Carlos Correa's First Hit Said Everything About His Early Slump

Carlos Correa raised both of his arms to the heavens as he ran to the first-base bag, expressing one of the strongest reactions possible to a weak single to right field.

After starting the season 0-for-18, including a 104 mph liner to center caught for an out in his first at-bat Wednesday afternoon, Correa sneaked one through the White Sox infield in the third inning for his first hit of 2025. Cue the dugout party. No, really.

Teammates on the bench hollered, clapped, and gestured in a half-faux celebration that was lively and humorous. Chris Paddack spelled "C4" in sign language to signal Correa's nickname, and Ryan Jeffers called for the ball to be tossed into the dugout for safekeeping like they would with a career milestone.

It was Correa's 1,151st career hit. He appeared to smile back to the bench — or was it a grimace? It’s unlikely anyone noticed, but the moment echoed Correa’s actual first hit in a major league uniform, which came with the Houston Astros 10 years ago this June at U.S. Cellular Field. Correa didn’t hit that one hard either; it was a slow roller to short against Chris Sale that he beat out for a single. Correa presumably asked for the ball and later put it on his mantel. Now it has a buddy.

The Twins seemingly had loosened up as they continued to emerge from a collective early-season slump that probably felt much worse than it was costly. All those sour emotions in the first four games, and they're still tied for first place with every other team in the AL Central as the first week of the regular season draws to a close. Yes, even with the Chicago White Sox.

A day after they got on the board with their first victory of the season, the Twins beat Chicago 6-1 at Rate Field on the South Side to improve their record to 2-4.

Both teams waited out a rain delay that lasted nearly 3 ½ hours before the first pitch. Correa told reporters that he didn’t even want to play because of the delay, feelings he said he regretted having after going 2-for-4 to raise his batting average to .095.

“It felt good to help the team today,” Correa said. “It's time to start rolling.”

The best waiter of them all might have been right-hander Pablo López, who said the delay drove him “crazy,” but he managed OK thanks to a short nap, after which he put Chicago’s lineup to bed. Correa joined Byron Buxton to spark the offense and make more run-saving plays on defense amid a “hurricane”-like wind, López said. The team’s leading trio exerting itself is how the Twins will win a lot of games, manager Rocco Baldelli said afterward.

None of the big three had distinguished themselves in the first five games of the season, though Correa hit into comically bad luck a few times, including seven other balls in play traveling at least 100 mph that were outs. Baldelli praised Correa's at-bats as being much better than 0-for-18.

"I was amazed that he didn't have a hit yet," Baldelli said. “It didn't make any sense.”

You can't think too deeply on it, but there was something to be said for Correa's first hit being a quiet bleeder going 89.3 mph when he otherwise hit so many loud outs. You'd also think Correa was doing poorly on purpose, given the way the loudest voices on Twins Twitter were caterwauling about his results for five games. Correa didn't come in hitting every pitch on the nose, but he did enter with a 93 mph average exit velocity, compared to 90 mph as a career mark, as CJ Bumgarner has pointed out.

Further, several notable MLB players came into Wednesday with zero hits: Rafael Devers (0-for-19), Willson Contreras (0-for-20), and Dylan Crews (0-for-16). Francisco Lindor, Yordan Alvarez, and Triston Casas had one hit apiece. Do these players need to get it going? Of course. Is it likely they’re going to? Yes!

And the Twins collectively weren't swinging as poorly as the results showed. One of their first big hits of the year, José Miranda's two-run, tie-breaking single in the sixth inning Tuesday night, went about 64 mph off the bat and dropped into no-Sox land in short right field. The Twins have been due one or two of those. Nothing like that was dropping at Busch Stadium in the first series of the year unless you played for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Fans have the luxury of worrying too much, too soon. Ballplayers don't, really, because before you know it, 0-4 could turn into 0-9 and, eventually, 59-103. Credit the Twins for keeping the right attitude through a rough first week. They have been patient enough.

It was easy to tell that Correa's opening slump was bothering him. Otherwise, he wouldn't raise his arms in a pretend triumph. And you could tell the team collectively was staying right mentally because of their reaction to Correa's single. It was oversized, sarcastic, and performative. But if winning a game Tuesday helped to take an edge off, the team's best player finally getting a knock for himself took off a second edge.

With all of these sharp edges removed, Twins Territory not only seems safer, but it probably will be smooth sailing for the Twins from here.

Won't it?