The Twins started playing better baseball sometime during their previous road trip. They lost two of three to a good KC club and then were shut out 2-0 by King Felix. I believe it was after Hernandez blanked the Twins that Molitor made some lineup changes. Hunter had been moved to #2 which freed Dozier to hit cleanup. BD looked lost there, Santana had drawn zero walks and was hovering near the Mendoza line and Trevor Plouffe was, at the time, easily the hottest hitter on the team. Let's look at those moves, shall we?

Hunter: Torii was moved to second in the order after about a week at cleanup. His bat warmed immediately, but in the past week or so, he has been on fire. Overall as the #2 hitter, Torii has posted a .379/.584/.963 slash line in almost 100 plate appearances.

Santana: After having an outstanding run as the Twins' leadoff guy in 2014, Danny was having a hard time getting it going this year. Santana has posted only a .235 OBP (and batting average) in the #1 slot in the lineup. He has slumped a bit, as of late, but still has posted an improved .333/.429/.762 in the #9 hole.

Plouffe: Trevor was the fourth guy to log multiple games as the cleanup hitter. The Twins started with Hunter, tried Vargas for a couple games and moved on to Dozier, before elevating Dozier to lead off and moving Plouffe to #4. As I noted earlier, Plouffe was the hottest hitter on the club when the move was made. As the cleanup guy, he has done just fine--slashing .367/.462/.829. Since being moved to the cleanup spot, Plouffe has been very consistent, reaching base in every game and slamming three homers accumulating 14 RBI.

Dozier: Brian did well as the Twins' lead off guy last year, and was slotted there after being displaced by Hunter at #2 and then struggling as the cleanup hitter for about a week. Some have thought he isn't a very good fit as a lead off guy. I think he is excellent in that role. Dozier hasn't hit for a big average, but he gets on base. When he does reach, Dozier is the club's best base runner. Dozier also sees more pitches than any other player on the team. He does strike out a lot, but also draws a lot of walks. Dozier's slash line in the #1 hole: .360/.538/.898.

I would imagine that improvement was due anyway, but it seems that Molitor made sound lineup changes at the right time and put the right people in the proper spots, at least for now. Until the offense cools, I would imagine that the four guys listed will stay in the spots where they have been productive.