SEATTLE – The Twins’ epic winning streak is now two weeks back in the rearview mirror, but the good vibes it engendered still linger in the dugout. A game that looked like the longest of longshots on multiple occasions instead turned out to be yet another win for the relentless Twins, who roared back from multiple deficits to stun the Mariners, 12-6, on Friday night.
Never did it seem more dire than in the ninth. With a runner on first, two outs and Seattle leading by three runs, the previously impregnable Andrés Muñoz was one out from sending Minnesota to defeat. Muñoz had not allowed an earned run all year, so even a hit might have seemed unlikely.
Willi Castro had more in mind than that, crushing a 3-1 fastball 410 feet to pull the Twins within a run. It was his second homer of the game, both of them pivotal.
“It was on my mind,” he said. “I saw on TV that he didn’t have [any] runs, and I said [to myself] that I was going to take that from him. So it’s something like, when you’re positive, a lot of good things happen. And that happened. So that’s good. He was doing really good, one of the ace closers in the game, and I had a good swing on it. That’s the result when you’re positive.”
Even then, of course, the Twins still trailed by a run. The bases were empty. And Muñoz still stood on the mound. But belief never waned. Byron Buxton, until that moment 0-for-4 in his return from the 7-day concussion injured list, poked a single to left. Then he stole second, and scored on Trevor Larnach's RBI single.
Ryan Jeffers popped up to end the inning, but for the second time in the game, the visitors had scraped together three runs against a fearsome pitcher. They had also rallied from 4-0 down against starter Bryan Woo to cut the lead to a single run, capped by Castro‘s first homer.
It was the switch-hitting utility man’s second career two-homer game, and his first since May 27, 2023. He’s 10-for-33 (.303) with a .636 slugging percentage over his last 11 games after initially scuffling for a while in his return from a strained oblique muscle.
“Willi Castro had a heck of a day,” said manager Rocco Baldelli. “That was pretty great to see. He was competitive all day long. Hit balls hard. Got on base. Great day for Willi.”
After battling Muñoz and Woo, the Twins opened the floodgates against Casey Legumina in the 10th.
Leading off the inning with the automatic runner on second, Carlos Correa continued his May resurgence by lining the first pitch of the inning into the seats in left for the Twins’ first lead of the game.
The rally, which provided the Twins with their 24th win in 34 games, made the first inning seem as long ago as their early-April struggles -- which is remarkable, because for a while it appeared that the first might define the game.
Second-year righty Zebby Matthews was tagged for a pair of home runs in the first five batters, and the Mariners leapt to a 4-0 lead before he recorded a second out.
Then Matthews just … didn’t allow any more. He permitted three more baserunners and no more runs as he stuck around through the seventh, keeping the Mariners at bay while his teammates chipped away.
“I thought our offense did a pretty good job,” said Matthews. “They put together good ABs the whole game. Getting those runs across helped. It kind of gets the momentum and then my job is to go back out there and put up zeros and continue to keep the offense in it. We did a good job of that after the first.”
By the time Correa finished it off with a gorgeous diving play, the Twins had secured probably their best win of the year.
“I think that’s got to be one of the greatest wins that we’ve had to this point, and one of the best wins that I can really remember in recent memory,” Baldelli said. “That was incredible energy. The guys never slowed. Never gave in. Never really gave away too many easy outs, just battled all the way through and found a way."