Even as the surprising Twins stayed near the top of the American League Central throughout the first half, third-year manager Paul Molitor heard plenty about run differential from those who would discount his club as more pretender than contender.

Getting outscored by a whopping 60 runs en route to a 45-43 record left the Twins with the seventh-worst run differential in the majors and the fourth-worst in the AL. Then again, nearly the entirety of that disparity was achieved in a span of five double-digit losses, including back-to-back home embarrassments against the Boston Red Sox in early May.

“For the most part, I don’t worry about it all that much,” Molitor said. “We’ve talked about how we lose and how we win, and sometimes we seem to lose a little bit more lopsidedly than we win. Hence you get maybe a false impression of who we are by looking at just that differential.” Related Articles Twins clinch playoff berth with victory over Cubs

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While the Twins have gone 10-5 in one-run games so far, they are 12-20 in games decided by five or more runs. Total run differential in those blowout games: minus-72.

“I would much rather focus on the standings than worry about how badly we’re getting outscored,” Molitor said. “The wins and losses count more than anything else. I’ll take our share of winning the close games. If we get beat up once in a while in the losses, we can live with that.”

As the Twins prepare to honor the 30th anniversary of their 1987 World Series champions July 21-23 against the Detroit Tigers, it should be noted those title-winning Twins were outscored by 20 runs during an 85-win regular season.

With the second half set to start Friday night in Houston, here are five things that must happen for the Twins to stay in contention:

ROTATION BOOST

When the Twins reeled off four straight quality starts to open their final homestand of the first half, it marked their first such streak longer than two games all year.

Saddled with a rotation earned-run average of 4.95, fourth-worst in the majors, they signed 44-year-old right-hander Bartolo Colon (baseball’s oldest active player) to a minor-league deal last week. Colon, pitching for the first time since June 26, allowed four earned runs on four hits and two walks in just 3 2/3 innings on Thursday in his Twins debut at Triple-A Rochester.

All-Star right-hander Ervin Santana and 23-year-old Jose Berrios have combined for 58 percent (19 of 33) of the rotation’s quality starts — six or more innings with no more than three earned runs allowed — and 24-year-old rookie left-hander Adalberto Mejia has shown encouraging signs.

However, Kyle Gibson has a 6.31 ERA through 16 starts, Hector Santiago has been on the disabled list for all but two outings since early June and Phil Hughes, signed through 2019, is limited to a relief role due to a recurrence of thoracic outlet syndrome symptoms.

Double-A right-hander Felix Jorge already has been summoned for a pair of starts (one good, one bad), and fellow Chattanooga Lookouts pitchers Stephen Gonsalves and Fernando Romero, the Twins’ top two pitching prospects, could soon get a look, as well.

FAST START

Nine of the Twins’ first 12 games after the break are against teams a combined 67 games over .500: at the Houston Astros (60-29), at home against the New York Yankees (45-41) and at the Los Angeles Dodgers (61-29). Their combined run differential: plus-325, accounting for three of the game’s top four figures.

Not only will that be vital to hanging around in a crowded AL playoff race, the timing of those matchups (which conclude at Dodger Stadium on July 26), could go a long way toward determining whether the new front-office combo of Derek Falvey and Thad Levine decides to buy, sell or hold ahead of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

The 2015 Twins, who were 49-40 and 4 1/2 games out of first place at this stage, dropped nine of their first 13 games after the break, falling eight games out. Their only acquisition at the July 31 deadline was veteran reliever Kevin Jepsen, who saved 10 games down the stretch as they fell three games shy of the postseason.

FIX PRESSLY

All-star closer Brandon Kintzler has blown just three saves all year, and lefty Taylor Rogers has become one of the game’s most unheralded setup men. After that, however, it has too often been Grab Bag City whenever Molitor has reached into his bullpen.

At 4.83, Twins relievers have the fifth-worst ERA in the majors, and their nine-inning strikeout rate of 7.16 remains easily the lowest in the game. That’s why it’s so vital they get hard-throwing Ryan Pressly pointed in the right direction.

Back again after a pair of exiles to Triple-A Rochester, Pressly still has a 97-mph fastball along with a pair of high-grade breaking pitches. However, he also inexplicably has a 7.33 ERA to go with a team-best 10.0 strikeouts per nine innings.

“You’ve seen him when he’s done really well and when he’s scuffled,” Molitor said. “He can be his own worst enemy. His stuff is good. There are still some things he’s got to figure out.”

DOZIER SURGE

Remember when the Dodgers were weighing the merits of trading for Brian Dozier or Logan Forsythe?

Production has been strikingly similar so far this year for Dozier, who stayed put and has been playing through ankle and back issues, and Forsythe, who was acquired in late January for oft-injured pitcher Jose De Leon, only to sit on the shelf with a bruised toe that limited him to 54 games.

According to Fangraphs.com, Forsythe has contributed 1.0 Wins Above Replacement to the Dodgers. Dozier is at 0.9, a staggering drop from the 5.9 fWAR he produced in a 42-homer breakout season in 2016.

Notoriously streaky, Dozier probably needs to get hotter than he has all season to keep the Twins in the race.

MORE DIVISIONAL MUSH

It was an unsatisfying first half for the reigning AL champion Cleveland Indians, who saw manager Terry Francona deal with multiple absences before undergoing a heart procedure last week that kept him from managing in the All-Star Game.

Francona is due back in the dugout on Friday, but whether his club can fix its rotation woes and clutch hitting (sixth-worst production in the majors with runners in scoring position) remains an open question.

The Kansas City Royals surged through a 34-20 stretch before getting swept at Dodger Stadium heading into the break, but they open the second half with 10 straight at home and remain formidable as they seek a third pennant in four years.