It's all coming up Correa in crunch time for Twins

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The outfield depth is in tatters with Byron Buxton out, a dinged-up Max Kepler on the bench, Kyle Garlick headed to the injured list, and youngsters Alex Kirilloff and Trevor Larnach having missed most of the year. The starting rotation is depleted but slowly mending. Even iron man Jorge Polanco is in his second IL stint of the season.

In Friday’s all-important opener of a five-game series against the first-place Guardians, the Twins hit Nick Gordon in the cleanup spot, with the outfield starts going to Jake Cave, Gilberto Celestino and Mark Contreras -- down all three outfielders from their Opening Day lineup (and even a few depth pieces behind them).

That’s where Carlos Correa has stepped up -- and boy, have the Twins needed it.

After struggling in clutch situations for most of the season, the superstar shortstop has virtually been a one-man wrecking crew (though that may not be fair to Jose Miranda) in a torrid September, with Correa entering the Guardians series owning a .373/.429/.804 slash line this month with 19 hits, including six homers -- already one shy of the most homers he has hit in any month in his Major League career.

“Yep, Carlos understands what late-season games mean and how to turn up,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “The production’s great, but it comes from increased focus and understanding what’s going on around you and just how important all of this is.”

Correa established a reputation as one of the most clutch performers in playoff history during his tenure with the Astros, and the Twins are now seeing that side of him, too, with a go-ahead homer in the series finale at Yankee Stadium that helped the club avoid a sweep as well as a four-hit and three-hit game in the last series between Minnesota and Cleveland (though the Guardians won all three of those games).

Correa has since homered twice more in the three-game series against Kansas City, helping the Twins establish needed momentum entering what could amount to a last-gasp opportunity against the Guardians in Cleveland.

“This is when it all comes to a head, when you’re playing, basically, the most important games of the year that are going to decide what happens in October,” Baldelli said. “To do anything in October, you’ve got to play good in September, and he knows that.”

He’s gotten help on the pitching side from Sonny Gray, who hasn’t necessarily had the volume of many top-tier starters from around the league (117 2/3 innings) but has made them count, with a 1.98 ERA in 10 second-half starts -- with no more than three earned runs allowed in any of those outings.

“I think he’s clearly in the category of guys that have seen what goes on this time of the year and how you have to respond to it,” Baldelli said. “I will say that you get a pretty intense, focused Sonny Gray most of the year. You get him pretty much every time he starts. But I think when you get that, maybe you kind of get used to it. But I think we’re getting more of that now. Can he enhance that in any way when it comes to September? Honestly, I don’t know how you can get more locked in than a guy like him when he gets ready for these starts.”

The Twins will hope to get healthier and more potent to mount a serious fight down the stretch -- but if not for their veterans, they might not have gotten to this point.