Minnesota rode the bottom of the lineup to a ten-run sixth inning.
By the time Kaelen Culpepper stepped into the batter’s box in the sixth inning Tuesday night, the Minnesota Twins had already sent 13 hitters to the plate.
The inning still had plenty left in it.
Culpepper followed with a two-run single, bringing Minnesota’s total for the inning to 10 and helping send the Twins to a 15-2 win over Detroit. It was the sort of offensive outburst that can make a lineup feel relentless, though Shelton’s attention wasn’t fixed on any one hit.
He was more interested in the at-bats that kept the inning moving.
"Melton's got good stuff, and we just continued to add on," Shelton told reporters postgame via Twins TV. "I think if you look down our lineup, everybody contributed in some way."
The numbers backed him up. Minnesota collected eight hits, drew three walks and had a batter reach after being hit by a pitch. Lewis and Ryan Jeffers supplied three-run homers, while Culpepper’s single came near the end of the inning, after nearly every part of the lineup had already done some damage.
That was a notable change for a team that had spent much of August searching for any kind of offensive consistency.
Lewis provided the biggest blow. His three-run homer carried 427 feet to straightaway center, coming after he had already gotten to Tigers starter Troy Melton with a double earlier in the game.
"I'm honestly just see ball, hit ball, and I'm feeling good," Lewis told reporters postgame via Twins TV. "And just with the help of the staff here, I've been locked in."
The bigger point for him was the timing. The Twins' offense had gone through what he described as a downward wave, and now the middle of the order was starting to come out of it at the same time.
Jeffers is a good example. He hit his third home run in three days Tuesday after struggling through his worst offensive month of the season in August. Jeffers told MLB.com's Matthew Leach that hitters can fall into patterns without realizing it, and that getting out of them is often about recognizing the problem quickly enough to make the adjustment.
Minnesota appears to be doing that now.
Even the younger hitters at the bottom of the lineup are making those innings longer. Shelton specifically pointed to Culpepper beating out a ground ball for an RBI earlier in the game, hustling down the line against Javier Báez's strong arm.
Culpepper wasn't interested in making much of it.
"That's just me," Culpepper told reporters postgame via Twins TV. "I play hard every day, every game, every inning, every play."
That attitude is part of what Shelton likes about having Culpepper and Luke Keaschall turning the lineup over from eighth to one. Instead of waiting for the top of the order to start another rally, the Twins are getting at-bats from the bottom that can keep one going.
And suddenly, the numbers are starting to look familiar again.
Minnesota scored 10 or more runs on consecutive nights after going more than five weeks without doing it. The Twins scored 15 runs Tuesday, but the more encouraging part may have been how many different hitters helped get them there.
Shelton called it a "complete effort" from his offense. After the way August went, that's probably exactly what Minnesota needed.
