Twins compile two seven-run innings to clobber Cubs 16-3

Back in the leadoff spot for a second consecutive day, Joey Gallo hit another booming home run in the Twins' 16-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday at Target Field.

Until Saturday, Gallo had never batted leadoff in his nine-year, 782-game career. Then he hit one of his team's five homers in an 11-1 thrashing of the Cubs — a blast so deep to right-center field that Major League Baseball couldn't properly measure it.

On Sunday, Gallo again batted leadoff just ahead of Alex Kirilloff, Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton and hit one of his team's three home runs on a brightening Mother's Day afternoon when the Twins scored seven runs in the third inning and seven more in the eighth.

The Twins won the final two games of the three-game series with Chicago, completing a 4-2 interleague homestand. Their 29 runs against the Cubs set a team record for runs scored in a three-game series at Target Field.

Gallo now has homered in every career game he has hit leadoff, too.

"Oh boy, don't tell Rocco that, please," Gallo said. "Tell him I'm terrible leading off. I don't want to keep doing it."

But with frequent leadoff hitter Max Kepler injured, Gallo is going to keep hitting in a position he calls "definitely strange." The Twins open a six-game Southern California road trip Monday night against the Dodgers.

"We're going to do that tomorrow," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of Gallo hitting right away. "He has looked real good, to say the least. First base, pretty good in the outfield, too. Good baseball player, very important piece to what's going on here right now."

Gallo broke open Saturday's game with his three-run homer in the third inning. Sunday, it was Trevor Larnach's turn to do the same. The just-recalled outfielder hit a three-run homer with two outs, starting a seven-run third inning that chased Chicago righthander Marcus Stroman.

Four batters later, Gallo hit a pitch over the right-field overhang and into the plaza beyond, a two-run shot off reliever Michael Rucker.

All of which was more than enough for Louie Varland to earn his second career victory and first at Target Field. The North St. Paul and Concordia (St. Paul) product pitched a career-high 6⅓ innings, giving up three runs on four hits, including two solo homers.

"It's great to see," Varland said about getting spotted an 8-0 lead. "I have a feeling this will carry on into the West Coast. I think the bats are back."

Gallo's Sunday homer traveled 402 feet. His Saturday homer, which ended his 3-for-26 slump in May, was far enough that there was no official measurement. Kirilloff admired the ball's trajectory as he waited in the on-deck circle.

"Yeah, I hit that one pretty good," Gallo said of his Saturday blast. "I was pretty excited about that. It was a while since I hit a homer. It was a good one. If I hit it, I can usually hit it pretty far. It's the hitting that's the tough part."

Gallo departed Sunday's game after the seventh inning because of what he called a cramp. He slapped a grounder to the left side but couldn't beat the throw — apparently thinking, despite his own protestations, that he really is a leadoff man.

"I've got to work on my speed, I guess," Gallo said. "I thought I had a shot at that one, but I was moving super-slow. I don't know what was going on."

Michael A. Taylor replaced him and hit the Twins' third homer, a two-run shot to left field that capped the Twins' second seven-run inning of the day. Every Twins player who batted had a hit and scored a run.

"Highlights everywhere you look. Nick Gordon said this was for all the moms," said Baldelli, specifically mentioning his own mother who was in town, as well as his wife, Allie, mother to their young daughter Louisa Sunny. "It was a really nice day out there."