One of the maddening aspects of the Twins offense this season is their inability to capitalize with the bases loaded.
Twins sweep Athletics in Oakland for first time since 1997 behind Alex Kirilloff's four RBI
Kirilloff was dropped to the No. 9 spot in the lineup but responded with a home run and a go-ahead, three-run double.
July 17, 2023 at 11:17AM
Alex Kirilloff on Sunday showed what is supposed to happen more often. Kirilloff lined a bases-clearing, three-run double down the left field line to lift the Twins to a 5-4 victory over the Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum to complete a three-game weekend sweep.
It was the first time the Twins swept the A's in Oakland since 1997.
"We know we have a great lineup," Kirilloff said in a Bally Sports North postgame interview. "I think it was nice for a lot of us to get some rest and come back reenergized and focused."
Whether it was the All-Star break or just a result of facing A's pitching, the Twins offense rallied from a three-run deficit. Kirilloff, who underwent two season-ending surgeries on his right wrist, was a huge part of it.
Max Kepler knocked lefthanded starter JP Sears out of the game with an opposite-field single in the seventh inning. Christian Vázquez followed with a walk against reliever Lucas Erceg, and pinch hitter Edouard Julien reached on a hard-hit infield single to load the bases.
The Twins entered the day with a major league-worst .167 batting average and .440 OPS when batting with the bases loaded. Kirilloff, who homered in the fifth inning, thumped a 97 mile-per-hour fastball to the left-field corner and gave third base coach Tommy Watkins a workout by waving all three runners to the plate.
"A lot of times a good approach that works for me is just thinking about left field and sticking with going that way," said Kirilloff, who produced four RBI in a game since he did it as a rookie on May 2, 2021.
The bottom four spots in the Twins lineup were responsible for all five runs and six hits. Vázquez produced the first two hits against Sears, ending the shutout with a solo homer in the fifth inning. Two batters after Vázquez bashed his second home run of the season, Kirilloff lifted a fastball on the outside corner over the left field wall.
"[Kirilloff is] having better at-bats this year, I think, than he's ever had," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters in Oakland. "The power is going to go up and down, but it is encouraging. You do want to see it from time to time, and that's what it looks like. A really big swing for him."
The Twins, who moved to two games above .500 and 2½ games in front of Cleveland in the AL Central, have a 12-1 record against the A's and Royals, the bottom two teams in the league.
Kirilloff was limited to 104 games over the past two seasons because of injuries to his right wrist. He has been as consistent as anyone in the lineup since he returned to the Twins on May 5, batting .272 with a .370 on-base percentage.
"He doesn't have a swing where you look at it and you go, 'Man, that looks like a guy that is going to be driving the ball over the fence in left-center field,' but he has that natural kind of flick," Baldelli said.
Despite playing a team with a 25-70 record, nothing came easy for the Twins all weekend. Jorge López inherited two runners from starting pitcher Joe Ryan in the sixth inning, and he escaped with a line drive double play on his first pitch.
One run scored against López when Kepler and Kirilloff misplayed a two-out blooper and the ball dropped between the right fielder and first baseman, but Emilio Pagán recorded four outs in a one-run game and Jhoan Duran pitched on three consecutive days for the first time in his career. Duran, who pitched around a one-out double Sunday, earned the save in all three victories.
Ryan, who grew up about 30 miles north of Oakland and had a number of family and friends in the crowd of 9,335, gave up five hits and three runs in 5⅓ innings. He benefited from Willi Castro's defense in left field, which included a leaping catch against the wall to end the second inning and a sliding catch with two runners on base in the fourth.
The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.
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