Very quietly, the Minnesota Twins won four of their first five games this season, and they managed to do that while hitting just one home run. Huh.
Friday night against the Phillies (PHI 10, MIN 4), the Twins added their second and third home runs of the season, with Max Kepler and Jorge Polanco doing the honors against Nick Pivetta. Polanco's home run was part of a cycle, the first in MLB in 2019.
Here are all four hits to complete the cycle:
Polanco got the hard part out of the way early. He tripled in the first. Polanco then singled in the third, homered in the fifth, and doubled in the seventh to complete the cycle. It's the first cycle since Charlie Blackmon had one last September 30.
Polanco's cycle is the 15th in franchise history and 11th since the franchise moved to Minnesota. Here are the team's last five cycles prior to Friday night:
The Twins signed Polanco to a five-year, $25.75 million contract extension prior to spring training. He's a career .272/.330/.421 hitter and went into Friday's game 6 for 21 (.286) with two doubles and a triple on the young season.