Red-hot rookie Jose Miranda keeps raking as Twins sweep Royals
Jose Miranda continues to dazzle as a rookie, crushing a two-run homer in his first at-bat Thursday to pave the path to a 4-0 Twins victory over and a sweep of the Royals.
Miranda's blast, his 12th of the season, put the Twins up 2-0 and supported by a tremendous bullpen game after starting pitcher Tyler Mahle left in the third inning with what the Twins are calling "right shoulder fatigue."
Miranda's batting average sunk to .094 on May 18. Since then he's raised his average about .200 points and is nearing .300 for the season (.286 after today's game).
Since May 19 Miranda is slashing .330/.327/.742 with 11 homers, 13 doubles, 48 RBIs, 11 walks, five hit-by-pitch and 28 runs. When you break it down month-by-month it's eye-popping.
- May: .176/.208/.532
- June: .306/.342/.856
- July: .353/.405/1.008
- August: .322/.384/.842
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Mahle, whose fastball averaged 89.2 mph Thursday compared to his season average of 93.4 mph, left the game with one out in the third inning. Emilio Pagan finished the third and fourth innings and was replaced by Griffin Jax, who got through the fifth and the sixth with the Twins still on top 4-0.
Jhoan Duran allowed back-to-back singles to start the seventh and was bailed out by Gilberto Celestino's sliding catch for the second out. Duran then struck out Michael Taylor to get out of the jam.
Michael Fulmer gave up a couple of hits but had a clean eighth and Trevor McGill mowed down the Royals with a 1-2-3 ninth to wrap up Minnesota's third straight win.
It's the first time this season the Twins have won two straight games by shutout.
With Cleveland and Chicago yet to play Wednesday night, the Twins are a half-game from the top of the AL Central.
Up next: Twins vs. Rangers, 7:10 p.m. Friday at Target Field
