Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Saturday, August 19, 2017

Santana, Twins win series opener over Diamondbacks. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 1 Twins notes: Callup reunites Twins' Mitch Garver with wife in Twin Cities. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 2 Reusse: Gardy returns to Target Field as happy, healthy Arizona bench coach. Star Tribune (Reusse) p. 3 Postgame: Twins say they could see a Miguel Sano breakout game coming. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 4 Mitch Garver isn't in Twins lineup, but he's ready to make MLB debut. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 5 Twins' altercation in 1967? Part about a gun on team bus was avoided. Star Tribune (Reusse) p. 6 Byron Buxton electrifies in 10-3 Twins win over Diamondbacks. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 7 John Shipley: Only Ron Gardenhire’s eight uniforms have changed. Pioneer Press (Shipley) p. 8 Ageless Bartolo Colon providing levity, wisdom in Twins clubhouse. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 9 Twins score 10 unanswered runs to beat D-backs. MLB (Gilbert & Jackson) p. 11 Byron Buxton breaks his own Statcast record. MLB (Jackson) p. 12 Rod Carew meets family of heart, kidney donor. MLB (Jackson) p. 13 Gardenhire cheered in return to Target Field. MLB (Jackson) p. 13 Zulgad: Byron Buxton falls short of hitting for cycle but also shows no signs of slowing down. 1500 ESPN (Zulgad) p. 14 Gardenhire just visiting, but Arizona bench coach returns to Target Field both healthy and happy. 1500 ESPN (Zulgad) p. 15 Twins club 6 homers to erase deficit, clobber D-backs. Associated Press. P. 16 Diamondbacks look to rebound versus Twins (Aug 19, 2017). Associated Press. P. 17 Twins Notes: Garver, Colon, Enns, Ervin, Rosario. MLB Trade Rumors (Adams) P. 18 Twins' Byron Buxton sets new record for fastest inside-the-park homer. Los Angeles Times (Loumena) p. 19

Santana, Twins win series opener over Diamondbacks

Phil Miller| Star Tribune | August 19, 2017

Byron Buxton was at top speed halfway to first base. He was already headed to second base when his long fly ball glanced off the wall in right-center, and he was two long strides from third when Arizona center fielder A.J. Pollock retrieved the ricochet and desperately heaved it toward the infield. And Buxton just kept going. “An inside-the-park home run is as exciting a play as our game can offer,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said after his team won for the ninth time in 12 games, 10-3 over the Diamondbacks on Friday night. “And when you have one of the fastest players in the game do it — it was really a boost for us.” More like a booster rocket. The ball arrived at home plate a split-second earlier than baseball’s fastest player, but the relay throw was a step or two toward third base, and catcher Chris Iannetta had to make a sweeping tag that Buxton slid under, headfirst. MLB announced his trip around the bases took a mere 13.85 seconds, the fastest that its StatCast system, installed in 2015, had ever recorded. The Twins bashed a half-dozen home runs for the second time this year, and they came in all varieties — including two of Miguel Sano’s longest blasts ever, a 450-footer followed by a 474-foot cannon shot — but none was as electrifying as Buxton’s world-class sprinting. They piled up 10 runs, earning Ervin Santana his 13th win. Yet there was plenty of drama when Buxton batted for the fourth time, and his teammates were rooting for him to just punch a little blooper over the infield. Buxton already had collected a stand-up triple, a double into the corner and his round-tripper, and needed only a single to become the first Twin in eight seasons — since Michael Cuddyer, who by coincidence was at Target Field watching — to hit for the cycle.

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“I was on deck, and my mentality was to stay the same, keep the same approach,” Buxton said. But with the crowd roaring on every pitch, he added, “I felt like a pitcher pitching a perfect game with two outs.” “I know he would have gone to second,” Molitor said. “The guys were giving him a hard time about, ‘You’ve got to fall down.’ ” He took a slider for a ball, and then Buxton took a solid swing at another fastball, driving it toward center field. But second baseman Daniel Descalso snagged it for the out. “It’s one of those rare feats, it rivals no-hitters in terms of rarity. And when you knock the first three legs out first, everyone was very hopeful he would find a way to get a knock,” Molitor said. “He had a good at-bat, he stayed inside the fastball, but unfortunately he got it right out there to the second baseman. It was fun. The crowd was into it.” So was his team, which vowed to get him another at-bat. “We talked about it coming off the field in the eighth — let’s see what we can do,” Molitor said. “We started off well. We came close,” but Buxton was left two batters short. There was a lot to get into in this game, though it didn’t look like it at first, after Santana allowed two runs in the first inning and another on a David Peralta home run in the second. But then came homers by Max Kepler, Eduardo Escobar and Brian Dozier, the latter tying him with Cuddyer for 10th place in Twins history with 141. And Sano’s were just tape-measure blasts, one into the second deck in left-center, the other in the third deck directly above the bullpens. “Some of those balls are ridiculous,” Buxton said of Sano’s blasts. Just like his speed. Buxton was even disappointed in his baserunning. “I stutter-stepped around third,” he said. “Got to work on that.” Twins notes: Callup reunites Twins' Mitch Garver with wife in Twin Cities

