Twins continue to sizzle at the plate to crush Diamondbacks 8-3

PHOENIX – When the Twins imagined a healthy group of position players during spring training, Wednesday’s 8-3 rout over the Arizona Diamondbacks was the way they envisioned their lineup.

They pounded 14 hits. There were seven doubles, including three in the fourth inning, and a long home run from Willi Castro. Five batters reached base at least twice. When Carlos Correa connected with a hanging curveball in the fourth inning, sending a line drive to center field, Arizona Diamondbacks starter Ryne Nelson didn’t bother turning his head to watch the RBI double.

It’s become the norm. The Twins, who have the fourth-highest scoring offense in the major leagues this month, have produced a double-digit hit total in 10 of their past 13 games.

“There are days where the bottom third of the lineup is the most productive third of the lineup,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Sometimes it’s the middle. Sometimes it’s the top. When you see different segments of the group going off on the same day, we can do something like we did today.

“We don’t have to get it done in one inning and wait for the next time for that part of the order to come around. That is not even close to where we’re at right now. We’re feeling good.”

BOXSCORE: Twins 8, Arizona 3

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Correa, who reached base four times to continue his red-hot month, helped kickstart the offense in the second inning. Correa and Carlos Santana had back-to-back singles, and Byron Buxton was plunked by a pitch to load the bases with no outs.

Jose Miranda cleared the bases with a three-run double into the left-center gap, Buxton scoring easily from first on a line drive that one-hopped to the wall.

A couple hours before Wednesday’s game, Baldelli mentioned he was giving Royce Lewis more games as a designated hitter, so he could put Miranda in the lineup more often. Miranda, who recorded his fifth three-hit game of the season, has 16 RBI this month.

“You could say he’s playing half to three-quarters of the games and every time we send him out there and give him opportunities, it doesn’t matter who we’re facing,” Baldelli said. “He’s doing good work against both righties and lefties.”

Miranda added: “I mean, I want to hit everyone. Doesn’t matter if it’s righty or lefty. I want to hit everyone. That’s my mentality.”

Buxton hit a sacrifice fly in the third inning, after back-to-back singles from Correa and Santana. In the fourth inning, it was a little more power. Castro and Trevor Larnach opened with back-to-back doubles before Correa followed with a two-out double.

In the fifth inning, Castro greeted D-backs lefty reliever Brandon Hughes by rocketing Hughes’ first pitch out of the bullpen halfway up the left field seats for a two-run, 428-foot homer.

“The confidence level is really high,” Castro said. “Obviously, you’ve got to trust yourself and trust your talent. Everything will come naturally. Sometimes, when you struggle, it’s sometimes that you’re trying to do too much.”

Twins rookie pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson, gifted a seven-run lead by the fifth inning, permitted three runs and four hits in 5⅓ innings.

He probably deserved a better stat line. A run scored in the fourth inning on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s RBI triple, a ball down the left-field line that Larnach misplayed in the corner. Woods Richardson left two runners on base when he exited in the sixth inning, and they both scored through a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly.

“When the hitters are doing their job,” Woods Richardson said, “it kind of gives a peace of mind and an ease on your job to just go out there and go pitch.”