It’s safe to say the Twins have a formula. They’ve ridden it to a 17-5 record in their last 22 games, and we saw it successfully deployed again in Tampa on Tuesday night. Minnesota’s pitching staff is so good, so consistent, that all the Twins offense needs to do is show up and the game is basically won. 

Joe Ryan, who didn’t even look to be at his best in the sweltering Florida heat, casually rattled off six innings of one-run ball, navigating out of trouble on multiple occasions and keeping the ball in the yard. Ryan struck out five and improved to 5-2 with a 2.57 ERA on the season.

 

Louis Varland came in to handle the seventh, giving up a run that he could afford to with a 3-1 lead. He got the job done, hammering the zone with nine strikes on 11 pitches. Everyday Louie is thriving in a relief role, and his durability has been nothing short of astounding – this was his MLB-leading 27th appearance, putting him on pace for the second-most in franchise history.

The eighth inning belonged to Griffin Jax, who struck out the side on 14 pitches while inducing five whiffs. Jax has put his slow start firmly in the rear-view mirror; over the past month he’s been the best reliever in baseball. Right now he’s at the height of his powers and that’s an advantage almost no other team in baseball can match.

 

Completing the game was Jhoan Durán, who converted his ninth save in 10 tries while lowering his ERA to 1.07. Ho-hum. He’s pitching as well as he has at any point in his career, riding a reconfigured pitch mix to All-Star type results. 

The offense was unspectacular on Tuesday night, but was were able to scratch across four runs and that’s been the magic ticket: when scoring four-plus, the Twins are now 26-3 this season. Their pitching staff has been so good that Minnesota basically can’t lose when scoring at least an average number of runs. The Rays never stood a chance in a game where they had to scratch and claw to get two men across the plate.

The Twins pitching staff is relentless. Tampa Bay won’t get much of a respite in the series finale when they line up against Pablo López and his 2.31 ERA. Rocco Baldelli might have used three of his very best bullpen arms in Tuesday’s win, but he can still call upon a fresh Cole Sands or Brock Stewart, and Danny Coulombe will hopefully be back soon with his pristine 0.00 ERA. 

Minnesota pitchers lead the American League in fWAR and nobody else is close; entering play on Tuesday, the Twins were at 9.3 – just slightly behind the Phillies (9.4) for the major-league lead. The Astros and Royals were tied for second in the AL at 7.7 apiece. This prestigious ranking is reflective of a group that boasts frontline prowess and impressive depth. Letting Jorge Alcalá work through it in a low-leverage bullpen is a luxury. Many contenders would kill to have a guy like Simeon Woods Richardson – currently standing by at Triple-A – in their big-league rotation. Or a David Festa. Or a Zebby Matthews blocking them both (for the moment).

Of course, we all know nothing in baseball is ever guaranteed — injuries are inevitably part of the grind, and fortunes can flip quickly. But at this moment, the Twins are making an emphatic case as the best pitching team in the American League. From the top of the rotation to the back end of the bullpen, they’re carving through opponents with ruthless efficiency. When the bats contribute even modestly, this team is nearly impossible to beat.

Speaking of which, Matt Wallner and Byron Buxton are both in line to return to the lineup any day now.