Eight of nine Twins starters had hits in breakout victory against White Sox
MINNEAPOLIS -- A dose of John Danks is exactly what the Twins' offense needed to cure what ailed it.
Minnesota has historically had good numbers against the left-handed Danks. He entered Monday's series opener at Target Field with a 5.67 ERA and a 7-14 record in 28 career starts against the Twins.
Add loss No. 15 to Danks' record, thanks to a breakout performance by Minnesota's lineup. The Twins pounced on Chicago for 13 runs, including nine off Danks, to take the first game of the series by a 13-2 final.
For an offense that had been struggling to score runs in the month of June -- including being shut out the day before by the Cubs -- Monday's performance was a welcomed reprieve.
"We'll just try to go home tonight, think about it and try to carry that momentum over to tomorrow," said right fielder Torii Hunter, who drove in two of Minnesota's 13 runs. "It felt good for guys to come up. . . . It was a lot of fun today."
Kennys Vargas, Eduardo Nunez, Joe Mauer and Brian Dozier all homered in the Twins' lopsided victory, the first four-homer game for Minnesota since Aug. 22 of last season. Eight of Minnesota's nine starters had hits Monday, while six different players drove in runs.
Leading the way was Vargas, who had a career-high four hits and drove in four runs. The biggest of those four hits was his three-run blast in the five-run sixth inning that put the Twins up 9-2. Minnesota has been waiting for someone to grab the designated hitter job and run with it, and Vargas did his best Monday to claim his territory.
"It's amazing what a couple hits can do in terms of how you feel at the plate," Twins manager Paul Molitor said of Vargas. "We're looking for him to continue to trend positively. Power numbers, production numbers, those are what you want from a big man like that. That's where he's going to contribute."
Molitor joked after the game that Vargas slows the rest of the Twins hitters up in batting practice because he wants to admire each shot he hits. It's understandable that Vargas wanted to track his 425-foot blast in the sixth inning, as it was one of the hardest balls he's hit in a while.
Minnesota sent Vargas down to Triple-A Rochester earlier this year because he was hitting mostly singles and wasn't generating the power he did after his call-up late last season. Monday's homer certainly changed that tune as Vargas crushed a changeup from Danks into the second deck in left field.
"I've just been trying to hit the ball hard and try to elevate," Vargas said. "I've been working on that for the last four days. . . . That worked, because in the beginning I'm hitting many ground balls. I just tried to keep my hands (up) to elevate the ball.
Mauer's homer -- his fourth of the year -- tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth. All four of Mauer's homers this season have either tied the game or given the Twins the lead. This one was of the solo variety, a shot to left estimated at 370 feet.
Nunez followed later in the inning with a two-run shot to the second deck, a 395-foot blast that put Minnesota up 6-2 on Danks and the White Sox. Two innings later, the Twins put together their second five-run inning of the night, capped by Vargas' three-run blast.
Also of note was the three-hit night by top prospect Byron Buxton, who came into Monday's game just 3-for-25 (.120) to start his big league career. Batting leadoff for the first time, Buxton had a double and two singles in his best game yet at the plate in the majors.
"A lot of guys had good nights offensively," Molitor said. "Kennys and Nunez and Buxton and Dozier; Torii had a big hit. There was just a lot of contribution. That's going to happen when you get 13 runs."
The 13-run output by the Twins matched the season high and was the third time this year they had scored 13 runs, but the first since May 6. Runs have been at a premium for Minnesota so far in June as the Twins came into Monday's game averaging just 2.75 runs per game this month. Compare that to the 5.15 runs per game Minnesota scored in May, and the difference is quite drastic.
Thanks in part to just about every player one through nine in Monday's lineup, the Twins finally had a breakout game on offense that they've desperately been needing.
"It feels good," Buxton said. "We really just want to go out there and get the win as a team. That's what we did. We came out swinging the bats hot tonight."
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