Royce Lewis tied Friday's game in Seattle with a seventh-inning homer as the Twins climbed over .500.
The Twins fell behind in the first inning in Seattle on Friday night and spent the rest of the evening proving it did not matter.
Minnesota came back to beat the Mariners 5-3 behind three home runs, moved to 56-55 to get over .500, and did it all while the front office kept adding to the roster.
For a team that spent most of the summer stuck in the middle, the timing of everything right now is hard to beat.
Three Swings Turned The Night Around
Cal Raleigh put Seattle up 2-0 in the first with a two-run ground-rule double, and Cole Young answered a Brooks Lee two-run homer with a solo shot to make it 3-2 in the second.
From there Zebby Matthews settled in, striking out ten over five innings, and the bullpen threw four hitless innings behind him.
Royce Lewis tied the game in the seventh with his 11th homer of the season, Luke Keaschall doubled home Alan Roden for the lead later that inning, and Ryan Jeffers added a solo homer in the eighth.
Minnesota is now 7-3 over its last ten games.
The Front Office Is Matching The Moment
While the team was winning on the field, the trades kept coming.
Minnesota landed reliever A.J. Minter from the Mets on Friday in exchange for Bruin Agbayani and Billy Amick, then added starter Dean Kremer from Baltimore.
Lewis could barely contain himself afterward.
"I'm on cloud nine. We just got a really good win. I come in here, and I see another trade," he said, per MLB.com.
Derek Shelton called the group resilient, and Matthews said the lineup swings it well enough that no deficit feels final.
A stretch that began with Kody Clemens stunning the Royals with a walk-off grand slam has turned into a full organizational push, and the players clearly feel it.
The Race Is Right There For The Taking
Minnesota is tied with Cleveland for the final American League wild card spot and sits three games behind the White Sox in the Central, so every win this weekend carries real value.
The schedule helps too.
The Twins play two more in Seattle against a Mariners team that is 2-8 over its last ten, take Monday off while the deadline closes at 6 p.m. ET, then open a series in Kansas City on Tuesday against a Royals club that is 19 games under .500.
The front office watched this team keep winning and decided the window is real, and that belief changes how a clubhouse plays.
A team that spent months treading water suddenly has its bosses betting on it in public, and the response on the field has been exactly what anyone would hope for.
Buying at the deadline is always a risk for a club sitting one game over .500, but doing nothing while a playoff spot sits right there would have been the bigger one.
The players spent Friday night proving the point, one big swing at a time, and the next month will show whether the bet was as smart as it feels today.
