#are both r/minnesotavikings originals. common minnesota w I guess

[zoeology31]

*to tentative applause* Winning homestand, book it!

Four convincing wins, three competitive losses. This was a homestand the Twins had to show up for, and even with the pretty rough injury situation they did it. It definitely feels like we could've come away with more wins, particularly stranding 1000 runners on base on Sunday (the no-outs-bases-loaded hope before getting Clase'd was brutal), but I'll take a split and a win against two good teams with some tough pitching matchups.

Apparently the Twins' hottest hitter is Christian Vazquez??? Did Vazqy and Jeffers like, bodyswap during that end of June road trip or something? I mean I'll absolutely take it, this is what the $30 million was for, it's just kinda wild. Veteran defense, in-game mentorship for our ever-growing pile of rookie pitchers, excellent clubhouse vibes, and now genuinely good hitting and Friday night's baserunning masterclass (the balk sequence will never not be funny).

Offense was a bit inconsistent this homestand but when it showed up it really showed up. A good overall performance from Castro, Santana, and Buxton (bless the hips and keep them healthy), and encouraging breakout games from Miranda and Kepler on Tuesday as well. Also saving the best for last: that Wallner go-ahead homer is probably this season's most iconic moment so far. Friday night, national TV, division battle rivalry game, the announcer call, the little bat flip, Royce's reaction, the curtain call, all of it.

Guys, I think Ober's our ace. It's been really incredible to see his growth as a pitcher over the last few years, and lately he's provided the kind of consistent, quality-start-machine dominance we haven't seen on this team in a long time. It's great to see the whole staff stepping up in the wake of Ryan's injury, because we're gonna need all of them to get to the finish line. Great bounceback outings from Pablo and SWR, and a strong debut from Zebby Matthews, our pitching pipeline personified.

On that subject, I'm gonna plug the youtube channel TFTwins, who provides easily the best non-official-journalist daily coverage of the Twins and all their minor league affiliates. It's a great way to follow the Twins' prospects and learn about development and front office strategy on a deeper level. There's a lot of pitching prospects rising through the system in the mold of Ober, Varland, Festa, and Matthews, and it's really exciting to watch them all progress.