Phil Miller | Star Tribune | August 19, 2017

Sarah Garver was in the Twin Cities on Thursday, wrapping up her first week as an intern at a veterinary clinic and preparing to fly to her home in Albuquerque, N.M. That's when the phone call came, and changed all her plans. "My wife was in tears," Mitch Garver said. "I called her and said, 'Hey, cancel your flight. I'm coming to town.' " That's because Garver is the latest Class AAA Rochester player to be called up to the Twins, summoned to take the place of outfielder Robbie Grossman, who suffered a fractured left thumb Thursday. Garver is a 26-year-old catcher, the Twins' ninth-round pick in 2013, who was batting .291 with 17 homers in 88 games for the Red Wings. He will be the 11th Twins player to make his major league debut this season, tying the franchise record set in 1999. And wife Sarah, a graduate student at Oregon State, isn't the only one surprised that he's here. "It caught me off guard. I don't think anybody can be ready for this experience," Garver said. "You've got to trust your training and just roll with it." His training is as a catcher, but he will have to roll with playing left field or first base while he's here, because "I don't envision catching being a big need for us right now," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. But Garver has played left field in 14 games this season, and first base five, and reports of his adjustment are positive, the manager said. "He told me today, every time I'm out there, I get a play that kind of increases my confidence," Molitor said. "You can be verbally instructed, but experience is the best way to learn. The more he's gone out there, I'm sure the more comfortable he's gotten." And he's gotten particularly comfortable at the plate. "I'm a guy who can put together a good at-bat, see a lot of pitches. I know when I can be aggressive, when to tone it back. I've learned how to see the ball a little bit deeper and to trust my hands," he said. "An all-fields hitter, really putting an emphasis on finding the barrel and putting the ball in the air this year," which has resulted in his power surge. The Twins have needed a righthanded bat off the bench all season, particularly since Max Kepler has slumped against lefthanded pitching; Kepler is 2-for-35 (.057) against lefthanders since June 22. Molitor said he can envision Garver getting a few starts against lefthanders, with

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Eddie Rosario moving to right field when he plays. "He was a little up and down in his early minor league career, and somewhere along the way, something jolted him to understand he had to turn it up a little bit to get back on course. And he's done that," Molitor said. For now, the Garvers are just trying to relish their new experience in a new city. "What a crazy experience. This is something special, it's something I've always dreamed of," Mitch Garver said. "It's absolutely surreal right now." Etc. • Grossman, officially placed on the disabled list Friday after his collision with Byron Buxton the day before, will travel with the Twins while he's sidelined, Molitor said. "Robbie is a big part of that clubhouse [and] its culture," Molitor said. • A magnetic resonance imagining test on Dietrich Enns' left shoulder found inflammation but no other damage, so he had an injection in an effort to treat the soreness. Enns missed two months earlier this season because of a shoulder strain. • Former Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was the subject of a video tribute before the game, and received a standing ovation as he came out to exchange lineup cards. He also accepted a check from Twins President Dave St. Peter for $186,000 for cancer research, a cause he has adopted after being diagnosed with prostate cancer last spring. Reusse: Gardy returns to Target Field as happy, healthy Arizona bench coach

