The double is dying in MLB, but it is alive and well in Minnesota

In snapping a frustrating three-game losing streak Saturday, the Twins clubbed six doubles — including two from Jose Miranda, who now has 14 on the season. Byron Buxton, who doubled Saturday, had another one Sunday as the Twins scored a pair of key insurance runs in a 3-0 victory.

Why point out the particular significance of two games worth of two-base hits?

Two reasons, as it turns out.

One: It came as a surprise to me, when Patrick Reusse mentioned it on Monday’s Daily Delivery podcast, that doubles are down across Major League Baseball. Though his assertion that “nobody hits a double anymore” was a bit of hyperbole (not that Reusse is prone to that), this much is true: MLB teams are on pace to hit fewer doubles per game (currently 1.58) than in any full season in more than three decades.

Two: The Twins are an outlier. They lead the majors in doubles this season (151, almost two per game) and are on pace to finish with one of the highest number of doubles in franchise history.

So how do we explain seemingly conflicting trends?

Well, the fact that doubles are down across baseball surprised me because I assumed the recent offensive trend of teams swinging for the fences (or at least emphasizing hard contact) meant there would be plenty of all kinds of extra base hits.

As it turns out, though, this piece has some great explanations for all sorts of downward hitting trends. Pitchers are throwing harder and with greater variety. Outfield defense is being emphasized. Rangy fielders, advanced scouting and a tendency to play outfielders deeper has cut down on doubles in the gap. Baseballs themselves are not quite as lively as they were a few years ago.

Figuring out why the Twins are going against that trend is a bit trickier. They’re on pace for 314 doubles this season, which would rank in the top 10 in team history.

Here’s my sense: The Twins are putting the ball in play a whole lot more this season. They’re on pace for 1,314 strikeouts, which would be 340 fewer than last year when they set an MLB record and would be their fewest in a full season since 2015. And cutting down on whiffs hasn’t come at the expense of hitting the ball hard. They rank ninth in hard hit percentage this season after being sixth last year.

They basically have a good combination of batters who either hit the ball hard enough to find gaps, can stretch singles into doubles or both.

Those qualities are all-too-rare these days.

Here are four more things to know today:

*Reusse, who is not a big fan of Williams Arena, had a modest proposal on Monday’s podcast for how to start over: “Send in two fighter jets from Duluth and blow it up because it’s the only way you’re gonna get it blown up.”

*I enjoyed this piece on retiring KARE-11 anchor Randy Shaver, who leaves big shoes but also had some interesting reflections on the media business.

*Same goes for this Sarah McLellan story on the Plante family.

*Star Tribune columnist Chip Scoggins is expected to join me on Tuesday’s podcast as we continue to catch up on the things we missed after a week of vacation.