Trevor Larnach, Brooks Lee home runs lead Twins

ST. PETERSBURG — The pitching staff dug deep, while Trevor Larnach and Brooks Lee provided the power from the roster depth — and slowly but surely, the Twins are looking to right the ship with even more reinforcements on the way.

Larnach’s early three-run blast helped the Twins mitigate the impact of a short start from Simeon Woods Richardson, and Lee’s first homer — and third hit — since returning from the IL on Sunday gave the Twins’ stretched bullpen more wiggle room to hang on for a 5-4 victory over the Rays on Monday at Tropicana Field.

The win helped the Twins surge back past the Royals for second place in the AL Central, where they remained 3 1/2 games behind the division-leading Guardians.

“Ultimately, it was a very good overall communal team win,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It was pretty cool seeing everyone go out there and do it. … That was actually a game that, it takes a little bit out of you, but it gives you a lot, too, because you feel very good about it when you leave.”

The end is in sight for the Twins’ stretch without both Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton, with the center fielder perhaps set to return to the club later this week. And Larnach’s August production has been a significant reason why the offense has been able to maintain its production in that stretch while others like Jose Miranda, Royce Lewis and Willi Castro struggled.

Larnach walked and scored the Twins’ first run in the first inning, then crushed a 112.5 mph liner to the right-field bleachers off former Twin Zack Littell in the second. After he learned that the homer had hit a fan in the face, he even brought that fan and his sons down to the field to give them a bat and sign the baseball — no harm done.

“He was in great spirits,” Larnach said. “We just had some good laughs and a good conversation. It was just one way to remember a ballgame, for sure.”

It’s shaping up to be a September — and a season — to remember for Larnach, the meaning of which isn’t lost on him considering the disappointment of his first three seasons, when the onetime top prospect struggled with injuries while he watched Matt Wallner leapfrog him in the organizational depth chart.

Now, he’s riding the high of a 133 wRC+ in August and a four-hit game and two three-hit games in the last two weeks as he’s established himself as the club’s consistent No. 2 hitter against right-handed pitching in a pennant chase.

“I’ve thought about that a couple times,” Larnach said. “I definitely don’t want that thought to sink in and think, ‘I’ve made it. I’m good.’ I always want to keep pushing and finding something to keep going.”

“We’ve watched him mature in so many different, positive ways right before our eyes,” Baldelli said. “He’s been very impressive, and, I mean, we’re not sitting here where we’re at without Trevor Larnach.”

Depth isn’t always a glitzy and glamorous story, but it’s what has the Twins in this position — with Lee’s production as the Twins’ interim shortstop an increasingly important factor down the stretch, as Correa’s plantar fasciitis continues to limit him far beyond what the Twins expected when he was first sidelined.

Lee, in his second game off the IL following his recovery from right biceps tendinitis, showed off a rejuvenated swing without the pain in the shoulder with the first right-handed homer of his career, which proved a needed run as the Twins gave their bullpen a stress test with Ronny Henriquez protecting a one-run lead in the sixth and Cole Sands pitching a setup eighth.

“He showed some big boy strength right there, and his buddies in the clubhouse won’t get on him for hitting the top of the wall,” Baldelli said. “That run, just like a lot of different individual points in this game, it mattered a lot.”

Even without Correa, Buxton, Brock Stewart, Chris Paddack, Joe Ryan and others, the Twins are pushing further clear of the Wild Card field — and the depth guys are relishing the opportunity.

“The situation is we’re in a playoff run, but I’m trying to stay calm and just take it as a normal outing,” Henriquez said.

The Twins are showing that it takes every man doing that down the stretch to steer them ever closer to October baseball.