Week in Review: Rock-Bottom Reset

Weekly Snapshot: Mon, 6/26 through Sun, 7/2
***
Record Last Week: 2-4 (Overall: 42-43)
Run Differential Last Week: -3 (Overall: +31)
Standing: 1st Place in AL Central (0.5 GA)

Last Week's Game Results:

Game 80 | ATL 4, MIN 1: Gray Duels Strider But Twins Can't Keep Pace
Game 81 | ATL 6, MIN 2: Braves Blast Off for Five Homers Against Ryan
Game 82 | ATL 3, MIN 0: Offense No-Shows as Atlanta Wraps Easy Sweep
Game 83 | MIN 8, BAL 1: Players-Only Meeting Followed by Empathic Win
Game 84 | MIN 1, BAL 0: Narrow Victory Behind Gallo's Homer, Ober's Gem
Game 85 | BAL 2, MIN 1: Offense Costs Gray, Twins Chance at a Sweep

NEWS & NOTES

The week started on a sour note both on the field and off it. Ahead of their second game in Atlanta, the Twins placed reliever Brock Stewart on the injured list due to forearm soreness. Stewart has been an absolute life-saver for the bullpen, thriving under big leverage in a role that's risen in magnitude with Jorge Alcala, Caleb Thielbar, and Jorgé López all sidelined. 

Obviously, losing Stewart is a major blow in the short-term, and if this proves to be a more serious problem it could have disastrous ramifications. For now, the Twins are hoping that a short break will remedy the right-hander, who in fairness is experiencing a new type of workload for the first time. It looks like the All-Star break is tentatively being targeted for a return. Fingers crossed.

Oliver Ortega returned to fill Stewart's spot in the bullpen. He looked pretty good in a scoreless three-inning appearance against the Braves on Tuesday.

On Saturday, Royce Lewis strained his oblique while running to first, and the Twins wasted little time placing him on the IL afterward. This is usually a four-to-six week injury, so unfortunately we can probably not expect to see the electric rookie for awhile. On the bright side, it does create room for last year's electric rookie sensation, José Miranda, to return to the roster in search of redemption.

Few things could realistically rejuvenate this lineup to the same degree as Miranda recapturing his mid-season 2022 form and jolting the heart of the order here in July and August. However, he hasn't exactly been lighting the world on fire in Triple-A, slugging just .360 in 39 games for the Saints. In his first back on Sunday, Miranda went 0-for-2 with a GIDP before being removed for a pinch-hitter. Consider me highly skeptical.

HIGHLIGHTS

To their credit, the Twins collectively bounced off the ropes and answered the bell in Baltimore, at least for a brief moment. The team did appear to have a fresh energy and determination when they arrived in Baltimore, bursting out of the gates by scoring in each of the first three innings on Friday en route to an 8-1 victory. 

Carlos Correa took over the leadoff spot in a reconfigured Twins lineup on Friday, notching a pair of hits in the blowout win. Byron Buxton shook out of his latest slump with four hits in 11 at-bats games against the O's, including a three-run homer but excluding a few extra-base hits robbed by defensive gems.

Joey Gallo and Max Kepler, who've been widely vilified as Matt Wallner wallops Triple-A pitching, both enjoyed good weeks with their roster spots under scrutiny. Gallo launched three solo home runs, including the decisive blow in a 1-0 win on Saturday, while Kepler went 4-for-10 with a homer and perhaps the biggest defensive play of the season for the Twins.

While short-lived, it was nice to see any glimpse of liveliness from this lineup, which was supported as usual by mostly stellar work from the pitching staff. 

Sonny Gray walked a tightrope against both the Braves and Orioles, holding both strong offenses in check while receiving minimal run support. Kenta Maeda was effective once again, limiting Atlanta to two runs in five innings. Pablo López fired six innings of one-run ball on Friday, allowing only three hits. 

Bailey Ober had the best start of his young career on Friday, leading the Twins to a 1-0 victory with seven shutout frames. Since the start of last year, Ober has a 2.92 ERA in 133 major-league innings.

