This is Manuel Margot's time of year. It's always Royce Lewis' time of year.
The combination came in handy for the Twins on Monday night.
Margot, acquired as an extra outfielder during spring training, doubled off the right field wall in the third inning, advanced to third base when right fielder Hunter Goodman juggled the ricochet and scored on Christian Vázquez's sacrifice fly.
Lewis, ever the showman, homered in his first Target Field game of the season. Together, they provided more than enough runs for Chris Paddack, who helped pitch the Twins to a 5-0 shutout victory over the Rockies to open a 10-game homestand.
"It's impressive, but nothing that would shock you at this point. He's a very dangerous hitter," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of Lewis, who has cracked four home runs in the seven games he's played this season. "His bat moves really fast, his hands move fast and you feel like every swing, something good could happen for your team."
OK, Lewis, we've come to expect. Margot's contributions? A bigger surprise — but perhaps it shouldn't be.
The veteran has a history of igniting in June, and he needed it more than ever this year. Margot entered the month hobbling along with a terrible .204 average, .269 on-base percentage and .259 slugging percentage, arguably putting him in danger of being cut.
But Margot is a career .280 hitter in June, historically his best month of each season, and this year the difference has been extreme. The 29-year-old also walked and flew out in three plate appearances, and his numbers in June are .429/.500/.714, making him the hottest hitter on the team this month.
Well, except maybe for Lewis.
Margot "has a good track record. It's a big part of the reason why we targeted him and wanted to bring him over," Baldelli said. "But something we've been really noticing, even when some of the numbers haven't caught up to the at-bats — we're noticing that the at-bats are good. He's hitting balls good. He's shooting hard line drives all around the field."
Margot seems unsurprised by his surge.
"I just keep working," he said after his third extra-base hit in nine plate appearances. "I know the type of player I am, and as long as I'm healthy and keep doing what I do, I'm going to have good results."
Same with Lewis, it seems. The third baseman closed his first week off the injured list with another memorable blast. He crushed an 0-2 curveball from Rockies righthander Nick Mears 435 feet into the bullpens in left-center, a two-run blast and his second homer on an 0-2 count this year.
Paddack was probably appreciative of the extra runs, given that they delivered his first win since May 8, six starts ago. The righthander looked nothing like the pitcher who absorbed seven earned runs vs. the Yankees in New York last week, and he received an appreciative ovation from the announced crowd of 19,901 when he was removed with one out in the seventh inning.
"When you get a little standing ovation like that from a home crowd, it's always going to hit deep down," Paddack said. "Definitely going to help sleep tonight for sure."
Paddack surrendered six hits in the outing, but all of them were singles, and only once did a Rockies runner reach second or third base. That was the first batter of the game, Charlie Blackmon, who singled to center field, advanced on Ezequiel Tovar's bunt single and reached third on a double-play ball by Elias Díaz. But Paddack struck out Ryan McMahon, stranding the biggest threat he would face all night.
"This whole week, I just told myself, 'Continue to stay on the gas,' " Paddack said. "Everything has been sharp. My velo is back, my stuff is in a good spot, I'm in a good spot mentally."
