The Twins had a four-run lead after five batters Monday, and that doesn’t even cover the most surprising part.

The real surprise was they did it all against a lefthanded starting pitcher. Hitting lefties has been the primary weakness for the offense all year, and after the front office didn’t address it at the trade deadline, Twins hitters are showing maybe it wasn’t such a glaring need.

The Twins had a seven-run lead in the second inning and cruised to a 9-3 victory at Comerica Park. They’ve won five consecutive games, their longest winning streak of the season, and they’re hitting .296 against lefties over the past week.

The offense’s struggles against lefty pitching was “something that’s been a little bit of a surprise to me,” said Derek Falvey, the Twins’ president of baseball operations, after the trade deadline. “There’s no other way to put it.”

The Twins, who claimed Jordan Luplow off waivers to help against lefties, forced Wentz to throw 32 pitches in the first inning. Donovan Solano lined a double to center field on the game’s first pitch and that was a harbinger for how they hit Wentz for the three innings he lasted. Carlos Correa followed two batters later with an RBI double down the left-field line for his first extra-base hit in nine games.

After Max Kepler reached on an infield single, Ryan Jeffers clobbered a cutter that didn’t cut for a three-run homer to left field. The homer extended Jeffers’ hitting streak to 13 games, the longest by a Twins hitter since Jorge Polanco’s 14-game hitting streak from May 27-June 13, 2019.

Jeffers started in a 0-2 count against Wentz, but he homered on the seventh pitch of the at-bat. It was his fourth home run in his past four games.

The Twins sent all nine of their starters to the plate in the first inning and that was just a warm-up act. In the second inning, Solano and Polanco hit back-to-back singles before Correa lifted a fly ball to right field that carried over the outstretched arm of Tigers right fielder Kerry Carpenter for a three-run homer.

Through the first two innings, Solano and Correa combined for four hits, four RBI and four runs. It was Correa’s first home run since July 18.

The Twins pushed their lead to eight runs in the third inning. Willi Castro hit a ground ball single through the left side of the infield, the ball leaving his bat at 110 miles per hour for the hardest-hit ball of the night. Luplow followed with an automatic double after his line drive to center field hopped over the wall, and Castro scored on a groundout.

Kyle Farmer and Michael A. Taylor were the only Twins hitters who didn’t produce a hit in the first three innings. Wentz recorded nine outs while giving up 10 hits and eight runs.

For the second time in three games, the Twins’ opponent used a position player to pitch the final inning.

Pablo López had a four-run lead before he took the mound, but he pitched like he didn’t need much help. López scattered five singles across seven shutout innings. There was only one baserunner who touched second base against López, and the runner advanced on a wild pitch.

López, who threw 70 of his 96 pitches for strikes (73%), struck out eight and did not issue a walk. After manager Rocco Baldelli congratulated him on his outing after he completed the seventh inning, Jeffers offered him a hug.

An All-Star last month, López has given up five runs in his past four starts (1.80 ERA) while striking out 28 in 25 innings.

The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.