The Minnesota Twins ended a road trip that was 11 days and 10 games long on a high note on Sunday afternoon as they dismantled the lowly Detroit Tigers, 12-2. That win gave them a winning trip as they finished with a 6-4 record. Compared to how Minnesota had been doing so far this season, that may seem like a slight disappointment. But, the Twins faced one of the best teams in baseball in the Tampa Bay Rays (won 3 of 4), a desperate Cleveland Indians team (lost 2 of 3), and a lower level Detroit Tigers team (won 2 of 3).

The Twins only lost one game in the standings this past week, but they still sit 10.5 games up in the AL Central. Full disclosure, there was a part of me that did have doubt going into the third game of the series against the Indians. I felt that there was the potential to build something if Cleveland managed to sweep the Twins. Thankfully, the Twins were able to weather the Tribe’s storm and hold onto win that game, 5-4.

This may not seem too large now, but if the Indians managed to sweep the Twins and make it an 8.5 game deficit, that would’ve given Cleveland new hope. Jose Berrios hurled a gem for six innings, Trevor May pitched out of a jam in the seventh inning, and our stud left-handed reliever, Taylor Rogers, locked down the win over the last two innings. Mark my words, winning this baseball game in early June was one of the bigger wins from this season.

Potential To Balloon this AL Central Lead

Minnesota can blow this division out of the water over the next week. They have three games with the Seattle Mariners and Kansas City Royals over the next seven days. These are two last place teams that have a combined record of 47-86. The one thing the Mariners have going for them is that they pimp home runs at a good pace too. Not quite the pace that the Twins do, but they know how to swing the bat.

The Twinkies will wrap up their home stand with a three-game set against Boston early next week. This will be another decent test for the Twins. The Red Sox haven’t been a great team this season, but they have been playing better baseball than what they were at the beginning of the year. If everything goes as planned, Minnesota could stretch this division lead up to 13 or 14 games by the middle of June.

One final thing that is worth noting. The Twins are officially the healthiest that they have been all season. Mitch Garver, Nelson Cruz, and Big Mike Pineda solidify the lineup and pitching rotation. The Twins are bound to hit their peak in the coming weeks. This is going to be a fun summer.