at Marlins Park when his dad pitched in Miami, but Monday will mark the first time Bennie — and other four-legged friends — have been allowed into Target Field for a game. “He loves it. He loves being out at the park,” Pablo López said. “He loves being out at the park so obviously coming to … a place like this and then there’s going to be more dogs, he gets really pumped to attend these.” Bennie is one of 250 dogs who will attend ..read more

The last time he pitched, Louie Varland’s issue was two-strike execution. This time out, the issue was not getting to two strikes in the first place. A tough start to the 2024 season for the St. Paulite continued on Sunday when Varland gave up four runs and exited early in the Twins’ 6-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers in the series finale at Target Field. Varland was lucky to get through the first inning having given up just two runs after he walked three batters and allowed a single. Just 18 of the 39 pitches he threw that inning were strikes, and before he escaped from the inning, the Twins (7-1 ..read more

It wasn’t easy — they watched a ball sail 332 feet out to right field before dying on the warning track and landing in Manuel Margot’s glove for the final out. But finally, a week after they won their last game, the Twins found themselves back in the win column. They used another solid start from Bailey Ober — he retired the first 13 batters before allowing a Tiger to reach base — and just enough offense, scoring three runs on sacrifice flies, to capture a 4-3 win over Detroit on Saturday afternoon at Target Field. It’s April and the season is still young, but after five straight losses, it su ..read more