MINNEAPOLIS — Carlos Correa endured the worst hitting season of his career after signing the richest contract in Minnesota Twins history, playing through a painful bout of plantar fasciitis in his left foot.

The defense, intelligence and leadership were always there, though. Postseason prowess was part of the package, too.

Correa had an RBI single and a quick-twitch tag on a pivotal pickoff throw from Sonny Gray, and the Twins swept the Toronto Blue Jays with a 2-0 win in Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series on Wednesday.

“Everything is October. The mentality is different. I’m just giving everything out there, everything I have,” Correa said. “I’m going to keep doing that for the rest of the time that I’m here in Minnesota.”

The Twins advanced — for the first time in 21 years — to play the defending World Series champion Astros.

Game 1 of the best-of-five AL Division Series is in Houston on Saturday.

That’s familiar territory for Correa, who spent seven seasons with the Astros.

He signed with Minnesota in 2022 and re-upped for $200 million this year after agreed-to deals with the Giants and Mets fell apart over concern about an old ankle injury.

“Superstars show up in the biggest moments,” Gray said. “Just the way he sees the game, the way he can slow it down, is a special player.”

Correa helped Houston reach three World Series, winning it all in 2017, and he’s one round into another memorable October.

“They’ve got a great team, and so do we,” Correa said. “Everywhere you look, we’re ready.”

The two-time All-Star, who went 3 for 7 with a hit-by-pitch against the Blue Jays, ripped a bases-loaded single in a two-run fourth.

The patient Twins delivered precisely when they needed to at the plate, and their bullpen tossed 7¹/₃ scoreless innings in the series.

Jhoan Duran, after a delay to tend to a cut on his thumb following his warmup, struck out the side in the ninth to trigger a celebration around the mound.

The Blue Jays, who lost their seventh straight game in the playoffs since the AL Championship Series in 2016, left nine runners on base in each game.

Matt Chapman had a line drive hook just foul before grounding into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the sixth against Caleb Thielbar.

“One run in two games, one extra-base hit isn’t going to cut it,” Toronto manager John Schneider said.

Minnesota, after stopping a record 18-game postseason skid with the 3-1 win in Game 1, ended a nine-round losing streak that started with an ALCS defeat in 2002.

The Atlanta Braves (2001-2019) and Chicago Cubs (1910-1998) share the all-time mark with 10 straight series lost.

The Blue Jays made Gray work for his first career win in the playoffs, but the veteran right-hander finished five effective innings.

He had three inning-ending strikeouts, before the slick move to finish the fifth when he was in the most trouble.

Gray threw a wild pitch that put runners on second and third.

But with a full count on Bo Bichette, Gray whipped around and threw to the shortstop Correa, who grabbed the ball and grazed Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s chest with his glove a split-second before Guerrero’s hand hit the base.

Correa noticed the Blue Jays were taking big leads and having trouble hearing with the crowd noise, so he told Gray he’d signal when to try a pickoff.

“I told him there were some free outs on the bases,” Correa said. “It felt like the right situation to do it.”

The sellout crowd of 38,518 was even more into the action than Game 1, standing in anticipation of every inning-ending out for the Twins and thriving off the bulldog energy that Gray brought to the mound.

He finished third in the major leagues in ERA (2.79) during the regular season and logged 184 innings, his most since 2015.

Gray, who is eligible for free agency after the World Series, grew emotional in his pregame news conference on Tuesday when talking about the motivation that he gets from his two boys.

His son, Declan, even issued an ultimatum to his dad before the series: “You better not lose.”