 LOWLIGHTS

"The Twins reached a new low last week" has been a recurring theme in this column, and last week they once again managed to outdo themselves, pushing Rocco Baldelli to the point of outward exasperation while also compelling the players themselves to hold a closed-doors meeting.

Granted, the Braves are an absolutely excellent baseball team, but that does not excuse the wretched level of performance we saw from the Twins throughout this three-game shellacking. Baldelli described his team as "flat," an accurate portrayal of the offense's empty showing across the board in a non-competitive sweep.

The Twins scored three runs in three games and went 0-for-23 with runners in scoring position. It's almost not worth singling out anyone in particular because the production and quality of plate appearances were so uniformly poor across the entire lineup. 

From the start of the series to the end, Twins hitters appeared completely lost – overmatched and outplanned at every turn. The sleepy sweep-clinching shutout on Wednesday, where the Twins flailed away for eight strikeouts against Kolby Allard (he of the career 6.07 ERA) was particularly egregious, pushing Rocco over the edge.

Correa and Buxton went a combined 2-for-17 in the series, stranding eight runners between them. Here at the halfway point of the season, it is clear these two centerpiece stars bear the greatest responsibility for the club's underwhelming results – something Correa doesn't back away from. 

Both players are on pace to finish with a lower fWAR than Gary Sánchez posted for the Twins last year. "Disappointing" doesn't even begin to describe what we've seen from this $50 million duo so far in Year 1 of a long-term blueprint built around them. 

In order for the Twins to take control of the division in the second half, they will absolutely need Buck and C4 both to come up huge down the stretch. Baltimore was a somewhat promising start, but neither player has proven able to sustain any flash of momentum all season long.

In that way they've set the tone for an entire team that's done the same, perfectly epitomized by their breaking out at the start of the Orioles series and then scoring two runs in the next 24 innings.

Holding this urgent crisis aversion meeting and following it with a big statement game really loses its impact when the offense then immediately shrinks back into its shell, as has been the case with every single explosive burst through the first 85 games of the schedule. We're all so very tired of it. 

TRENDING STORYLINE

After having the start of his season delayed two months by an elbow injury, Austin Martin started a rehab stint in early June, then quickly got hurt again, costing him another three weeks. Finally he resumed his rehab on Tuesday, playing a couple of games at second base in rookie ball before moving up to Single-A where he made starts in center, left field, and DH. 

Expectations for Martin should definitely be kept in check, but he's an interesting piece returning to the fold, assuming his elbow can hold up. In many ways, the 24-year-old brings qualities that are glaringly amiss on the current Twins team: contact-hitting, OBP, speed ... essentially, the ability to make plays without hitting home runs. 

Martin is trying to bounce back from an ugly offensive season (ironically, one he partially attributes to coaches directing him away from his strengths and toward selling out for more power ... ahem). He's also got some work to do after missing the entire first half. But the former fifth overall draft pick is a big talent and a potential wild-card for the stretch run – especially if the Twins trust him enough to play center field.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Twins return home to face the lowly Royals for three games, followed by a Target Field rematch against the Orioles. These are soft pitching match-ups. If the offense can't muster some legit production in this homestand – which is followed immediately by the All-Star break – I'm gonna fully lose it. 

MONDAY, 7/3: ROYALS @ TWINS – LHP Austin Cox v. RHP Joe Ryan
TUESDAY, 7/4: ROYALS @ TWINS – RHP Zack Greinke v. RHP Kenta Maeda
WEDNESDAY, 7/5: ROYALS @ TWINS – RHP Jordan Lyles v. RHP Pablo Lopez
FRIDAY, 7/7: ORIOLES @ TWINS – LHP Cole Irvin v. RHP Bailey Ober
SATURDAY, 7/8: ORIOLES @ TWINS – RHP Tyler Wells v. RHP Sonny Gray
SUNDAY, 7/9: ORIOLES @ TWINS – RHP Kyle Gibson v. RHP Joe Ryan