Twins pitching staff has had two 20-strikeout games in the span of a week

Cole Sands struck out two batters in his lone inning of work during the Twins’ 8-6, 13-inning loss to the Marlins on Thursday, and he wishes it had been three. Mostly because that would have meant he didn’t give up the sacrifice fly that scored bonus runner Griffin Conine from third base, so the Twins’ run in the bottom of the inning would have won the game.

But there’s another reason, too. Twins pitchers struck out 20 Marlins in the loss, tying the franchise record that they had set only six days earlier in Fenway Park.

“I thought it was a crazy stat, a team record, when we did it in Boston. It would have been cool to beat it so soon,” Sands said. “Set the record and then beat it a week later? Really cool.”

But Twins relievers weren’t surprised that they were able to break the previous team record of 19 strikeouts, memorably set on Aug. 19, 2007, in the Metrodome when Johan Santana struck out 17 Rangers and Joe Nathan two more. That performance still stands as the Twins’ nine-inning record.

“We certainly have a lot of swing-and-miss in our bullpen. We’ve shown that this year,” said Sands, one of four Twins pitchers who average more than one whiff per inning. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can get strikeouts when we need one.”

Twins relievers have struck out 615 hitters this season, and strike out an average of 9.6 hitters per nine innings, tied with Seattle and Houston’s bullpens for most frequent K’s. Until 2018, the Twins’ bullpen had never averaged a strikeout per inning, but it’s now done it seven consecutive seasons.

“It’s a different game now, but that’s what we’re trying to do,” Sands said. “Hard to believe you can lose a game when you strike out that many.”

Maybe so. Eight relievers pitched for the Twins on Thursday, and seven of them recorded at least one strikeout. The unit combined to throw seven consecutive innings without allowing an earned run (Sands’ was unearned, due to the free extra-inning baserunner).

“It’s not often in a major-league season that you get a chance to watch an entire bullpen come together, string together almost a game’s worth of zeroes and take pride in it as a group,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We saw that again last night.”

Sands has been bothered the past few days by some minor soreness in the back of his left knee, but said it’s manageable. “It’s annoying that it happens right now, but I’m dealing with it OK,” he said.

Christian Vázquez had an anxious day Thursday, and it was a lot more important than a baseball game.

Vázquez’s 3-week-old son, Dilan, underwent open heart surgery in order to correct an enlarged aorta, the Twins catcher said.

The surgery was a success, and the problem shouldn’t recur, Vázquez told Bally Sports North. He returned to the team and was back in the starting lineup on Friday.

The bullpen’s 8⅔ innings of work Thursday left the Twins a little shorthanded for Friday’s game with the Orioles, so the Twins called up lefthander Kody Funderburk from Class AAA St. Paul to make sure they had enough arms. Funderburk had a 5.61 ERA in 33⅔ innings during the season’s first half, but he had not pitched for the Twins since July 12 due to a strained oblique.

Catcher Jair Camargo, brought up for Thursday’s game with Vázquez unavailable, was returned to St. Paul to make room for Funderburk, and outfielder Max Kepler was transferred to the 60-day injured list in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.