Twins put it all together, crush Brewers 8-2 to take two of three in series

MILWAUKEE – What a pleasant Easter Weekend in Wisconsin for the Twins. They found a leadoff hitter, they restored Max Kepler's batting stroke, and they even shook loose a few more home runs.

Sure, they leave with the nagging feeling that they could have, and should have, swept the Brewers, but Sunday's 8-2 joy ride at American Family Field felt like the product of a recipe they can rely upon.

It included robust starting pitching, which Michael Pineda provided in his own messy-but-effective way. The righthander allowed four hits and two walks in five innings, but only a dropped ground ball by Jorge Polanco caused him to allow a run to score.

It also featured the leadoff stylings of Luis Arraez, whose obvious joy in heading the Twins' offense paid off with five times on base Sunday, and a .500 batting average so far this year. Then there's the run production of Kepler, who drove in a first-inning run with a ground out and two more with a sixth-inning single.

And finally, there's the Twins' power, absent but for Byron Buxton in the series' first two games, but on display twice on Sunday. Mitch Garver lifted a fly ball into the right field corner first his first homer in the fifth inning, and Miguel Sano sliced one a few inches over the wall in the sixth, driving in Kepler ahead of him.

Andrelton Simmons, who made the slide-and-pop out look easy in the field, contributed at the plate, too, lining a triple that drove home Jake Cave in the eighth.

All that offense was plenty for a Twins' bullpen that barely seemed to sweat the final four innings. Cody Stashak allowed a home run to the first batter he faced, Jackie Bradley Jr., then walked Luis Urias. But he retired the next three Brewers in order, Hansel Robles did the same an inning later, and Jorge Alcala finished off the final two innings, six up and six down.

The only stress the Twins experienced Sunday, in fact, may have been in Byron Buxton's stomach. The Twins' center fielder, who doubled in his first at-bat, was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the third inning, setting off alarms that another key contributor had been injured, three days after Josh Donaldson suffered a hamstring injury.

But Buxton was sick, not injured, the Twins said, and the illness is not COVID-related.