Postgame: Molitor admires Polanco's smart bunt; double play bails out Lynn

Three extras from the Twins' — what's it called again? — winning streak:

When Jorge Polanco came to the plate in the fourth inning, he noticed third baseman Tim Beckham playing back. So he placed a bunt about 40 feet up the line, where neither Beckham nor pitcher Dylan Bundy could reach it in time.

The next batter, Max Kepler, smashed a Bundy pitch more than 400 feet, a two-run homer that gave the Twins a 5-0 lead.

Twins manager Paul Molitor savored the sequence — and not necessarily the part of it you might expect.

"As much as I love the long ball," Molitor said after the game, "I don't want to see Polanco's bunt get overlooked. The intelligence that he brings to the field and starting a rally in that fashion, it was really good to see."

XXX

Lance Lynn got some help from his defense, starting with the game's very first pitch, which would have been a home run had Jake Cave not leapt to pull it back. But an even bigger play came in the sixth inning, when Lynn was wearing down during a long Baltimore inning.

After fouling off a couple of pitches, Schoop took three straight balls, then spoiled pitch after pitch from Lynn.

"It was a good battle," Lynn said. "He's a tough guy to strike out. He covers a lot of the plate, both sides."

Finally, on the 10th pitch of the at-bat, Schoop hit a sharp grounder to Polanco at shortstop, and the Twins turned a double play that short-circuited the Orioles' hopes of a big inning. Trey Mancini grounded out moments later, and Lynn had escaped.

"A big play on the defensive side, getting the double play after they had a little something going there," Molitor said. "To minimize there, after they had something going, to one run was pretty impressive."

XXX