Patrick Reusse| Star Tribune | August 19, 2017

The Twins fired Ray Miller as manager on Sept. 12, 1986, with 23 games remaining in the season, and replaced him with Tom Kelly. Ron Gardenhire became manager in 2002, after Kelly’s resignation, and was fired on Sept. 29, 2014, one day after the end of the season. Two managers in 28 years … and this after Gardenhire had spent 11 seasons as Kelly’s third-base coach. There was a remarkable bond of trust developed among employees during those decades, and here’s an example: Gardenhire was hired in November to serve as the bench coach for Torey Lovullo, the newly hired manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Teams require a preseason physical. So, Gardenhire did what he had done for years — “I went to Doc Vijay” — in the Twin Cities. Dr. Vijay Eyunni was pleased that Gardenhire was following his advice to eat healthier and lose weight. What he wanted to check further was a somewhat elevated reading on Gardy’s PSA test. Gardenhire went to see Dr. William Utz, a local surgeon who has been relied on by the Twins. Gardy’s prostate was biopsied, and then he and wife Carol started a drive to Arizona, with a detour through Oklahoma to see their grandson, Ronnie. The call came on Gardenhire’s cellphone from Dr. Eyunni: Prostate cancer … you got it. “You meet so many people in spring training, here in Minnesota, fans who come up and tell you their story, what they’ve been through, and you offer encouragement,” Gardenhire said. “That’s a big word, ‘cancer,’ and when somebody says you have it, it’s really big.” Gardenhire couldn’t have surgery for two months because of the effects of the biopsy on his prostate. He called Lovullo, told him of the situation, and said, “If you want to get out of this deal, I would understand. Torey said, ‘Get down here; 100 percent, we want you.’ ” So, the Gardenhires stopped on the farm outside his hometown of Okmulgee, where daughter Tiffany lives with husband Mike, and Grandpa Ron bounced around Ronnie, and then they drove to Arizona to join the Diamondbacks for spring training. The managerial change to Lo­vullo came after Arizona went 69-93 in 2016. Gardenhire didn’t know what to expect when he arrived at the Salt River spring complex. “I started to see these guys work and said, ‘This can be a pretty good ballclub,’ ” Gardenhire said. “Paul Goldschmidt is one of the best players in the game … maybe the best. Zack Greinke as an ace, he’s unbelievable. I saw a lot of players, and pitchers to go with Zack. “Robbie Ray, the lefty, the kid who was hit in the head with the line drive last month, he’s really good. We’re hoping to have him back soon.” Gardenhire was with the D-Backs through spring training and the start of the season, then returned here to have his prostate removed on April

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18. He returned to the team on May 14, in the middle of a homestand, and Gardenhire said he received a clean bill of health at a checkup Friday. The Diamondbacks were at Target Field for the start of a weekend interleague series. They are holding the National League wild-card positions with division rival Colorado at 67-54. It’s happenstance, but the timing couldn’t be better for the Twins having their 13-season manager back in town. Michael Cuddyer, one of “Gardy’s Guys,” will be inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame on Saturday night, and Gardenhire will catch the ceremonial first pitch. Andy MacPhail will be inducted on Sunday, and he was general manager in 1991, when Gardenhire was in his first season as a coach and the Twins won a second World Series. The Twins won six division titles in Gardenhire’s first nine seasons. They moved into Target Field for one raucous, 94-win season in 2010, when Gardenhire was named AL Manager of the Year, and then the pitching and thus the bottom fell out. “Things got rough here those last four years,” Gardenhire said. “I’ve never been more grateful for Minnesota Nice. Being here in the Twin Cities, taking the snowmobile rides, going on the caravans … people still treated us great.” Gardenhire will turn 60 on Oct. 24. He is a much slimmer, healthier-looking baseball man than the 56-year-old manager who left here stressed-out, overweight and “borderline for diabetes” three years ago. The Gardenhires still have a house in the Twin Cities. They still have a place in Fort Myers, the Florida home for the Twins. “Our daughter Tara is living in the house here with her big dog, and she loves it,” Gardenhire said. “Our son Toby is coaching in Fort Myers and living in our place in Florida. “And we’re not getting any rent.” The Gardenhires are paying rent in Phoenix, though. “To Justin Morneau,” Gardy said. “I knew he had a condo there, so I called Justin when I got this job, and he rented it to me for the season. Morney’s my landlord.” As another Gardy Guy, Morneau must be giving him a deal. Postgame: Twins say they could see a Miguel Sano breakout game coming

Phil Miller | Star Tribune | August 19, 2017

A handful of extras from an eventful night at Target Field: Miguel Sano had had a terrible week. He went 0-for-9 against the Indians and struck out six times, and he had driven in only four runs all month. But Paul Molitor noticed something Thursday night that gave him hope: Sano drew two walks. “He’s been working really hard, just trying to stay on the ball and recognize pitches a little bit better,” the Twins’ manager said. “When he’s getting walks, I know he’s getting close.” Sano walked again in the first inning Friday, and then his night got really interesting. In the fifth inning, Sano inside-outed a pitch to right field for a single, and though he was quickly thrown out on a baserunning error — he ran through coach Gene Glynn’s stop sign on Eddie Rosario’s double and stopped halfway to the plate — it was another good sign. Byron Buxton, in fact, said he predicted to Sano that he would break out of his slump with a two-homer game Friday. Then came the seventh inning, and reliever David Hernandez’s first pitch: A slider that Sano drove to the second deck in deep left-center, 452 feet away. An inning later, facing Silvino Bracho, Sano outdid himself, cracking a pitch to the third deck, directly above the bullpens, estimated at 474 feet. “Miggy’s homers,” Molitor understated, “were extremely loud.”

