Twins solution to righties: Castro, Larnach and Miranda

PHOENIX -- Given the struggles of the core left-handed hitters that the Twins hoped would provide the bulk of their production against right-handed pitching this year, they spent much of the first two months of the season going through iteration after iteration of starting lineup configurations, trying to find something that would stick.

And who could have thought that this is what the solution would look like?

It’s Willi Castro hitting leadoff, and both Trevor Larnach and Jose Miranda having essentially come out of nowhere with little preseason expectations to pick up all that slack -- and that was on full display in the Twins’ 8-3 victory over the D-backs on Wednesday at Chase Field when Miranda again starred with three hits and three RBIs to fuel a relentless Minnesota attack.

Miranda hit a bases-clearing double in the second inning off Arizona right-hander Ryne Nelson, opening an early lead, and he combined with Larnach and Castro to hit five of the Twins’ seven two-baggers, matching their season-high.

“It's not that easy, especially when you're not playing every single day,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You could say he's playing half to three-quarters of the games, and every time we send him out there and give him opportunities, it doesn't matter who we're facing: He's doing good work against both righties and lefties.”

The reason Royce Lewis is still starting at designated hitter so often, even as he’s settled into a healthy pattern, is Baldelli is trying to get Miranda as many plate appearances as possible -- and he’s hardly slowing down, with his two doubles and single on Wednesday giving him a .329/.395/.589 slash line in June, for a .984 OPS.

Finally healthy from the rotator cuff issues that hampered his entire 2023 season, Miranda’s .900 OPS against righties entering the game has been a significant part of how the Twins have weathered the losses of Edouard Julien, Matt Wallner and Alex Kirilloff -- expected to be their primary damage-dealers against right-handers -- to deep underperformance.

“[It’s] the preparation,” Miranda said. “It's before the game, the machines and the angles and all that type of stuff that's really important. We're going to face different types of pitchers, and especially righties.”

It’s also helped that the Twins have finally found a consistent top two in their lineup against right-handed pitching after having flipped through Julien, Kirilloff, Larnach and even Carlos Santana as their leadoff hitters against such starting pitchers.

Now, they like what they have with Castro and Larnach as their one-two punch up there, with Castro now hitting .274/.359/.455 for the season with an .814 OPS following his 2-for-4 effort with a double and a 428-foot homer on Wednesday.

“No matter what happens when the lineup flips around, you’re going to have a good matchup with him,” Baldelli said. “There’s been real growth there for him. Pitch recognition-wise, everything. Everything about him offensively is on the up and up. He has responded to that spot.”

Then, there’s also Larnach, who has often found the short end of the stick with his plethora of hard contact that has often found gloves instead of grass. With his average exit velocity and expected stats based on his quality of contact all elite, the Twins expected that to turn around -- and it has.

Larnach crushed two doubles on Wednesday, including an RBI knock in the fourth to score Castro, in a continuation of the solid at-bats the Twins have seen since he finally got a healthy, consistent look at the Majors following three seasons of injury frustration.

“I think he’s hit balls hard,” Baldelli said. “It can be frustrating when you’re doing everything you can and you’re whacking the ball all around the park and you’re not getting any hits. I think he’s fine, though. I think he’s in a good place, and he’s doing exactly what we’re hoping for him to be doing.”

There’s no way the Twins would have expected a top two of Castro and Larnach to fuel their lineup, coupled with Miranda against righties -- but the results speak for themselves.

“It’s hard for anyone to complain about the way that all of our guys have been swinging the bat,” Baldelli said. “We’ve been really productive against both righties and lefties recently, even though we’re definitely carrying more right-handed hitters than we have in a very long time.

“I mean, it doesn’t feel like anything is broken in any way, so you just want to keep rolling.”