Minnesota Twins 3 Up, 3 Down: Twins continue to be road warriors

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The Bomba Squad

It might be a cop-out to list the entire Twins lineup here, but with the way that they’ve continued to hit the ball, it’s worthy to give everyone credit. With a six-homer effort in a loss to the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night, the Twins hit their 268th home run of the season, giving Minnesota the MLB single-season record for home runs, surpassing last year’s total of 267 set by the New York Yankees.

While this team is known for their power at the plate, the Twins have been versatile in their approach in the past week, lacing singles all over the field to jump out to an early advantage. That type of play is what fuels their success on the road and if they don’t over commit to only slugging bombs, this could be a dangerous lineup to watch down the stretch.

Jonathan Schoop

There are plenty of Twins who are enjoying great weeks at the plate, but Schoop has had a revelation at the plate. Just when it looked like the Twins would install Luis Arraez as the everyday second baseman, Schoop responded with his bat, slugging four home runs and hitting .400 in his past seven games.

Schoop is one of the more intriguing players on the Twins to watch in the season’s final month thanks to his splits between close games and blowouts. If Schoop can continue to hit like this down the stretch, the Twins will have another bat at the bottom of the lineup that will make them almost impossible to pitch to.

Brusdar Graterol

For an organization that has been obsessed with service time and arbitration costs, the Twins provided a nice breath of fresh air by calling up top pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol. For weeks, we’ve wondered if the Twins would give the 21-year old with a 104 MPH fastball a shot in September. On Sunday, the Twins did just that with his major league debut coming in the ninth inning of their win over the Tigers.

In past postseasons, teams such as the 2002 Los Angeles Angels with Francisco Rodriguez and the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays with David Price, used their top pitching prospects to make deep postseason runs. Although he allowed a pair of singles on Sunday, Graterol could make a major impact if the stage isn’t too big for him and would be a major boost for the Twins’ bullpen.