Pitching-rich Twins rely on potent offense for sweep

OAKLAND -- While standing in the doorway to the dining room at the visitors’ clubhouse of the Coliseum on Sunday morning, Twins broadcaster Trevor Plouffe saw that the clock said 11:11 a.m. and made a wish for Alex Kirilloff to hit a homer in Sunday’s game. Kirilloff went above and beyond in making it come true.

Not only did Kirilloff point to Plouffe in the broadcaster’s booth as promised after crushing his first homer in a month during the third inning, but he also roped a go-ahead, three-run double in the seventh inning to match a career high with four RBIs and send the Twins to a three-game sweep of the A’s with a come-from-behind 5-4 victory.

“That was the first time I've had anything happen like that,” Kirilloff said. “That was pretty cool. Normally, I forget to point at the bullpen [after a homer], too. I remembered [Plouffe] as well, and pointed out. That was cool, the way that happened today.”

And though Plouffe’s wish-making powers were apparently only wielded on Kirilloff’s behalf, the effects permeated throughout the Minnesota lineup in other big moments, as Christian Vázquez also crushed his first homer in nearly a month and three of the Twins’ left-handed hitters cracked hits to the opposite field as part of that crucial rally in the seventh.

That three-run flurry started with the Twins down, 3-2, when Max Kepler knocked a left-on-left single to left field to chase Oakland starter JP Sears before the lineup got to work against reliever Lucas Erceg.

After Vázquez walked, pinch-hitter Edouard Julien roped an infield single to third base before Kirilloff waited on a 96.6 mph fastball on the outside corner and lined it down the left-field line at 102.1 mph for a bases-clearing double to put Minnesota on top for good. From Carlos Correa to Royce Lewis to Kepler to everyone in between, the ability to use the whole field has been a target in turning around the Twins' stagnant offensive season.

“That's probably a big part of our approach, being able to stay on sliders and breaking balls away,” Kirilloff said. “Normally, it is a good approach to think about hitting something to left field. Where you're able to stay on the offspeed and still drive fastballs that way, usually you're in a pretty good spot.”

For Julien and Kirilloff, driving the ball with authority to left field has always been part of their game, but Kirilloff hadn’t shown that as much over the last month, entering the game with only two extra-base hits -- both doubles -- since his last homer on June 16.

In that span, he’d had good at-bats and still kept up his average, but the lack of power made for a paltry .258/.313/.290 slash line in those last 21 games entering Sunday, good for a .604 OPS. He hadn’t been able to access that power as much in the last two years due to his chronic wrist issues, and it remains to be seen whether he’ll be able to tap into that with consistency -- but the Twins are more focused on the quality of his plate appearances in general.

“We want the at-bats to stay good,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He's having better at-bats this year than he's ever had. The power is going to go up and down, but it is encouraging.”

In each of the three games of the Twins’ sweep of Oakland, they found a different hero who had scuffled to close the first half -- Joey Gallo on Friday, Kyle Farmer on Saturday and Kirilloff on Sunday -- and that made up for an uncharacteristically tough series by the starting rotation, which had been the bedrock of the club’s success throughout the first half.

It didn’t come against the toughest of competition in Oakland, but there’s something to be said for the offense finding a way to spur some victories -- and the Twins will have to continue that as they finally eye some synchronization between the two sides of the ball.

“We can talk all we want, but you have to prove that you can win different types of ballgames,” Baldelli said. “We're not a one-dimensional group, but we have to prove that we're not a one-dimensional group. We have to show that.”

“We need to play better, but it’s a good sign that we found a way to win those games, because we were finding a way to lose those games here recently,” Emilio Pagán said. “So, it’s big.”