Carlos Correa gets his signature Twins moment
The Minnesota Twins opened a 10 game homestand tonight against the Milwaukee Brewers and were looking to build momentum after finishing a 2–4 East Coast road trip by taking 2 out of 3 against the Toronto Blue Jays. Even after a disappointing 7–6 loss on Sunday the Twins looked like they were starting to put together some good at bats and consistent offense. Not only that it looked like Carlos Correa was finally starting to come around as well, in the second game of the series Correa provided the Grand Slam that lead to seven run eighth inning and an eventual 9–4 Twins win.
It was a big moment no doubt and seemed to be a good turning point for not only the offense as a whole but for Correa in particular who has been in a season long slump, made worse by reoccurring flare ups of Plantar Fasciitis which have limited his ability to gain any real momentum and break out offensively.
Tuesday night’s game against Milwaukee seemed like an all to familiar story, a solid pitching performance by a Twins starter in this case Pablo Lopez who went 6.0 innings, 4 hits, 3 ER, 1 BB and 9 Ks. All three Earned Runs came in one inning and other than that Lopez was excellent. The Twins battled back to make it 3–2, before Jose de Leon allowed a 2 run home run to Brewers Left Fielder Christian Yelich making it 5–2 and seemingly out of reach for the Twins. Kyle Farmer hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth to cut the lead to two but that’s all the Twins would get and it looked like they were on route to another frustrating loss in a close game where they failed to muster enough offense to win.
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In the bottom of the ninth the Brewers sent in Devin Williams their star closer who came into this outing with a 0.42 ERA this season. Michael A. Taylor opened the inning with a solo home run to make it a 5–4 Brewers lead, the lineup turned over and Edouard Julien walked and Willi Castro came of the bench to pinch run and stole second before Donovan Solano came up with a patented line drive single to tie the game at five reminding everone why his nickname is Donnie Barrels.
Then Carlos Correa stepped to the plate with Solano on first and a tie game, a spot where he’s come up short to many times at home in his year and a half in a Twins uniform. In a 1–1 count he got a hanging 86 MPH changeup from Devin Williams and promptly hit a 108.6 MPH exit velocity 2 run home run to walk it off and send Twins fans home happy.
Sure Correa has had plenty of big hits on the road for the Twins a few in Yankee Stadium and the previously mentioned Grand Slam in Toronto, but this was the first time Correa has come up big in the clutch at home in a game that could very well be looked back on as one of the turning points of the season.
As I have said before no one rookie or role player is going to get the Twins lineup going, the Twins offense will only go as far as their stars(Correa and Buxton) will take them. The lineup has been getting key production of late from Alex Kirilloff, Royce Lewis, Edouard Julien and Donovan Solano, but it’s no coincidence that this lineup is seemingly turning it on at the same time Correa is. Correa is hitting .250/.294/.625 with a .919 OPS in June so far with 3 home runs in his last five games. With Buxton set to return from the IL in the coming days and a lighter schedule on the horizon now is the time for the Twins stars and lineup as a whole to turn it on and take hold of this weak American League Central Division.
