CLEVELAND — Rocco Baldelli stood in front of a Twins backdrop in the bowels of Progressive Field answering questions about his team’s 11-1 drubbing of the Cleveland Guardians. Around a corner, inside the clubhouse, his players were hooting and hollering, cheers of delight coming from the room.
It’s a vastly different scene than many that played out earlier in the month, when the room was cloaked in silence following yet another frustrating loss.
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But fresh off a homestand in which they won five of six games and facing some tougher competition, the Twins couldn’t be slowed on Monday night either, ousting the Guardians for their fourth straight win on Monday in Cleveland.
Edouard Julien found, perhaps, the most effective way to keep the Twins’ momentum going, depositing the first pitch of the game, a fastball up in the zone, into greenery in center field. The Twins were off and running from there.
“I know he’s got a good fastball,” Julien said of starter Gavin Williams. “And I was just getting geared up for it. He threw it where I was looking, and I put a good swing on it.”
The Twins (13-16) had plenty of those to speak of on Monday.
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Julien’s home run was one of four runs the Twins scored in the first two innings as they took command early.
“We’ve just been having (a) good approach against the starters and scoring runs against the starter instead of just waiting and having (it) tied until the end,” Julien said after the Twins knocked Williams out after just two innings.
Shortstop Carlos Correa, who just days earlier lamented that his swing “sucks right now,” had singles in both innings, scoring in the first. He now has multiple hits in three consecutive games.
Byron Buxton drove in a pair of runs, and Ryan Jeffers brought home three — two on his first home run of the season, which came off of a position player in the eighth inning.
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Recently-acquired infielder Jonah Bride had three hits, and Mickey Gasper added two, driving in a run. All told, every position player who started the game finished with at least one hit as the Twins went off for a season-high 17.
“I liked everything,” Baldelli said. “Every guy did something offensively. … The at-bats were fantastic from the start.”
And that was more than enough for Bailey Ober, who pitched into the eighth inning, marking the second straight game that a Twins starter has completed seven innings.
Ober allowed just one run, and while he recorded just two strikeouts, he worked efficiently through the Guardians’ lineup, recording many quick outs in his 7 2/3 innings.
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“It helps to have a lead so I can just attack these guys and not necessarily have to nibble,” Ober said. “That plays a bit part of it, allows me to pitch longer in the game, especially if I’m able to mix speeds early in the counts so they’re going to swing.”
Ober has now allowed just seven earned runs over his five starts in April after eight runs in his season debut. With his fourth straight quality start, he seems to be finding his groove after a tough beginning — much like the team itself.
“These guys are doing their jobs very well right now,” Baldelli said.
