MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins’ retooled lineup drilled lasers off Indians starter Carlos Carrasco throughout the game. Michael Pineda dominated Indians hitters in an efficient start. Martin Perez flashed his newfound velocity in an extended relief appearance.

In Sunday’s 9-3 victory over the Indians at Target Field, the Twins not only clinched a series victory to set the tone in the battle for the American League Central, but also showed a glimpse of the best-case scenario that they had hoped for with their rebuilt lineup and starting rotation in 2019.

“We build off of this,” center fielder Byron Buxton said. “Like we said before we went out today, 'Don't try to go out there and do too much. Stay within ourselves. Be ourselves and the game will take care of itself.' And that's exactly what we did. Pineda went out there and pitched a heck of a game, and Pérez as well and even our bullpen. They put up zeros and allowed us to get our bats going.”

Here’s a look at three things to take away from the Twins’ win over the defending division champions on Sunday:

1) Pineda’s highly anticipated debut cut short

Pineda was visibly giddy in the home clubhouse after his long-awaited Twins debut on Sunday.

After undergoing Tommy John surgery in July 2017 and having suffered a torn meniscus during his recovery, the big right-hander said that he had to calm himself down and control his body language during his dominant start, in which he cruised through four shutout innings on only 40 pitches, striking out five while allowing only one hit and one walk.

“I’m very happy today,” Pineda said. “It was a big day for me and everybody here because we won the game, you know? But especially for me, because before my start today I hadn’t pitched for like a year and a half. I’m very happy.”

Though Pineda’s fastball only touched 91 mph, he was pleased with the slider and changeup that he continued to develop through the spring, as he generated five whiffs on the slider and collected three of his strikeouts with the pitch.

But dominant as Pineda was in his return from his extended absence, manager Rocco Baldelli had to make the difficult decision to remove his starter after four innings, because the plan had always been to bring Perez into the game for the fifth inning as a “piggyback” starter, as dictated by the Twins’ early distribution of off-days.

For Baldelli, the long-term goal of keeping Perez on rhythm as a starter took precedence in his decision, and both Pineda and Perez had been aware of the plan since Spring Training.

“I really want to make the point of, we can't do what we did today without the unselfishness of [Michael] Pineda,” Baldelli said. “To be throwing the way that he was throwing and coming back from everything he's come back from … He's a competitor and he wants to pitch, which is what we want from our guys, but he was willing to do this and let [Martin] Perez come in the game and also get his work in too.”

Perez, too, had a promising Twins debut, touching 97 mph with his fastball as he threw 82 pitches, struck out six and allowed three runs in 3 2/3 innings of relief. He felt that he missed only one pitch in his entire outing -- the fastball that Carlos Santana hit for a three-run double.

After tweaking his mechanics and pitch usage with Twins pitching coaches Wes Johnson and Jeremy Hefner in the spring, Perez, who had posted low strikeout rates throughout his career, generated 11 whiffs using his boosted velocity and a new cutter that he feels will be a critical weapon for him this season.

That wouldn’t have been possible without Pineda’s selflessness, and Perez made sure to thank his counterpart for the opportunity. Perez said that the plan for the time being is to continue lining him up to follow Pineda into games until the Twins’ rotation expands.

“I was telling [Pineda], 'Thank you,'” Perez said. “We were talking about the situation. 'Hey, when you came out, we scored some runs but you don't win the game.' He told me, 'Hey, we're teammates and I've known you from a long time ago and I know who you are and you know who I am. We just have to stay together and finish this plan for two more weeks.'"

“I love to pitch, but we had the plan and I’m very happy because right now it’s working,” Pineda said. “That’s what we want -- just win the game and follow the plan.”

2) The rebuilt offense finally comes alive

After the Twins were held to three runs and six hits in the first two games of the series, every Minnesota starter but Eddie Rosario reached base on Sunday as the offense finally came to life against Cleveland right-hander Carlos Carrasco.

Nelson Cruz led the charge with his first Twins homer as part of a three-hit afternoon, and Jorge Polanco and Buxton both had a pair of hits, while a trio of newer faces -- C.J. Cron, Marwin Gonzalez and Willians Astudillo -- also had two hits apiece.

"We have good hitters and we have guys throughout the lineup, like I've said, that have had good at-bats through the first two days,” Baldelli said. “We got to see what it looks like when those at-bats come to fruition and start hitting a few more balls on the barrel. It was a good day offensively for the whole group. You can look up and down the lineup, it was fun to watch."

3) Twins starting pitching sets the tone in opening series

For all the talk of the Indians’ dominant starting rotation entering the series, the Twins’ series victory was built on the backbone of three dominant outings from their starters. Jose Berrios struck out 10 in 7 2/3 shutout innings on Thursday; Jake Odorizzi struck out 11 and allowed only one hit on Saturday; and Pineda added his five strikeouts and four scoreless innings on Sunday.

"In those really good environments where you get staffs that really get it done, yeah, that's what it looks like,” Baldelli said. “That's a good competitiveness and competitive environment. These guys have all gone out there and not just pitched well, but they've pitched extremely well."

Twins starters combined to allow one earned run in 17 2/3 innings during the series (a 0.51 ERA) with 26 strikeouts and four walks.

“I think the biggest thing that stood out [this series] was pitching,” Buxton said. “That's what got us going. They kept throwing up zeros, and once we finally got the bats going, everything else took care of itself.”