MINNEAPOLIS — Justin Morneau's solo home run Saturday against the Detroit Tigers didn't ultimately affect the outcome of Minnesota's 6-3 loss, but it was yet another sign that the Twins' first baseman continues to make progress since coming off the disabled list earlier this month.
Morneau's second-inning leadoff homer against Detroit's Max Scherzer was his third home run in as many days, and his fifth since coming off the DL on May 16. Morneau was hampered early in the season with a strained left wrist, but he continues to hit as if the wrist is no longer a problem.
That was the case again Saturday, as he tattooed a 3-1 offering from Scherzer that landed on the right field plaza at Target Field. The solo blast was estimated at 438 feet. Just a few days earlier, Morneau crushed a 450-foot home run on the road against the Chicago White Sox.
"Morny's swinging really good," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said after Saturday's game. "You make a mistake to him right now and he seems to be hitting it really, really hard. He hit that ball a long way. He's doing his thing."
Ironically, Saturday's blast was only Morneau's sixth career home run in 322 at-bats at Target Field. He's already hit seven home runs on the road this season.
Before going on the disabled list at the end of April, Morneau was batting .230 with four home runs and nine RBI in 20 games. In 10 games since the injury, he's hitting .282 with five home runs, 14 RBI and eight runs scored.
Perhaps just as important, Morneau has been able to play nine of those 10 games at first base, including Saturday. Before his wrist injury, Morneau was mainly in the lineup as Minnesota's designated hitter — just four of his first 20 games came at first base — as he continued to work back from numerous injuries, including concussion symptoms last year.
But those issues seem to be behind him, and now it's more of a surprise when Morneau isn't at first base.
"We talk about it. I ask him every morning, ‘How you doing?' Like today. He says, ‘Couldn't be any better,' or ‘Living the dream.' That's about as far as we get with him," Gardenhire said of Morneau playing first base. "… He told me he'd like to play some first base. He's doing a good job."
Said Morneau of playing first base: "You're involved in the game."
The Twins are 0-2 on the current homestand after losing the first two games of the series to Detroit, but Minnesota went 5-3 on its recent road trip.
Morneau's bat was a big reason for that.
"We need him in the lineup," outfielder Trevor Plouffe said of Morneau. "We need everyone to do their part."
Now 15-31 after Saturday's loss, the Twins will indeed need Morneau to keep producing runs in the heart of the lineup. Then again, Minnesota's problem as of late has not been scoring runs. It's been the starting pitching that has let the offense down.
As of lately, though, Morneau has certainly been doing his part for the Twins' lineup.
"I think everybody's important, but the guys in the middle of the lineup need to drive in the runs," Morneau said Friday. "Everybody has their role. The fast guys get on base and the guys in the middle are supposed to drive them in. That's kind of how you draw it up. … We're a team that needs the guys in the middle to do what they're supposed to do, like drive in runs. I feel like this lineup's definitely capable of scoring runs, that's for sure."
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