Mitch Garver hoping Twins' productive hitting continues

Hit after hit, the Twins kept rolling during the eighth inning of Monday's 8-3 victory. Seven hits in the inning, six of them consecutively — and best of all, five of them with runners in scoring position.

It was an exclamation point on a recent reversal of a season-long problem for the Twins: Clutch hitting. They've spent much of the first six weeks of the season ranked 13th or worse in the American League in hitting with runners on second or third base, but since last Thursday in Anaheim, the Twins have gone 16-for-43 in those situations with 13 walks, a .372 average and .518 on-base percentage that produced four wins in six games.

The critical question, if the Twins are planning on rejoining a postseason race: Is their growing success a result of playing the Angels, Indians and Orioles, or is it an improvement that can be more than temporary? The Twins believe it might be the latter.

"That first month, we kind of struggled getting runners in. We're starting to come around," said catcher Mitch Garver, whose own recent improvement mimics his team's; he has reached base three of his four chances with runners on since Anaheim. "It's just a matter of putting up good at-bats. We need to stay within ourselves, stay consistent."

Taking advantage of a subpar Orioles bullpen might not seem like much of an accomplishment. But after managing only a .218 average with runners on in nine consecutive games (and not coincidentally, seven losses) against the White Sox and A's just before this hot streak, Garver hopes it serves as fuel for an extended run.

"We're starting to heat up a little bit. Bats are getting hotter," Garver said. "The weather is warming up, the guys are feeling good. And we're just going to try to keep rolling on that."

LaTroy Hawkins already spends many nights this summer teaching Twins fans about baseball. Now he'll get a chance to do it with some of baseball's best prospects, too.

"You could not have a better manager and mentor than LaTroy," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of the longtime reliever. "It's the relationships and the way he connects with all of our people here — staff, players, everyone — that makes him so special. And he's going to bring that to this event."

Kepler and Jorge Polanco have avoided the injured list, at least for now, and both were in the Twins' starting lineup Tuesday after short absences. Kepler's hamstring strain kept him from the outfield, but he served as designated hitter. Polanco, out since Thursday with a nagging pain in his right ankle, proved to Baldelli he is healthy enough to play.

Their recovery gave the Twins some breathing room as they try to negotiate a rash of injuries, but they are still without a couple of key starters. Nelson Cruz's sore wrist is still "giving him pain on his follow-through," Baldelli said of the 40-year-old slugger, who hasn't started a game since getting hit on the wrist last Thursday, but did pinch hit on Monday. "I think we can get him to go out there and hit, but when he's wincing and moving his hand around, you can tell" he's in pain.

Luis Arraez, too, sat out for a second day because of a sore shoulder, though Baldelli said "he could have played" despite the pain. But the Twins don't want to risk playing him in the outfield while his shoulder is sore, Baldelli said, so no final decision has been made about the injured list.