MINNEAPOLIS -- The Astros’ two-headed monster of Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole largely kept the Twins’ torrid offense in check through the first two games of this series. But even after Minnesota mustered only three hits in an 11-0 loss on Tuesday night at Target Field, the Twins will enter May with 17 wins -- the second most in franchise history through the end of April -- on the back of a historic start from the offense.

Despite the bats’ quiet finish to April at Cole’s hands on Tuesday, the first month-plus of the season as a whole could hardly have gone better for a new-look Minnesota lineup bolstered by the additions of sluggers Jonathan Schoop, C.J. Cron and Nelson Cruz, who have complemented promising hints of continued progress from key members of the Twins’ young core.

Byron Buxton’s needed bounceback campaign appears to be well underway, as he entered Tuesday tied for the American League lead with 12 doubles. Eddie Rosario leads the AL with 11 homers. Jorge Polanco’s hot month placed him second among AL shortstops with a .600 slugging percentage. And Max Kepler’s professional eye at the plate has suited him well in the leadoff spot, where he has also hit seven homers.

“It was a good month for us,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “The guys collectively swung the bats very well. Quality of the at-bats are very good. It's just maintaining, and it's difficult to do. I think our guys were very good, and it's hard to be that good and maintain that over a long period of time, and that's why we focus more on the quality of the at-bats than on the results. As long as we have those types of at-bats, we're very happy.”

Even if Baldelli and the Twins aren’t necessarily focusing on the results, it still bears notice that all of those individual performances have combined to yield team stats in several offensive categories that have set or neared club records since the move to Minnesota, including:

Home runs: 50 (1st -- previous record: 29 in 2002, 1986)

Slugging percentage: .495 (1st -- previous record: .467 in 2004)

Runs: 141 (2nd -- record: 175 in 1996)

On-base plus slugging (OPS): .820 (4th -- record: .845 in 1996)

All of this has come with Miguel Sanó, a key piece in the heart of the lineup when healthy, sidelined since the start of Spring Training as he recovers from a laceration to his right lower Achilles area sustained during the offseason. Moreover, with a chilly Minnesota spring soon to come to an end, the ball will only start to carry more as April turns to May, and May to June.

“When everybody stays healthy, everything is going good,” Rosario said. “The heat is coming. You'll see this team get better."

Though the record nature of the cumulative stats speak for themselves, the Twins’ offensive success in April has also been highlighted by three noteworthy games that have highlighted both the collective and individual talent throughout the lineup.

April 5 at PHI: Polanco hits for the cycle
Through a nearly two-week-long stretch from April 5-17, Polanco was the toughest out not only in a deep Minnesota lineup but in the Major Leagues. That remarkable stretch began in an otherwise forgettable 10-4 loss in a miserable Philadelphia rainstorm, when Polanco burst into national prominence with the first cycle of 2019 as part of a five-hit performance against Nick Pivetta and the Phillies.

The 15th cycle in franchise history -- and only the second five-hit cycle -- launched a 10-game stretch in which Polanco hit .514/.550/.943 with three homers, two doubles and two triples. Polanco, who signed a five-year, $25.75 million extension with two option years in Spring Training, is second on the Twins in extra-base hits and leads all American League shortstops in isolated power -- the ability to hit for extra bases.

April 9 at NYM: Twins tee off against deGrom
It’s difficult to tell by looking at where the prolific homer total stands now, but the Twins had only one through the first five games of the season, and the steady stream of long balls didn’t fully kick into gear until a chilly night at Citi Field against, of all people, reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom.

The Twins went yard six times during that 14-8 win, including three off deGrom -- two from Mitch Garver and one from Rosario. Garver’s continued emergence at the plate has also been a pleasant surprise for the Twins. After the 28-year-old catcher posted an above-average offensive performance in his 2018 rookie season with a .749 OPS, he appears to have taken the next step this year with five homers and four doubles in only 14 games.

Entering Tuesday, the Twins’ eight homers, .326 average, .698 slugging percentage and 1.104 OPS from the catcher spot -- a combination of Garver, Jason Castro and Willians Astudillo -- all led the Major Leagues.

April 20 at BAL: The eight-homer game
The Twins have scored 75 of their 141 runs this season on homers -- the second-highest percentage of runs created on long balls in the American League. Much of that has to do with their relentless power show in their season sweep over the Orioles, highlighted by an eight-homer performance in a 16-7 win in the nightcap of a doubleheader at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, matching a club record.

The Twins’ 11 homers in Baltimore marked a franchise record for a three-game series -- but that record barely held, as the Twins rode back-to-back five-homer games at Target Field to a 12-homer series against the Orioles only a week later.