Arraez the 'lightning bolt' sparks walk-off

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins had more than their share of chances to finally snap out of their five-game losing streak on Thursday. Michael Pineda threw seven shutout innings. Taylor Rogers nearly shut down the game-tying Boston rally -- twice. They got gifted a second chance on a phantom foul call that kept a critical at-bat alive. Heck, they even laid down a successful sacrifice bunt.

Through all that upheaval, Luis Arraez brought his trademark energy. He brought his consistency. He brought his do-it-all attitude and ability.

Arraez’s four hits from the leadoff spot included a two-run knock and a ninth-inning single that made him the winning run. He came home on Max Kepler’s bloop single off Adam Ottavino to give the Twins a 4-3, walk-off win over the Red Sox at Target Field. The win finally stopped Minnesota’s skid and helped the Twins avoid being swept in four games at home.

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“It’s a tough week, but we won the game,” Arraez said. “We won the game today. So I think it’s a good start for us. It’s a good start. We’ve got a lot of games coming, so I thought we’ve got to keep going, keep going, and then play hard.”

The 24-year-old did whatever the Twins needed of him throughout Thursday’s game. He started in left field and made a diving catch on a sinking line drive by Kiké Hernández. He moved to third base for an inning and finished the game at second.

And he just kept hitting, with singles in the first, second, fourth and ninth innings.

Arraez became the second Twin to play three positions and collect four hits in a game, joining Terry Jorgensen, who played shortstop, first base and third base on Aug. 17, 1993.

“He does everything for us, and he's willing to do more,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He honestly will do anything that we need from him, for his team, he'll do it. He's been a lightning bolt. He's been a positive continually, just as a human and a teammate.”

The Twins needed that more than ever.

Forget the five-game losing streak and just consider the chaos brought forth by Andrelton Simmons’ positive COVID-19 test and all the associated contact tracing before Wednesday’s doubleheader. The Twins lost both of those games -- and then a false positive test in the clubhouse brought further upheaval to their pregame preparation on Thursday.

The disarray didn’t let up -- a hit-by-pitch was overturned to a groundout in the second inning, and the game briefly halted for a four-minute delay in the fifth inning due to a citywide test of severe weather sirens.

“There was a lot going on,” Baldelli said. “Easy day to be distracted, if we allowed that. But we didn’t.”

Arraez gave the Twins an early lead with a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the second with the bases loaded. The team had entered the game 1-for-24 with runners in scoring position during the series.

Even after Pineda threw seven scoreless for the first time since July 4, 2015, pointing the Twins firmly in the direction of a slump-busting victory, the malaise that plagued Minnesota throughout this homestand struck again.

Hansel Robles loaded the bases with two walks and a hit batter in the eighth before Alex Verdugo dug in for 10 pitches against Rogers. The marathon at-bat included a borderline call and a dropped foul tip, both of which could have ended the inning before Verdugo roped a game-tying double.

The Twins had their chance to answer with a pair in scoring position and one out in the bottom of the frame, but even when Ryan Jeffers got a new lease at life when the umpires incorrectly ruled that he’d fouled off a two-strike pitch, the Twins couldn’t capitalize.

“It's impossible to go out and play baseball and not feel it when it's going really well or when it's not going really well,” Baldelli said. “It's really how you harness that and control it at times and sometimes how you just let it go.”

Arraez harnessed that into a leadoff single in the ninth. Jorge Polanco followed with a hit-by-pitch, and Arraez finished his big day with a good read and jump that allowed him to score easily on Kepler’s bloop into center, the type of hit that eluded this club too many times in this recent stretch.

“I think I saw a belly flop or something at home,” Baldelli said. “I’m not sure what I saw. There were a lot of bodies in the way at that point, but whatever I saw was good.”

That was Arraez. And he was, indeed, good.