Twins offense erupts for 24 hits in win over Rockies

In the empty locker next to Pablo López’s stall, a large wheel has now taken up residence. It’s covered underneath a sheet, brought out only after wins.

The pitcher of the game and the player of the game — chosen by the previous winners — then play rock-paper-scissors for their chance to spin for a prize. It’s a new idea that López introduced, designed to bring his teammates together.

Carlos Correa may have collected five hits, a new career high, in the Twins’ 17-9 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday afternoon at Target Field, but the shortstop took home one loss after the game.

“I’m terrible,” he said of his rock-paper-scissors abilities. “I’m 0 for 2 against Pablo. … I’ve got to look at some YouTube videos, see how I can read him.”

López, the Twins’ pitcher of the game and winner of Wednesday’s prize, rebounded after giving up seven runs at Yankee Stadium his last start, giving up two runs in five innings pitched on Wednesday.

“It was am improvement, both results-wise and process-oriented-wise,” López said. “I wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to, but I feel like we still executed pitches when we needed to.”

And it helped that teammates put up five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, the beginning of a prolific offensive day in which the Twins compiled numbers more likely to be seen at altitude in Denver than in Minneapolis.

Twins hitters erupted for a season-high 24 hits in the win, the most they’ve had in a single game since they collected 28 against the Seattle Mariners in 2017 and tied for the third most in franchise history.

Every hitter in the starting lineup collected at least one hit, led by Correa, who, during a 37-minute rain delay, told his teammates that he had never had five hits in a game and was clearly pumped up when he accomplished the feat. Royce Lewis, Kyle Farmer, Willi Castro and Carlos Santana each had three and another three players added two apiece. All nine starters plus Max Kepler, who entered late as a pinch hitter, drove in at least one run in the win.

The offensive outburst against Rockies (24-44) starter Austin Gomber began with leadoff hitter Manuel Margot laying down a bunt in the first.

“That was pretty cool. No one was expecting that,” Farmer said. “Guys just swinging at strikes in the zone and taking balls. It was a good spot.”

The Twins (36-32) tagged Gomber for eight runs, forcing him out of the game in the fourth, a frame in which Castro hit a solo home run and the Twins scored three runs.

They tacked on another two in the sixth with Royce Lewis sending his fifth home run out of the season out to the second deck in left field, bringing home Correa.

“When you’ve got Royce hitting behind you, you feel like one of the at-bats he’s going to hit a home run that day,” Correa said. “You’re just trying to get on base. One of those he did.”

The strong showing from the offense helped the Twins overcome a turbulent day from the bullpen.

Steven Okert gave up a pair of runs with two outs in the seventh before Caleb Thielbar — who entered with a five-run lead — was unable to record an out for the second straight day.

Thielbar issued a pair of walks and allowed a double before a rare Correa error brought home a two runs. That spelled the end of his day, as the Twins turned the game over to Jhoan Duran, who allowed one inherited runner to score but got out of the inning with a two-run lead.

But while the game was tight just briefly, the Twins’ offense was back at it again in the eighth, pouring on seven more runs to push the game out of reach.

“Today was a pretty special offensive day,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “This is the type of day that I think a lot of guys remember. You had a lot of guys have a lot of highlight swings, highlight collection of at-bats and on top of that, you get a really nice start from Pablo López as well, so a lot of very positive young men leaving the ballpark today.”

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