The Twins completed their first sweep of the Athletics since 2012 on Sunday largely due to some solid relief pitching. Five relievers held Oakland to two singles over the final 6⅔ innings, and the Twins tied their longest winning streak in Target Field history with their ninth consecutive victory there, 4-3 over the A's.
"Super impressive," gushed acting manager Jayce Tingler. "Today was extra special, because you plan for things, but you don't really expect your starter to come out in the third inning."
Oh, right. Win a game, lose a player — that's the Twins' daily diet.
This time, Chris Paddack, the Twins righthander who has walked only one batter in four starts, experienced soreness in his pitching elbow just three innings in and left the game. He was sent to a hospital to undergo a variety of tests to see whether he will become the fourth Twins starting pitcher in the season's first month to need some unplanned time off for healing.
"He has dealt with some things in the past with that [elbow]. It comes and goes at times, but he's done a great job of working through it and managing it," Tingler said. "Hopefully we caught this one early."
Early or late, broken or bruised, the Twins just keep on winning, their hot stretch now totaling 14 victories in their past 17 games. And Target Field, where the Twins have swept three straight series, is particularly homey. A victory over the Astros on Tuesday would give them their longest winning streak ever at the downtown ballpark, and their first double-digit home streak since they won 13 in a row a the Metrodome from June 11 to July 2, 2006.
"It's been different guys stepping up," Tingler said. "That's a little bit of our identity right now."
He's got a point. The former Yankees teamed up to provide a run on Sunday, Gary Sanchez with a second-inning double and Gio Urshela a sacrifice fly that drove him home. One inning later, the Twins put together four hits against Athletics rookie Daulton Jefferies, with rookie Jose Miranda doubling home a run and Jorge Polanco, who hit the game-winning homer Saturday, driving in the tying and go-ahead runs with a single to center.
"He's been swinging it well," Tingler said. "Polo [is doing] a little bit of the heavy lifting offensively and helping us get these W's."
That was all the support the bullpen needed to put away the reeling A's, who have now lost nine in a row. Twins relievers didn't allow a run in 13 ⅔ innings during the series with Oakland, and lowered the team's bullpen ERA to just 3.03 — even better than the rotation's 3.17.
The quintet on Sunday was typical. Cody Stashak replaced Paddack when his elbow became inflamed, and though he immediately allowed a two-run single — "That was the worst thing. I hate giving up other guys' runs," Stashak grumbled — he then retired eight consecutive A's.
Caleb Thielbar issued a walk and then struck out the side in the lefthander's inning of work, and Joe Smith erased a Polanco throwing error by inducing a double play from Christian Pache.
Tyler Duffey mowed down the A's on just nine pitches in the eighth, and with flamethrower Jhoan Duran unavailable after pitching two innings Saturday, Emilio Pagan closed it out with a shutout inning to earn his fourth save. A walk and a single put the ending in doubt, until Pache popped up with runners on second and third to send the Twins into their off day on a historic streak.
"On paper, it's supposed to go that smooth all the time," Duffey said. "We're kind of hitting a groove. Everybody out there could arguably throw in any situation. It builds confidence for the starters [and] the hitters. They can relax, knowing we're going to come in and do our job."
