MINNEAPOLIS -- A common refrain heard inside the Twins' locker room lately has been the need to come up with timely hits with runners in scoring position. After the offense carried the slumping pitching staff in April, the bats failed to come through regularly in May and left plenty of runners on base.
Finally, Minnesota got a few key hits in that situation Wednesday. Four of them, to be exact, and the result was a 6-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers at Target Field.
Two of the biggest hits with runners in scoring position came in the seventh inning. After the Brewers tied the game at 4 in the top half of the inning, Minnesota's offense came right back and regained the lead. Two-out, run-producing hits by Oswaldo Arcia and Trevor Plouffe -- both with a runner on second base -- were just what the Twins needed to improve to 7-1 in their last eight games against Milwaukee.
"Those are the at-bats you really want to come through in," Plouffe said. "Obviously anyone that follows baseball knows that's a big stat, hitting with runners in scoring position. We've been trying to do that all year, trying to get guys on first and then score them."
Minnesota -- and Plouffe, specifically -- had chances to drive in runs with men on base earlier in the game. Holding a 3-1 lead in the fifth, the Twins loaded the bases with one out. Josh Willingham drew a walk to bring home Eduardo Escobar for a 4-1 lead, but Arcia hit into a fielder's choice that resulted in the second out at home plate. One batter later, Plouffe grounded out to third base to end the threat.
What could have been a big inning and a crooked number against Brewers starter Marco Estrada instead yielded just one run. When Milwaukee's Aramis Ramirez homered to tie it in the seventh, it looked as if those missed opportunities with runners in scoring position might come back to haunt the Twins.
But after Arcia and Plouffe capitalized with two-out singles, their hits with men on base turned a tie game into an eventual Twins victory.
"We missed a lot of opportunities tonight, too," said Minnesota skipper Ron Gardenhire. "That game felt like it should have been in hand for us if we come up with a couple better swings early in the ballgame. It looked like we should have had six, seven runs on the board. We had plenty of chances to do that, but you've got to hang in there."
Minnesota entered Wednesday's game batting just .222 with runners in scoring position, which ranks sixth-worst in baseball. The number was slightly worse with two outs and runners in scoring position as Minnesota hit just .216 in that situation. During the Twins' recent stretch of games during which the offense faltered, a failure to come through with men on base often translated into losses. Just two days ago, Minnesota left nine runners on base in a 6-2 loss to the Brewers at Miller Park. A few days before that, 10 Twins runners were stranded on the basepaths.
While the hits by Arcia and Plouffe in the seventh were huge, so too was Arcia's three-run blast in the fourth inning. That put Minnesota up 3-1, and it also happened to be a hit (and three RBI) with a runner in scoring position. Arcia's third home run of the season hit high off the foul pole in right field and set an early tone for the Twins' offense.
"He's a strong young man," Gardenhire said. "A big home run, and then another big one off a left-hander to get the go-ahead (run) in."
Arcia's hit in the seventh with Willingham on second base came against Brewers lefty Will Smith, who had yet to allow an RBI by a left-handed batter this season. Lefties had barely hit Smith at all, for that matter; he'd given up just four hits to left-handers before Wednesday.
That didn't matter to Arcia, who fought off a pitch from Smith and singled to right to score Willingham from second. Arcia took second on the throw from the outfield, and he scored three pitches later when Plouffe hit a single the opposite way.
When Minnesota needed them most, it got big hits with runners in scoring position.
"I think given the time of the game -- they just scored three runs -- it was good to take the momentum back," Willingham said. "We haven't been getting a whole lot of two-out hits, but that was a big one that Arcia got and then Plouffe, as well."
"We did a really good job of swinging the bats today as far as giving good at-bats, tough at-bats, especially in the seventh," said Nolasco, who improved to 4-5 with the win. "Two outs and Hammer has a really good at-bat driving the ball the other way and Arcia, a tough lefty, has a couple bad swings and makes the adjustment. We battled really well today."
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