Shelton was pleased with his team's performance against Detroit.
The Minnesota Twins just completed something nobody saw coming two weeks ago.
A four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers at Target Field, capped by a 3-1 win on Thursday afternoon that pushed Minnesota to 7-6 on the season.
For a team that opened the year 1-4 and looked like it might be heading toward a long, forgettable summer, the turnaround has been quick and real.
After the series finale, Twins manager Derek Shelton did not hold back his feelings about what his group had accomplished against a divisional rival that entered the year as the favorite to win the American League Central.
"Very proud. I mean, full team effort," Shelton said. "I mean, it was a well-pitched game. It was a well-pitched series...but really proud of our group."
Pitching Carried the Sweep
Shelton was not exaggerating about the pitching.
The Twins' staff was dominant across all four games, and the series showed what Minnesota is capable of when the whole roster contributes. J
oe Ryan set the tone in Game 1 with a gutsy effort in a 7-3 win, battling through a 39-pitch fourth inning before settling down and finishing strong.
Taj Bradley followed that up on Tuesday by striking out 10 Tigers in 6 1/3 innings while walking nobody in a 4-2 victory, and Bailey Ober turned in five scoreless innings in Wednesday's 8-6 win.
Then came Thursday, when Mick Abel delivered the best start of his young career.
Abel went six scoreless innings on 102 pitches, holding Detroit to just four hits while striking out six.
He entered the game with an 11.05 ERA after two rough outings to start the season, so the turnaround was massive.
Brooks Lee came through with a tiebreaking two-run single in the eighth inning to seal the sweep.
Why the Twins Have Surprised
Before the season started, almost everyone counted Minnesota out, and losing ace Pablo Lopez to Tommy John surgery before Opening Day made things look even bleaker.
But the clubhouse has tuned out the noise from the start, with players openly saying they do not care what projections say about them.
A big reason for the early success has been contributions from up and down the roster.
Byron Buxton has started heating up at the plate after a slow start, collecting three hits in Wednesday's win alone.
Luke Keaschall continues to look like the breakout candidate everyone hoped he would be, and Brooks Lee is growing into his role at shortstop with big moments like Thursday's go-ahead single.
Meanwhile, the Tigers have fallen to 4-9 and have now dropped nine of their last 11 games.
Detroit came into the series with the best batting average with runners in scoring position in all of baseball but went 0-for-11 in those situations in Thursday's finale alone.
That is a rough look for a team that spent big this winter with a franchise-record payroll pushing $400 million.
Minnesota heads to Toronto for a three-game set starting Friday, and the momentum from this sweep could carry them into a stretch where they start turning heads around the league.