As nucleus returns, 'the page is turning'

ARLINGTON -- This looked more like the team that the Minnesota Twins thought they had entering the 2021 season.

A healthy Byron Buxton beat out an infield single to spark an early rally before plate discipline from Max Kepler and Luis Arraez handed Minnesota a late lead -- and Alex Colomé protected that lead without any issue in an easy seventh inning. All that happened while Randy Dobnak primed the Twins with five strong innings as Minnesota claimed a series victory with a 3-2 win over the Rangers on Saturday at Globe Life Field.

• Box score

That marked the Twins’ first victorious series -- and their first three-game winning streak -- since a three-game sweep of Baltimore at Target Field from May 24-26.

• Twins activate Buxton, option Astudillo

In some alternate universe, that’s nothing exceptional -- and, for a team that once had high playoff hopes, the norm. But in this universe, with the Twins improving to 29-41, it was more of a tantalizing glimpse of what could have been had injuries and underperformance not ravaged the club for much of the first half.

“It’s very uplifting just to see the guys back in the clubhouse,” Buxton said. “Even the guys that didn’t start the year off with the team. Everybody is starting to get that chemistry back together and things starting to click a little bit, and we’re starting to talk a little more and figure things out. You know, the page is turning.”

In his first game off the injured list following his recovery from a right hip strain, Buxton recorded a sprint speed of 31.2 ft/sec as he motored to first base on an infield hit in the fourth inning, showing that his legs were more than fine to run following uncertainty in the wake of continued issues during his recent rehab assignment. He came home on Nelson Cruz’s 436-foot homer, which helped the Twins tie the game, 2-2.

And even considering that exemplary sprint speed that blew past the “elite” threshold of 30 ft/sec, Buxton and manager Rocco Baldelli insisted that it would still take several days before the center fielder would truly cut things loose.

“You're going to know when I’m healthy, trust me,” Buxton said. “I’m healthy now, but we’ve got little cute things to worry about, and you know, I don’t want to go back on the bench. Got to do what [Baldelli] says or else that can happen.”

In the seventh, Kepler drew a five-pitch walk off left-hander John King, stole second and advanced on a pair of wild pitches to score the go-ahead run in his second game since he was activated from the IL following his recovery from a left hamstring strain. Consider also that Colomé’s scoreless frame gave him his first hold since May 25 -- and his first scoreless hold since May 7.

That’s not to mention the recent returns of Arraez from a right shoulder strain before he drove home Friday’s go-ahead run with a 10th-inning RBI triple, and Kenta Maeda, who returned from a right groin strain with an effective start in Seattle and will take the mound in Sunday’s series finale as the Twins eye their second sweep of the season.

“When you start getting the pieces of that nucleus back and getting a few of them back at the same time, you start to see the effects in the clubhouse, on the field, during these games,” Baldelli said. “Just putting a couple of those guys back out there probably gives everyone a little bit of confidence when they take the field.”

Even outside of all of the injury considerations that have finally begun to resolve themselves, the Twins’ bullpen, among the worst in the league for much of the season, has appeared to find a small groove as well. Amid this three-game winning streak, Minnesota relievers have combined to allow three earned runs in 13 innings, including four scoreless frames to close out Saturday’s win.

“These guys have gone out there and executed, thrown the ball well,” Baldelli said. “Everyone’s stuff looks pretty good and this is the group that we expect to have and be able to place into these ballgames, and we talked about our bullpen being a strength of ours and needing to be a strength of ours going forward. This is what it looks like.”

However small this all might be at this point in the season, it’s still an indication that the talent still exists on this roster -- but it might be coming together too late.