Twins beat Padres 11-4 in the last inning with seven runs in the fourth inning

SAN DIEGO – No team has allowed game-winning runs faster this week than the Twins. And no team scored them faster than the Twins on Wednesday.

The Twins ended a week-long road trip by putting pressure on the Padres in the same way the Rangers and Padres had done to them. In a span of 12 pitches in the fourth inning, the Twins managed an incredible seven consecutive hits and scored seven runs, all they needed for an 11-4 victory at Petco Park.

The win ended the Twins’ daunting three-game losing streak, finished the trip with a 4-3 record and cut the Guardians’ one-game lead in the AL Central, which has now shrunk to 2½ games.

“It’s so much easier to hit when you hit one guy at a time, and I feel like everyone was really good in this inning,” said Matt Wallner, who capped the big inning with a 410-foot hit into the right-field bleachers that scored three runs. “It just makes us feel good to end the road trip like this.”

Wallner’s home run came on the fourth pitch of his at-bat against Padres starter Matt Waldron, making Wallner the most patient hitter during this rally. The outburst began with Edouard Julien hitting a first-pitch knuckleball into right field for a single, followed by a first-pitch single by Christian Vázquez and a second-pitch double into the left field corner, scoring both runners.

Then came an RBI double by Willi Castro on the first pitch, a single by Trevor Larnach on the second pitch and a run-scoring single by Royce Lewis on the first pitch, all of which catapulted Wallner into his seats.

Twelve shots. Seven runs. It was like a basketball team winning on a fast break.

“Some days you have to do that. You have to be ready to strike,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Sometimes pitchers aren’t at their best and you don’t want to help them. But on the days when they’re trying to get a lead and throw a lot of strikes early, it’s not a bad thing to be on those pitches.”