SEATTLE — Edouard Julien is making the Twins consider their options. He has provided strong evidence he not only belongs in the majors, even after Jorge Polanco returns from the injured list, but also in the starting lineup.
The Twins rookie arguably remains the team’s best hitter in July and continued it Tuesday night, going 3-for-5 with a solo home run and three runs scored in the team’s 10-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park.
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Winners in nine of their last 14 games, including victories in four of five games since returning from the All-Star break, the Twins improved to 49-47.
The team’s offense has scored 36 runs in five games on its road trip with Julien at the center of it all. He’s hitting 13-for-21 with three doubles, two homers, four RBIs and seven runs in his last six games.
While he’s not as good on defense as Polanco, the young second baseman’s bat is forcing the Twins to potentially consider moving Polanco to third base when he returns from the injured list.
“If we’re going to go to the playoffs and win a World Series, we’re going to need Jorge Polanco to be there and be a big part of it,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “What are we going to do with Edouard Julien, who, I don’t want to throw labels out there, but he’s been as good of a hitter as we have since he’s been up. You don’t want to lose his bat, either. I don’t know what we’re going to do. But you need a lot of good players to reach your goals. We’ll take them both, and we’ll figure it out. I’m not sure what the answer is going to be. Time will tell.”
Though Julien wasn’t involved in the team’s two-run, first-inning rally, he was part of their next three. Julien singled in the third inning ahead of an opposite-field home run by Alex Kirilloff that gave the Twins a 4-3 lead, one they never relinquished.
Julien pulled a solo homer to start a fourth-inning rally and singled and scored a run in the sixth on Willi Castro’s two-out RBI single.
“It’s a lot of fun and we’re putting good at-bats together,” said veteran Kyle Farmer, who homered and walked twice. “Got some young guys stepping up like Eddie, who’s doing a great job. He should be in the race for one of the rookie of the years in the (American League) honestly. He’s putting up numbers that no other rookie’s doing right now. Kudos to him.”
Kirilloff also continued a hot stretch by finishing a double shy of the cycle. He also tripled and scored in the fourth inning and singled in the eighth. Max Kepler’s first-inning sac fly scored Carlos Correa, who singled and homered in six at-bats.
But the biggest applause of the night may belong to starting pitcher Bailey Ober, who overcame a miserable start. Ober yielded hits to six of the first seven Mariners hitters, including a game-tying homer to the second batter he faced, Eugenio Suárez. Ober likely wouldn’t have survived the first inning had it not been for Correa and Kepler throwing out runners at the plate.
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Yet Ober recovered instantly and retired 15 of the final 17 batters he faced. Ober limited Seattle to three first-inning runs and seven hits while striking out five batters over six innings.
“It was a real pivot,” Baldelli said. “First inning, I don’t think anyone knew what was going on. … And he wasn’t deterred. He continued to get ahead, he continued to throw strikes, but he wasn’t afraid. That kind of outing early on can scare people out of the zone, and he didn’t allow that to happen. He attacked them, he made better pitches, his off-speed stuff, I think, improved a bit — his feel for it as the game went on. And then he found himself.”
AL Rookie of the Year? Edouard Julien is certainly playing like it right now! #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/pDbS2KVZ8j
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) July 19, 2023
Day off for slumping Buxton
A planned day off for Byron Buxton arrived at the right time. Mired in an 0-for-21 slump with 13 strikeouts, Buxton sat out Tuesday’s contest.
Baldelli said the Twins planned to sit Buxton at least once on the road trip coming out of the All-Star break. Following Monday’s 0-for-5, three-strikeout performance, Buxton headed to the indoor cage to work on his swing.
“We know what the swing looks like when he’s doing that, and right now he’s working at it, not finding it easily,” Baldelli said. “But he’s going to keep working — as are our hitting guys with him on it. That’s all it is. I think he’s just going through a little bit of a tough time. He hasn’t swung the bat the way that he wants, and when he has swung the ball well, there’s been nothing to come of it.”
Indeed, prior to his current spell, Buxton’s barreled balls all seemed to find gloves. Starting with the team’s nine-game road trip on June 23 through the end of the first half, Buxton had a .245 weighted on-base average compared to a .357 expected weighted on-base average, meaning he was extremely unlucky.
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“He’s grinding at the plate right now, but it’s just a combination of a couple of things,” Baldelli said. “I would just call it a day right now.”
Twins sign draft picks
Negotiations are ongoing with their top two picks, including first-rounder Walker Jenkins, but the Twins have signed 17 of their 21 draft selections.
The team announced the signing of second-rounder Luke Keaschall, third-rounder Brandon Winokur, who was committed to UCLA, and fifth-rounder Dylan Questad, who committed to Arkansas. Keaschall and Winokur each reportedly received $1.5 million, the latter being about $610,000 over slot, while Questad reportedly earned a $500,000 bonus, about $88,000 over slot.
The Twins also announced the signing of four undrafted players: pitchers Jacob King (UC Irvine) and Liam Rocha (Cal Baptist), and catchers Cole Elvis (Kansas) and Poncho Ruiz (San Diego State).
The deadline for picks to sign is July 25.
I don't think the booing worked, Seattle 😉#MNTwins | #MLB pic.twitter.com/GLe5FEzi25
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) July 19, 2023
News and notes
• Major League Baseball’s replay system continues to be a joke. Correa was incorrectly ruled out on a swipe tag by Seattle first baseman Ty France in the seventh inning. Correa immediately signaled to the Twins dugout to review the play, which the Twins did. During a lengthy delay, multiple views on the T-Mobile Park scoreboard showed France’s tag was nowhere in the vicinity of touching Correa, yet replay officials in New York determined the call stood. The mistake could have been costly as in the bottom of the inning. Seattle’s Mike Ford led off with a double that included a close play at second the Twins couldn’t review.
• Jhoan Duran said he felt about 40 percent better upon checking into the park Tuesday afternoon. Duran was shut down Monday after pitching in three straight games for the first time in his career. Duran said he played catch, lifted weights, did cardio and rest and recovery exercises.
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• Kepler had a strong all-around game, finishing 2-for-3 with two RBIs, a run and a walk. Kepler also had a sac fly to deep left, lined out to left and had an outfield assist. The only blemish on Kepler’s day was when he missed third-base coach Tommy Watkins’ signal to wave him home on Castro’s RBI single, which made it 8-3 in the sixth inning.
• Polanco went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in a rehab game at Triple-A St. Paul.
• A team source confirmed left-handed pitcher Dallas Keuchel’s minor-league contract with the Twins includes an opt-out for Friday. Keuchel has a 0.90 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 20 innings pitched at Triple A since signing. The team has remained quiet about whether it will promote Keuchel before the deadline.
(Photo of Edouard Julien celebrating his home run with Alex Kirilloff: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
