Power, swing in place for Kirilloff to turn corner

MINNEAPOLIS -- The thing that’s confused the Twins the most through this extended stretch of struggles from Alex Kirilloff is that he’s only ever performed this ineffectively when he’s been pushing through injury -- and, as far as they know, he’s been feeling physically fine.

But the highlights had been few and far between for Kirilloff until he homered on May 17 -- and the power swing came up again at an important time on Friday night, when he crushed a 400-foot homer to the upper deck in right at Target Field for the decisive run in the Twins’ 3-2 victory over the Rangers that extended their winning streak to three games.

“I think the main thing is he’s always hit,” bench coach Jayce Tingler said. “He’s hit at every level. So for him, just to get the confidence of starting to get some hits. We think the swing is good, looks like he’s in a good spot, and now hopefully the confidence builds.”

And if Kirilloff’s bat is to wake up, now would be a good time, because with Royce Lewis’ return from a quad strain soon to come, Minnesota will have to make a roster move -- and with the way the roster shakes out, Kirilloff might have played his way into that conversation with his slow start.

That particularly slow start -- a .203 average and .644 OPS entering Friday -- has been the reason why, maybe a week and a half ago, Kirilloff started doing extra work during early batting practice before games.

Any particular focus to that?

“Just trying to figure out what I’m doing wrong,” Kirilloff said with a wry smile. “Just trying to hit better.”

The home-run swing in the fourth inning looked to have been among the best contact Kirilloff has made this season, two frames after an RBI double from Christian Vázquez and game-tying groundout from Edouard Julien helped the Twins erase an early 2-0 deficit.

Kirilloff otherwise struck out twice -- one swinging in the second, one looking in the fifth -- as he’s struggled to find any consistent momentum in a rough May that has seen him slash .114/.188/.318 for a .506 OPS, with his last multihit game coming on April 4.

But there have been moments like this home-run swing on a changeup from Rangers starter José Ureña and the one in Cleveland on May 17 that have seemed reminiscent of his best form. According to Kirilloff, there isn’t necessarily anything that feels different about those two swings.

“You're mentally just tired of always just trying to think about it,” Kirilloff said. “It's like the balance of not trying to overthink and figure out what's going on, and trying not to press, and then also kind of being able to go back to what you do when you're going well, and relaxing and simplifying things.”

Kirilloff hasn’t been striking out a ton, but that solid contact to all fields that has marked his player profile has been noticeably hard to find, with his line-drive rate down more than 14 percent from last season (31.9 to 17.2) and sitting nearly seven points below his career mark.

He’s both getting on top of the ball and getting under the ball at higher rates than in the past -- even as he strikes out less -- and though there’s plenty of time left to get closer to the mostly healthy version that hit .270 with a .793 OPS last year, the time is also ticking with Lewis’ impending arrival.

Once Lewis gets healthy after starting a rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul on Saturday, the Twins have a decision coming to free a spot -- and it could very well come down to Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach or Jose Miranda.

Larnach’s hot start to the season has been slowed in the past two weeks despite strong batted ball metrics, and he’s defensively limited due to lingering foot issues. Miranda has hit well from the right side, a need for this team. Minnesota has relied on Kirilloff -- and will have to continue to do so throughout this season.

The Twins have stuck with slumping players like Kirilloff, Christian Vázquez (two hits vs. Texas) and Manuel Margot to this point -- and Friday’s victory offered a chance for them to keep grinding and building.

“Those guys have a history of hitting, performing, and we have a lot of belief in those guys,” Tingler said. “We’re going to continue to stay with them. They’re working, they’re grinding, they care. They’re smart players.”