It might not be right to say that Nelson Cruz and Miguel Sanó are the Twins’ version of the Bash Brothers -- their relationship on and off the field might seem more like that of father and son much of the time.

Whatever you call them, the Twins’ pair of massive Dominican sluggers sure can bash with the best of them. Just ask the Statcast exit velocity leaderboards. When they’re both locked in, they can carry an offense with their game-changing power -- and that’s just what they did in Monday’s opener of a pivotal series against Cleveland when they each clubbed an opposite-field homer to power the Twins to a 3-2 win at Progressive Field.

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Cruz continued his seemingly never-ending conquest of Father Time with a fourth-inning solo blast estimated by Statcast at 396 feet. That homer got the Twins their first run off tough right-hander Aaron Civale and tied Cruz with José Abreu of the White Sox for the American League home run lead with 11. Seven of those big flies have come in Cruz’s last 10 games.

“I think all hitters, I think we get in a rhythm,” Cruz said. “The whole lineup, it seems like we all get into situations where the more at-bats we take, we feel more comfortable out there, and that's my case, too. So hopefully I can stay like that for more games, and at the end of the day, it's all about health. So hopefully we can stay healthy."

Sanó might be the only hitter in the lineup that’s somehow as hot as Cruz and his consistent power show.

Sanó stepped to the plate against Civale in a tie game in the sixth and crushed a hanging cutter that finally came to earth in the right-field stands for a go-ahead two-run homer with an estimated distance of 417 feet. The swat extended Sanó’s streak of games with an extra-base hit to eight, tying him with franchise legends Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva for the second-longest streak in club history. (Brian Dozier holds the record at 11.)

The slugger entered the game with the highest average exit velocity in baseball, at 97.8 mph. When he’s spraying baseballs instead of swinging through them, watch out.

“The at-bats are excellent,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He is scalding balls. He really, really does make the ballpark look very tiny when he hits the ball on the barrel, whether he hits it in the air and it’s leaving the yard or even the line drives that he hits that find a little bit of space and it feels like the ball is moving much faster than the players can possibly move in the field to try to do anything with it. He’s been on fire.”

That was all the Twins’ pitching staff needed in a tight contest between the top two clubs in the division. Any thoughts of another Kenta Maeda no-hit bid immediately ended when Cesar Hernandez took him deep to open the bottom of the first inning, but he still gave the Twins five strong innings of one-run ball.

Relief pitchers Caleb Thielbar, Trevor May and Sergio Romo all worked in and out of jams to preserve the narrow lead, and closer Taylor Rogers pitched a scoreless ninth for the first time in three appearances to notch the save.

Sanó’s eight-game streak features eight doubles and two homers, including the two hardest-hit balls of Sanó’s career. The first baseman has thoroughly awoken from his season-opening slumber (5-for-45 with 23 strikeouts) thanks to added work with the velocity machine and adjustments with his hands to be more direct to the ball and not get under it in the strike zone.

Another great sign for Sanó’s approach at the plate? His homer on Monday went to right field for his first big fly and second extra-base hit to the opposite field this season.

“When you see his swing really shortening to the point where he’s getting to different pitches in different spots in the zone -- he’s catching pitches back, he’s catching pitches out front, he’s catching some breaking balls, he’s hitting fastballs. I don’t know how much more impactful a bat can be than what he’s been recently,” Baldelli said.

“You guys know he’s a specimen,” hitting coach Edgar Varela said. “He’s a strong human being. Less is more, so to speak, with him. So if he can get to those positions where he’s able to recognize and put a nice easy swing on it, the ball’s going to come off hard, and I think that’s what you’ve seen.”