Twins' winning streak hits seven after beating Angels for another series sweep

Minnesota is back above .500 for the first time since April 3.

Minnesota Twins celebrate the victory against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., on April 27, 2024. / Gary A. Vasquez / USA TODAY Sports

The hits keep coming, and the Twins just keep on winning. 

Minnesota recorded another 17 hits on its way to an 11-5 victory over the Los Angeles Angels Sunday afternoon in Anaheim, Calif. That's a sweep for the Twins after traveling to Anaheim fresh off a sweep of the Chicago White Sox. It's also their seventh straight victory.

And the Twins are back above .500 for the first time since April 3.

The Twins (14-13) and Angels (10-18) kept each other scoreless through three innings before the Twins pushed the first run across the board in the fourth inning when Jose Miranda scored Byron Buxton, who reached on a fielding error, with a single to left field. 

Then the Twins plated four runs in the fifth inning to take a 5-0 lead. 

Christian Vazquez led off the fifth with a single to left field before Kyle Farmer followed up with a double to left. Austin Martin hit another single to left to score both of them, and he later took second base. Martin then scored on an error by Angels right fielder Jo Adell after Ryan Jeffers singled to right field. Manny Margot scored Jeffers for the final run of the frame with a sacrifice fly.

Twins starter Pablo Lopez was lights out through four innings before getting touched by the Angels in the fifth. Adell hit an RBI double off him before Luis Rengifo and Nolan Schanuel hit back-to-back homers to cut the Angels’ deficit to 5-4. 

Lopez’s day ended after five innings after allowing the four runs in the fifth, but he allowed just four hits in all while fanning eight in the start. And his velocity was back to normal after taking a dip during his previous outing, certainly a relief for Twins fans. 

The Twins added some insurance runs in the seventh inning when they beat up on Angels reliever Luis Garcia. Martin drew a leadoff walk, Jeffers singled and Buxton also drew a walk to load the bases. Alex Kirilloff then hit a ground-rule double to score Martin and Jeffers. 

After Miranda struck out, Carlos Santana scored Buxton on a groundout to second base, then Willi Castro singled to right field to score Kirilloff to give the Twins a 9-4 advantage. 

Cole Sands pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning, but got into some trouble in the seventh after he hit Rengifo with two out. Schanuel then singled to put runners at first and third before Mike Trout singled to left field to score Rengifo and make it a 9-5 game. Griffin Jax then came in and struck out Zach Neto to end the inning. Steven Okert pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning.

The Twins added a couple more insurance runs in the eighth inning when Jeffers scored Martin, who reached on a fielding error from Angels second baseman Brandon Drury, with a sacrifice fly to right field, and Miranda double to score Buxton, who singled and stole second base.

Okert put a nice finishing touch on the game, pitching a 1-2-3 ninth inning.