Surging Twins tie MLB record with 2nd 8-HR game of season
The Minnesota Twins' power surge is reaching uncharted territory.
Minnesota - now the owner of baseball's best record - hit eight home runs for the second time this year during a 16-7 shellacking of the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday. Not only did that tie the franchise's single-game record, but it made the Twins just the second team ever - joining the 2005 Texas Rangers - to boast a pair of eight-homer outings in the same season, according to Twins senior communications director Dustin Morse.
The Twins also hit eight on April 20 against the Baltimore Orioles and on Aug. 29, 1963, versus the Washington Senators.
Miguel Sano and Jonathan Schoop each went yard twice Thursday, while Max Kepler, Eddie Rosario, C.J. Cron, and Jorge Polanco all rounded the bases once. Three of the Twins' eight dingers came during a five-run seventh inning.
The @Twins just crushed 8 HR in a game for the SECOND TIME this season. 😳 pic.twitter.com/WcTWJ2jD7c
— MLB (@MLB) May 23, 2019
Outrageous power is becoming the norm for the Twins. They have now hit a league-high 98 homers, 25 of which have come over their last nine contests. Thursday's game - No. 49 on the season - was their sixth with at least five bombs, making them the fastest team in history to accomplish the feat.
The @Twins have hit 5+ HR in a game SIX times through 49 games, which is the fastest in @MLB history.
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) May 23, 2019
The next closest team? The 1977 Red Sox in 65 games. pic.twitter.com/lcfhqaMZws
"It's all just kind of clicked and hopefully there's no stopping," Cron told The Associated Press. "When you are hitting like this it is contagious. If you look at this lineup you are going to see a lot of power. We have the ability to do that and it is nice to show it."
Minnesota is also just the fourth team ever with at least four six-homer games, according to Baseball-Reference. The record for a single season is five, held by the 2000 Houston Astros, who didn't set the mark until September of that year.
7!
— Dustin Morse (@morsecode) May 23, 2019
4th time this season the @Twins have hit at least 6 home runs in a game.
The rest of @MLB combined - 3.
(Dodgers, Yankees Cubs) #MNTwins
The Twins have now hit 98 homers in 2019, moving them past idle Seattle for the league lead. If their current pace holds, they'll finish with 324, which would shatter the single-season record of 267 set by the New York Yankees last year.
Minnesota owns the best record in baseball at 33-16. Its 18 road wins also lead the league.