On Monday, a first-inning homer provided the Royals with two quick runs — and they didn't score again, getting swept at Target Field. On Friday, first-inning homers provided the Twins with two quick runs — and though they didn't score again, either, they went on to win their fourth consecutive game, beating the Rangers 2-1.
That's the difference that effective pitching, the kind the Twins have been waiting for all season, can do.
"It looked pretty damn good to me," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "I like what I've seen up and down, starters and bullpen. We can build on that as a group and it ups the confidence of every other guy. Every other guy wants to continue to get the job done for the team."
They've done it this week in a way they haven't in … decades? OK, it probably has a lot to do with facing teams far out of playoff contention, but until Nathaniel Lowe lined a two-out RBI single in the sixth inning, the Twins hadn't given up a run since Monday. That 31-inning streak of zeros fell one inning short of the Twins record of 32, set when Brad Radke, Johan Santana and Kyle Lohse threw back-to-back-to-back shutouts vs. Kansas City in July 2004.
"We're just attacking guys, limiting the walks as best we can," said Dylan Bundy, whose third straight effective start in August resulted in his seventh victory, this one over AL All-Star Martin Perez. "A little bit weaker contact throughout the past three or four days, that always helps."
The victory, provided by Luis Arraez and Jose Miranda's back-to-back solo home runs, allowed the Twins to remain one game behind Cleveland in the AL Central.
It didn't hurt that Bundy had an extra day off between starts this week, which seems to have a direct impact on his results. Handed a two-run lead when Arraez and Miranda slugged back-to-back home runs in the first inning, Bundy forced weak contact through two smooth trips through the Rangers' batting order, allowing a line-drive single to Adolis Garcia in the second inning and an infield hit to Bubba Thompson in the sixth.
When he took the mound in the sixth, though, with the top of Texas' lefty-heavy batting order looming, he knew what was coming.
"After you do your warmup pitches and they throw the ball down to second, I looked and saw a guy [lefty Caleb Thielbar] warming up," Bundy said with a shrug. "You kind of have a pretty clear picture of what's about to happen."
Yep. After Thompson reached base and Marcus Semien struck out — an at-bat that included a foul ball with home run distance — Bundy's night was over. And even though Thielbar gave up a single to Lowe that drove in a run charged to Bundy — the first inherited runner allowed to score by Thielbar since July 8 — the evidence remains clear.
Bundy's ERA in 21 starts this season is 4.60, but look how much extra rest matters: With four days off between starts, Bundy's ERA is 7.00. When he has an extra day or two? It's 3.32.
"I like what I've seen," Baldelli said of the extra rest. "It seems beneficial to his performance."
The Twins bullpen immediately began starting a new shutout streak, too. Trevor Megill pitched out of a two-on, one-out jam in the seventh inning. Jhoan Duran quickly retired Texas in the eighth, striking out Lowe on a curveball after setting him up with three pitches clocked at 102 or 103 miles per hour.
And Jorge Lopez picked up his third save as a Twin, retiring the middle of the Texas order in the ninth, though not without some drama. After Lopez walked two hitters with one out, Brad Miller smacked a line drive that at first appeared likely to drive in the tying run. But Max Kepler raced in and snagged it, then doubled pinch runner Charlie Culberson off second base for the final out.
That excitement at the end matched the excitement at the beginning, when Luis Arraez and Miranda continued the Twins' pattern of fast starts. Arraez hit a two-out fastball from his former Twins teammate Perez onto the plaza behind the right-field seats, the first home run Perez has given up to a lefthanded hitter all season.
"I don't know where it landed, but off the bat, we knew he hit that one pretty good," Baldelli said. "It's because he's going out there and he keeps producing."
Two pitches later, Miranda sliced a sinker four rows deep into the left-field bleachers. They didn't know they were done scoring. But it didn't matter.
"Put up a ton of zeros and win 2-1," Baldelli said. "We'll take that all day."
