MINNEAPOLIS — The Twins were creative with their offense Monday, scoring two runs from sacrifice flies, one run from a squeeze bunt and one run from a bloop single, but home runs are still nice, too.
Edouard Julien drilled a go-ahead pinch-hit homer into the right field seats in the bottom of the eighth inning, sparking a five-run rally that carried the Twins to an 8-4 victory over the Royals to begin their final homestand before the All-Star break at Target Field.
Julien was hitless in his first five at-bats as a pinch-hitter in his major league career. Facing Royals reliever Taylor Clarke, Julien pummeled a first-pitch fastball and launched it 413 feet for the Twins' third pinch-hit homer of the season.
The Twins attempted to play for one more run after Julien's solo homer with Jhoan Duran unavailable after pitching in back-to-back games, but they ended up with four more. With runners on the corners, Michael A. Taylor dropped a squeeze bunt that scored Gallo when Clarke fumbled the ball after fielding the bunt. Then the Twins exploded for three consecutive RBI singles to give their bullpen a chance to exhale.
Before the eighth inning, the Twins asked their bullpen to cover nine outs in a one-run game. Griffin Jax, who was prepared to enter in the ninth inning, was set to pitch in his third straight game. Before the ball made it to his hands, lefty reliever Brent Headrick surrendered a game-tying solo homer to the lefty-hitting Nick Pratto to open the eighth inning in a 0-2 count.
Then the offense stepped up for its pitchers.
Despite entering Monday with only two runs in their last 23 innings, Twins hitters were upbeat about some of the changes they made since they were swept in Atlanta and manager Rocco Baldelli criticized the offense's production.
One of the ways the Twins described their revamped player-led pregame hitters meetings, at least a temporary change, is a sense of more accountability. Players still have the same information as they did before, but it's up to them to run the meeting and break it down to their teammates.
"Sometimes the coaches have something and then pitchers will go with a different report than what the scouting report says," Carlos Correa said, "and you get players saying, 'you told me this, you told me that.' Now, we're all accountable."
The Twins went 6-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Correa, who had a four-hit game, hit a leadoff double in the first inning and scored on a lineout.
In the second inning, Willi Castro manufactured a run. Castro drew a leadoff walk, then stole second base with two outs after Cox struck out back-to-back hitters. Two pitches after Castro advanced into scoring position – just the second runner to swipe a base vs. Cox – he scored when Taylor blooped a single into right field.
Each time Joe Ryan gave up a run, the Twins' offense was there for him. Ryan, who surrendered five homers to his first 10 batters in Atlanta last week, watched Maikel Garcia swat his first pitch into the left field seats Monday. It was the second consecutive start Ryan permitted a homer on his first pitch, both fastballs.
It was an outing where Ryan had to battle against the top three hitters in the Royals lineup and he overpowered everybody else. Bobby Witt Jr., the No. 2 hitter in Kansas City's lineup, hit a two-out single in the third inning and easily stole second base. The next batter, Nick Pratto, lined an RBI single off the right field wall.
The top three hitters in the Royals lineup combined for four hits, two RBI, two runs and two strikeouts against Ryan. The bottom six hitters totaled two singles, one walk and seven strikeouts.
Ryan is 5-2 with a 2.73 ERA in eight home starts this season compared to 3-3 with a 4.14 ERA in nine road outings.
