Suddenly, the Twins are talking about a winning streak, about playing the type of baseball they believe they are capable of playing, about hot bats and playing well in all facets of the game.
A four-game sweep can lead to that, and the Twins saw their wishes become reality on Thursday afternoon, beating the Chicago White Sox 6-3 before an announced crowd of 20,363.
“I think going into this series we felt that this was a stretch that we have the opportunity to turn some stuff around,” said Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers, who hit his fourth home run of the season. “Kind of get some mojo back, start swinging it better. I think we did exactly that.
“I thinks there’s still are areas where we can improve, there’s still spots where we’re going to get better.”
The Twins hit five home runs — all after the fifth inning — to erase a 2-0 deficit. They twice went back to back; Edouard Julien and Jeffers in the sixth, and Carlos Santana and Jose Miranda in the eighth. Julien hit his second of the game in seventh.
Right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson, called up from the Saints to make his third major-league start and second this season, pitched five innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. The bullpen kept things in check until the ninth when the White Sox scratched across a run.
“You have to like a lot of what we saw today,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It was a really good series for us. We wanted to get a lot of things in order this week at home and play well. We were able to do much of it.”
The White Sox, who dropped to 3-22, are losing at an alarming rate. But as far as the Twins are concerned, a sweep is a sweep, no matter the opponent.
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 25: Simeon Woods Richardson #78 of the Minnesota Twins delivers a pitch against the Chicago White Sox in the first inning at Target Field on April 25, 2024 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
“They’re a big-league club,” Jeffers said. “I don’t think we treat it any differently. You can look at the record all you want, but that’s a full clubhouse of big-league baseball players. We won four games. We could have easily come in here and not shown up and lost these games.
“To be the team we want to be you’ve got to beat the teams you’re supposed to beat. I think we did a good job of that.”
The Twins hit into some tough luck in the early innings against starter Michael Soroka. But that changed in the sixth when Julien led off the inning with a home run. When Jeffers matched it, the game was tied and Soroka’s day was done.
The Twins took the lead before the inning was over, with Willi Castro delivering an RBI single.
Julien hit a solo homer in the seventh before Santana and Miranda went back to back in the eighth.
“The homers are huge, there’s no way around it,” Baldelli said. “But you don’t hit homers by going up there swinging big and trying to hit homers. Our guys weren’t doing that. They just tried to barrel some balls up and they left the yard.”
Julien, who said he is feeling good at the plate after a slow start, does not think his power surge is something that necessarily will continue.
“I feel like there are times I am going to hit four in one week and other times where I’m not going to hit homers,” he said. “For me, I’m more of a complete hitter than a power hitter. My goal is to just get on base and help the team win.”
Woods Richardson was pleased with his effort on a day he had less than his best stuff.
“I didn’t feel I had everything, but that’s OK,” he said. “You’re going to have games like that. What you can piece together with what you’ve got is kind of where I was at. Just trying to compete.”
Offered Jeffers: “He did a good job of keeping us in the game. He was in attack mode and stayed in attack mode. That’s all we can ask of him.”
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