Correa/Buxton collision casts cloud over Twins' 11th straight win

Thursday afternoon should've been another joyful day for the Minnesota Twins. Behind early back-to-back homers and another gem of a start from Chris Paddack, they picked up a 4-0 win, completed a sweep of the Orioles in Baltimore, and won their 11th consecutive game — the longest streak in baseball this season.

Unfortunately, a cloud hangs over this victory due to a scary, violent collision between Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton, the Twins' two biggest stars. Both players left the game after Buxton ran into Correa at nearly full speed while making a catch in shallow center field in the third inning. They're both in MLB's concussion protocol, the team announced later in the game. It would obviously be a major blow if either former All-Star has to miss time moving forward.

Collision aside, this was a smooth, stress-free victory for the Twins (24-20) to cap their second sweep of the Orioles (15-27) in a ten-day span. Paddack followed up his outstanding performance against the Giants last Friday with another dominant start. He threw seven scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out three. He induced nine groundouts, two of which turned into double plays.

Two starts into this season, the veteran Paddack had a 14.73 ERA and 2.59 WHIP. Across seven starts since then, he has a 2.07 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP. Paddack's last two outings have been his best, with just six hits, one walk, and one earned run allowed over 14.1 frames in a pair of victories. His season-long ERA is down to 4.05. Paddack has not only saved his spot in the Twins' rotation, he's been a valuable contributor to this incredible winning streak.

The Twins' offense provided more than enough run support in the top of the third inning when DaShawn Keirsey Jr. and Buxton went back to back. With Royce Lewis on first base, Keirsey hit a 3-2 breaking ball from Orioles starter Tomoyuki Sugano out to right field for the second home run of his career, both of which have come against Baltimore. One pitch later, Buxton ambushed a fastball and hit it an estimated 401 feet for his tenth homer of the year.

It's the first time the Twins have hit back-to-back home runs since Buxton and Trevor Larnach did it in Detroit last July 26.