Twins' Margot shakes off cold start with big bases-clearing triple against Mariners

Margot went 1 for 4 with five RBIs in the series finale against Seattle on Thursday.

May 9, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins Manuel Margot (13) scores on a single hit / Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

It hasn't been the greatest start to the season for Manny Margot, but sometimes it just takes some time to find a little bit of a rhythm. Thursday could be a good start.

Margot hit a bases-clearing triple during the first inning of the Twins' series finale against the Seattle Mariners, a game they won 11-1. Margot later scored on a single from Carlos Santana as the Twins plated five first-inning runs off Mariners starter Logan Gilbert, who's been excellent this year.

¡Manuel Margot impulsó tres carreras con este doble! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/vIzLFmX1Bh

— MLB Dominicana (@MLBDominicana) May 9, 2024

Margot finished the day 1 for 4 overall with five RBIs.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said Margot's triple was exactly what the Twins needed — some early separation — and he felt the team spring boarded off the hit the rest of the game.

"That’s a beautiful moment for him," Baldelli said. "It’s something we needed to break the game open. You only get so many chances to break a game open like that and to just separate. You need someone to do something that’s really big, really important.

"Margot did it today early on for us. We were having really good at-bats, and it is true, if you keep putting yourself in good situations, eventually good players are going to come through and make it happen and push runs across. But that’s actually what it looks like."

Margot is only hitting .169 this year with a .239 slugging percentage and a .241 on-base percentage. But he did record two hits during the Mariners series, the other an RBI single in the series opener.

"It's tough, it hasn't been a great start of the season for me, but I'm confident in myself, and I'm healthy, which is the most important," Margot said via a translator.

Margot is confident in what he can bring to the table, and like Baldelli said, when good players put themselves in good situations, eventually those good things start to come. That could indicate that this is only the start of what might be to come from Margot.