Twins hope series victory at Houston a sign of what's to come

HOUSTON — The Twins returned home Sunday vastly different from when they left.

Trades before the July 30 deadline sliced off a chunk of their roster, a vital chunk as Jose Berrios joined Nelson Cruz on contenders. J.A. Happ and Hansel Robles were also moved. The remaining Twins, playing on a last-place team, were left to deal with the aftermath. There are two months left in the regular season. It's either fold or battle with who is left.

"I feel happy to trot out this group," Luis Arraez said. "We go out there and grind and play hard and compete. That's the main purpose, just compete against anybody. I'm happy that we're all sticking together, the group that's here, and playing together."

There might be a time in the coming weeks where the offseason vacation guides appear in the clubhouse and hunting trips are planned. While fans are focusing more on Vikings preseason, the Timberwolves' pursuit of frontcourt help and Suni Lee's victory parade, the Twins want to be a tough out. And they demonstrated it by going 5-4 on their nine-game road trip, facing three teams with playoff aspirations.

They caught an Astros team missing some key regulars and extracted three victories in four games at Minute Maid Park. That included a 7-5 victory Sunday that featured Jorge Polanco hitting two home runs, including a three-run shot. Kenta Maeda fought through five innings before giving way to a bullpen that has be more capable than calamitous lately. Even Miguel Sano pounded a 405-foot homer to left on an extremely hittable slider from Lance McCullers Jr.

It was the first time the Twins have played a four-game series at Houston, so it's the first time they have won a four-game series here. Heck, it's only the second time all season the Twins have won a four-game series against anyone.

This series included perhaps their best game of the season, a 5-4, come-from-behind victory in 11 innings Friday in which manager Rocco Baldelli nearly lost his voice. Then they bounced back Sunday after losing 4-0 on Saturday.

"I hope this road trip right now, especially this past series, sets our tone for the rest of the year," Baldelli said. "And I don't want us to forget the kind of baseball that we're capable of playing at any point."

The Twins are left trying to motivate themselves while the White Sox stroll to the division title. Baldelli is using this period to challenge some players with different roles. Righthander Jorge Alcala is going to pitch in more high-leverage situations. And lefthander Danny Coulombe has been thrown into the fire, facing masher Yordan Alvarez three times during the series with the game on the line. Coulombe gave up a two-run homer to Alvarez on Thursday and an RBI single to him Friday. Sunday, Coulombe got Alvarez to ground out with a runner in scoring position to end the seventh.

The veterans want to finish strong as well. Polanco is batting .333 with six homers and 12 RBI over his past 12 games. His second home run Sunday was a three-run shot in the sixth inning that put the Twins ahead 7-3 — Polanco's team-high 20th homer of the season.

"He's huge to the lineup and he gets momentum going, drives in runs, gets innings going," said rookie Trevor Larnach, who had two hits himself. "... We're lucky to have him."

Alexander Colome pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his fifth save. He gave up one hit and two walks in 4⅓ scoreless innings on this trip, going 3-for-3 in save opportunities, after losing the closer's job in April.

Too bad it's not May, or the Twins could run with this. Instead, they must prove they can bring this energy the rest of the season and play like their standards have not been lowered.

"Regardless of who we play, we'll be ready to go," Baldelli said. "We talked about the work that we're going to put in to do that both on the field and off the field as well. We'll be ready."