At the beginning of May, the Minnesota Twins seemed to be in a dire state. The Twins sat at 13-20 by May 2nd, riding on a four-game losing streak as they stood fourth in the AL Central, just above the Chicago White Sox. Amidst an entire division contending for playoffs, the first two months of the season showed some obvious signs of struggle.
The Twins not only had to deal with several injuries to their core, such as Royce Lewis missing the start of the season. Pitching was even hit as Pablo Lopez sustained a right hamstring strain that caused him to miss most of April. Even rookies that were called up, such as Luke Keaschall, who was handling MLB duties quite well, endured a forearm fracture that would sideline him for the immediate future, continuing the Twins injury curse.
Even with the injuries, the team played poorly overall. Batting-wise, the team was hitting .234/.306/.366 with an OPS of .672. The pitching staff didn't help either, putting up a team ERA of 4.26 while averaging a WHIP of 1.30. The bullpen struggled quite a bit, too, being a bit rather inconsistent in the back end.
There were a few positive signs during this early stretch, of course. Bailey Ober looked like an ace, Joe Ryan continued to pitch dominatingly, Harrison Bader was a stud of a signing, Ty France even won AL Player of the Week at the beginning of April and Byron Buxton continued to produce meaningful offense. When it was all said and done, however, the Twins still played inconsistent ball.
How the Twins clawed their way back to contention after rough start
When the season looked hopeless, with all the injuries, poor play and blown games, something sparked with the Twins after that May 2nd loss to the Boston Red Sox.
Minnesota started a dominant 13-game winning streak that propelled them back above .500 and squarely back into contention for not just a postseason spot but potentially the AL Central crown once more. Up to May 31st, the Twins played 24 games and went 17-7. A dominating performance, but how did they get back into such a position?
The Offensive Resurgence
The Twins offense finally began to pick up momentum as they began their dominating stretch. Compared to the first two months, they look like completely different teams. During this current stretch from May 3rd up to May 31st, Minnesota batted .267/.345/.435 with an OPS of .780. They scored 125 runs over those 23 games, which included 28 bombs.
Key players such as Carlos Correa finally started picking up from their usual cold starts. Buxton helped pick up the pieces as he continued producing along with Ryan Jeffers, but one player that helped greatly contribute to the Twins' return to contention was a player that they picked up back in mid-April: Kody Clemens.
The son of MLB legend Roger Clemens, the utility man was acquired quickly from the Philadelphia Phillies after the Twins learned of Keaschall's condition on April 26th. Kody was designated for assignment prior to being traded to Minnesota. He only appeared in 11 games for the Twins during the start of the season.
It turned out a change of scenery was something that Clemens welcomed greatly. Since he started getting regular playing time with the Twins on April 28th, he's batting .304/.391/.696 with an astonishing OPS of 1.087. He's produced five home runs while contributing greatly offensively overall, delivering several big hits.
Pitching Stabilizes
Along with the offense returning to form, the strong pitching staff finally began to stabilize and return to form after a rough start.
It helps that Bailey Ober and Joe Ryan continued to pitch quite well consistently, but the resurgence of Chris Paddack is something to look at as well. While regression might seem likely based on his peripherals, it cannot be understated how he's rebounded since his first two starts against the Rockies and Astros. Since April 12th, Paddack has produced a 2.34 ERA, accumulating 36 strikeouts in the process.
As things currently stand as of May 31st, the Twins bolster one of the best pitching staffs in the league. Their team ERA of 3.29 ranks seventh in the MLB, with 487 strikeouts. Their 176 earned runs, along with 190 total runs, both rank second overall in the league. They also do not walk many batters at all, having only walked 133 batters, good for first overall in the majors.
The Twins, even during this stretch, dealt with some troubles amidst a collision between Correa and Buxton that saw Buxton miss some time on concussion protocol, along with Danny Coulombe joining the list of Twins landing on the injury report.
Despite all the early struggles and injuries that plagued the squad, the Twins now sit second in the AL Central and are comfortably in a position to make the playoffs. If things keep up, they could even possibly snatch the division from the red-hot Detroit Tigers and return to the playoffs since their last stint in 2023. Of course, the season is still very young and it is not a guarantee, as Twins fans learned last August. But the signs are encouraging, to say the least.