MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — After celebrating on the field and before any bottles were popped in the clubhouse, Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli had a message for his team: congratulations, enjoy it — but there’s more to be done.
The Twins clinched the AL Central title Friday night with an 8-6 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
Alex Kirilloff homered and drove in three runs, and Minnesota held on late to win the division crown for the third time in five seasons under Baldelli.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Baldelli said. “But tonight, we have fun. Tomorrow, we work again.”
Pablo López (11-8) pitched six innings for the Twins, allowing three runs and five hits with seven strikeouts. Jhoan Duran gave up a run in the ninth but retired Brandon Drury on a grounder with the bases loaded to secure his 27th save.
“We came into today controlling our own destiny,” López said. “We knew we didn’t need to watch the scoreboard for anyone to lose. We knew that we needed to win the ballgame. That’s exactly what we did. Even when I wasn’t at my best, the offense picked me right up.”
After the Twins squandered an early 3-0 lead, Kirilloff’s 10th homer snapped a 3-all tie in the sixth and Minnesota won for the sixth time in eight games. Kirilloff became the 12th Twins player with double-digit home runs this season, setting a club record.
With lines from a recent college football game played at Target Field still visible, the crowd was eager to celebrate another extended fall for the Twins. It’s their 15th trip to the postseason since the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota in 1961 and became the Twins.
“It means a lot,” said injured shortstop Carlos Correa, who’s expected to be ready for the postseason. “The first one here in Minnesota, it’s really special. When you come to a new team, these are the goals that you set out to accomplish and this is just one of them.”
Of course, the playoffs haven’t been kind to Minnesota. The Twins have lost 18 straight postseason games — 13 of them to the New York Yankees.
Minnesota hasn’t won a playoff game since 2004, taking the first game of the Division Series 2-0 in New York with Johan Santana on the mound. Under Baldelli, the Twins were swept in two games by the Houston Astros in a 2020 first-round series and swept in three games by the Yankees in the 2019 Division Series.
The drought isn’t lost on these Twins. Kyle Farmer promised a playoff win when talking postgame in an interview played over the stadium loudspeakers.
“Yeah, sure, why not?” Farmer said. “If you don’t believe it, don’t play.”