The Twins didn’t get a ton of hits against Seattle right-hander George Kirby on Wednesday, but the ones they did made a mark.
Carlos Correa, Trevor Larnach and Willi Castro hit solo home runs, and Castro hit a run-scoring triple as the Twins beat the Mariners 6-3 in front of 15,685 at Target Field.
By contrast, Twins starter Chris Paddack (4-1) allowed nine base runners in 5⅓ innings on eight hits and a walk. But he mitigated the damage with 10 strikeouts. The only one of those Mariners base runners to score was Mitch Garver, whose solo home run in the fourth cut the Twins’ lead to 3-1.
“Seven singles and a solo; it’s not going to beat me,” Paddack said. “Back-to-back-to-back doubles, that will beat you.”
The last time the Twins faced Kirby (3-3), the right-hander allowed four hits, three of them singles, over seven innings and fanned 10 in a 5-0 victory July 20 in Seattle. This time, the Twins put five on base on four hits and a walk, but all of them scored.
Correa and Larnach hit back-to-back, one-out home runs in the first inning, and Castro added another in the second for a 3-0 lead. Correa drew a one-out walk in the fourth, and Castro brought him home with a triple into the right-field corner to make it 4-1.
Of the Twins’ seven combined hits against Kirby and reliever Cody Bolton, only one was a single.
In consecutive series against Boston and Seattle, the Twins have faced some of the best pitching in the American League. On Friday, they beat Boston’s Tanner Houk (3-3, 1.99 earned-run average) and on Monday, they beat the Mariners 3-1 with Luis Castillo on the mound for Seattle.
“Our offense has shown up,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You can’t just kind of pace your way through these games and think you’re going to just have decent at-bats and we’ll work it. You have to have an exceptional plan when you’re going up there and know what you’re trying to do. You have to put the barrel where it needs to be against guys who, I mean, the stuff is at the top of the scale. And we’re going to get another one tomorrow.”
The teams are scheduled to finish this four-game series with a 12:10 first pitch on Thursday, with Twins ace Pablo Lopez set to face Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert, 3-0 with a 1.69 earned-run average this season.
On a run that includes a 12-game winning streak, the Twins are 15-3 since April 20, and they’re averaging 7.1 runs a game over their past 10.
“I just think it says that everyone is putting together good at-bats,” said Larnach, who hit a Kirby slider an estimated 400 feet off the second-deck ribbon board in right-center in the first inning, his third homer since being recalled in mid-April. “Going up there with a plan and executing is all you can do. I don’t know exactly what (the plan) is calling for tomorrow, but I’m sure it won’t be much different than today — be on time, take good at-bats, execute the plan.”
The Twins took a 2-1 lead in the four-game series and avoided losing consecutive games for the first time since they lost five straight April 14-19.
Max Kepler hit a run-scoring double in the eighth inning to extend his hitting streak to 10 games, tying a career-high he had achieved twice before. Jhoan Duran pitched the ninth for his third save.
The Mariners rallied for two in the seventh. Julio Rodriguez hit a one-out single off Caleb Thielbar, bringing Baldelli out of the dugout to summon Griffin Jax. Jax got Jorge Polanco to fly out to center for the second out, but he walked Mitch Haniger and Cal Raleigh hit a two-run double to left-center to make it 4-3.
But Jax retired the side in order in the eighth inning, and the Twins added a pair of two-out runs in their half of the inning when Edouard Julien walked and scored on Ryan Jeffers’ double, and Kepler drove Jeffers home with a drive off the right-field wall to make it 6-3.
It was the first time Jax had thrown into a second inning since 2022. “I know our bullpen is thin right now, and when the team needs it I’ll do it.” he said.
Duran pitched a 1-2-3 ninth. In five appearances, the big right-hander has allowed no runs, two hits, no walks and has struck out eight.
