Twins manager Rocco Baldelli refusing to hit desperation switch

Rocco Baldelli was ready to resort to some wild measures if it meant snapping the Twins out of their six-game losing streak and clutch hitting funk.

"I've thought about bringing in the petting zoo. Literally bringing in the petting zoo," Baldelli said ahead of Friday's game against the Giants. "I do always think about … what the groundskeepers would have to say about that."

In the Twins manager's mind, the pressure and monotony of a long season weighed on his players and perhaps contributed to the decline. Former MLB manager Joe Maddon, who managed Baldelli when he was a player for Tampa Bay from 2006-08, was famous for devising such antics as bringing exotic animals or magicians into the clubhouse to lighten the mood and reverse some bad results.

The Twins have been more prone this season to strange postgame adventures than pregame. Earlier in the year, when the team was on a hot streak, a new musical instrument seemed to appear in the clubhouse after every victory, from vuvuzelas to a gong. Starter Sonny Gray has slowly curated a mini Japanese rock garden in the empty locker next to his, complete with incense and a place where players can write notes in disappearing calligraphy brush ink.

Turns out, the Twins didn't need any off-the-wall creativity, as they broke out of the doldrums by shutting out the Giants 9-0 on Friday at Target Field. The only tangible difference in that game from previous clunkers was the addition of Kyle Garlick doing what he does best — hitting against lefties — after a 21-game stay on the injured list.

Yet the Twins (63-61) put together their most complete game in recent memory. The offense stacked up nine hits, going 3-for-5 with runners in scoring position, including Gilberto Celestino's double with the bases loaded that scored all three runners. Starting pitcher Joe Ryan allowed just two hits with eight strikeouts while bullpen arms Emilio Pagan and Michael Fulmer gave up just one more hit each in finishing the shutout. The fielding was error-free.

"You can build off of that win in that game," Carlos Correa said. "It was a perfectly played baseball game. And you carry that confidence into the next day, until next day, until next week, and hopefully we just carry it for the next 40 games that we have left. And just finish strongly and get to where we want to get."

Sustaining that perfection, though, is always easier said than done. When the offense was solid toward the start of this season, the bullpen had a tendency of blowing games. Then when the pitching tightened up recently, the bats stalled. And the Twins don't have much time to keep tying up one loose end before another knot unravels.

Heading into Saturday's game, the Twins were three games back from Cleveland in the American League Central with the third-place White Sox only out one more game than that. The wild card race is only tougher, with four teams ahead of the Twins, who are 4 ½ games out of position.

Before the Twins went on their fateful 1-4 West Coast trip the second week of August, they still held the division lead, albeit slimly. And while they came back from that trip to sweep the Royals 17-2 through three games, they immediately regressed again offensively.

The Twins face the Red Sox at home starting Monday before embarking on a trip to the 63-63 White Sox and 78-48 Yankees. The following two weeks see the Twins playing the 66-68 Guardians and 51-76 Royals both home and away. The final series of the regular season are the Angels (54-73) — who won a three-game series earlier this month — and the White Sox at home before the final away games in Detroit (48-78) and the White Sox.

All of that is to say, with so many divisional games remaining, the standings can change very quickly. Perhaps that's why the Twins haven't been too worried about their recent slide.

"We have a month left of the season. We have the ability to go out there and have the best month of our year, the best month the organization has had in a while," Baldelli said. "And we have the players to do it. We have the staff to do it. We have the guys that are out there putting in the time and working as hard as you could ask or expect anyone to work, giving it everything that they have.

"Again, this season, I wouldn't call it young, but we have plenty of season left."