Twins on pace for historic season away from home

A year after winning just 29 games away from Target Field, the Minnesota Twins have emerged as road warriors in 2017.

The Twins are 23-9 on the road after sweeping the Cleveland Indians over the weekend, the best road record through 32 road games in franchise history.

The first leg of an 11-game, three-city road trip, the sweep catapulted the Twins back to the top of the American League Central, where they've been a surprising division leader for most of the season.

The Twins have spent 51 days in first place this season and 23 days in second place and lead the division by half a game Monday heading into a four-game series with the Boston Red Sox.

Second-year pitcher Jose Berrios kicks off the series a week after rolling to his seventh win of the season, and has been a steady second arm behind ace Ervin Santana since being called up on May 13.

Berrios will look to an unexpected source for run support: Utility man Eduardo Escobar.

Escobar, who entered the season as a career .253 hitter after appearing in 105 games and hitting .236 last year, has been on fire in June.

The 28-year-old is hitting .394 in 66 plate appearances this month, and trails only Justin Turner of the L.A. Dodgers and Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the league lead in June.

 

Statistics courtesy of STATS LLC