Martin has been an unsung hero for the Twins so far.
The Minnesota Twins were down 4-0 after the first inning Friday night at Fenway Park.
Then Minnesota scored eight unanswered runs, Byron Buxton and Austin Martin hit back-to-back two-run homers in the seventh, and suddenly the Twins had an 8-6 win in a game they had no business winning.
Martin Delivered the Biggest Blow
Martin especially was all over this game.
An inning before his homer, he went up and made a leaping catch to rob Caleb Durbin of an extra-base hit.
Then in the seventh, the 27-year-old outfielder turned on a pitch from reliever Justin Slaten and drove it into the left-center field seats to put Minnesota ahead.
Slaten had gone 15 straight appearances without giving up a run before that inning unraveled on him.
Martin went 2-for-5 with two RBIs.
Afterward, he didn't overthink it when talking about where the team's head is at right now.
"I feel like that's just been our M.O. all season," Martin said. "Right when you think we're out of it, we're not."
It's hard to argue with him.
This Twins team was supposed to be one of the worst in baseball, and they're sitting at 24-27 after Friday's win.
Still below .500, sure, but they're right there in the AL Central. The Red Sox fell to 22-28 with the loss.
Why the Twins Keep Hanging Around
Minnesota lost Pablo Lopez to Tommy John surgery before Opening Day.
Oddsmakers set their win total over/under at 72.5 in March and there was really no reason to think they'd be hanging around.
Except guys like Martin keep showing up.
He entered the weekend hitting above .310 with an OPS well above league average, and after Matt Wallner got sent down to Triple-A, he grabbed the everyday outfield job and ran with it.
Buxton has 15 homers on the year, good for fifth in the majors.
Ryan Jeffers is hitting above .290 with seven homers from the catcher spot.
First-year manager Derek Shelton has been preaching a new mentality since he took over, and a young roster that people expected to roll over seems to have actually bought in.
Friday was the latest proof.
Down 4-0 after one, still trailing 6-3 going into the seventh, and the Twins batted around twice in the game and scored five runs over the final three innings.
Martin's go-ahead homer got the headlines, but nine guys came to the plate in the second inning alone to start cutting into that early deficit.
The record still needs work and nobody's confusing this team with a contender just yet either.
But Minnesota keeps showing up in games where they probably shouldn't, and Martin's quote after the game tells the whole story about where their heads are at.