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Sano wasn’t the only home run hitter, of course. Max Kepler connected on his sixth in the past eight days, and Eduardo Escobar hit his 11th of the season, just one shy of his career high. Brian Dozier connected on a long down-the-line shot into the upper deck that tied him with Michael Cuddyer, who was in the stadium watching the game, for 10th place on the Twins’ career list with 141. And Byron Buxton had the night’s most memorable homer, an inside-the-park blow that took him only 13.85 seconds to complete. “Just the fact that [Buxton] is contributing the way he is offensively, it’s been a big lift for us.,” Molitor said. “That energizes everybody in the ballpark, including in our dugout.” XXX Trevor Hildenberger arrived on the mound with nobody out in the seventh inning, runners on first and second base, and the heart of Arizona’s lineup coming to the plate. His assignment: Protect the Twins’ 4-3 lead. “Yeah, it was intense,” the sidearm reliever said. “It was like the Justin Upton situation Sunday,” when he earned his first career save. Hildenberger came through again, and he needed only two pitches to do it. A.J. Pollock was at the plate, and the Twins weren’t certain what he would do. “I didn’t know if he was going to bunt there, so we put on the bunt play and he took the first pitch,” Hildenberger said. “So we thought, ‘I don’t think he’s going to bunt.’ And I went with the sinker, trying to get a ground ball.” He did, a one-hopper right back to the mound. “I take pride in fielding my position,” the rookie said. “I don’t remember exactly where it was. All I remember was catching the ball, turning and throwing.” He turned the pitch into a double play, and Molitor removed him in favor of lefthander Taylor Rogers, who retired Jake Lamb on a popup. XXX — Eddie Rosario smacked two doubles and a single, extending his hitting streak to eight games, but was hardly mentioned among all the other offense. The left fielder is batting .450 (18-for-40) over his last 10 games. — Byron Buxton’s 13.85-second trip around the bases is the fastest inside-the-park home run of the three-year StatCast era; there have been 30 such homers since the start of 2015, when the measuring system was installed, including one by Brian Dozier in April. So whose record did Buxton break? His own, of course: Buxton was timed at 14.05 seconds during his inside-the-park home run in Chicago last October, in the 2016 season’s final game. By coincidence, Miguel Sano hit a tape-measure home run in that game, too. Mitch Garver isn't in Twins lineup, but he's ready to make MLB debut

Phil Miller | Star Tribune | August 18, 2017

Mitch Garver is here, ready to become the 11th Twin to make his major-league debut, tying the franchise record for a single season. (There were 11 in 1999, too.) It might come tonight, but not necessarily — Garver isn’t in the starting lineup. He’s also primarily a catcher, too, and manager Paul Molitor said, “I don’t envision catching being a big need for us right now.” But Garver has played 14 games in left field at Class AAA Rochester this season, and five at first base, and Molitor said he would feel comfortable playing him at either spot. He also likes having a right-handed bat off the bench, something the Twins have lacked this year. Garver was batting .291 when he got the call last night, and has a career-high 17 home runs, too. “I’m happy that we’ve taken the road that kind of increases his versatility,” Molitor said. “We’ll see how he gets mixed in.” The Twins are trying to get on a roll again, something that was derailed by the Cleveland Indians and wet weather. They’ll face the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend, with Ron Gardenhire looking on from the visitor’s dugout. The D-Backs’ bench coach says he’s cancer-free, is enjoying his new role with one of the National League’s better teams, and is looking forward to witnessing Michael Cuddyer and Andy MacPhail being inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame the next couple of days. Here are the lineups for Game 1 of the three-game interleague series (Update: J.D. Martinez was scratched. Brandon Drury is now the DH. Here is updated lineup:)

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Twins' altercation in 1967? Part about a gun on team bus was avoided

Patrick Reusse | Star Tribune | August 18, 2017

There will be a package of stories in Sunday’s Star Tribune marking the 50th anniversary of Minnesota’s eventful 1967 sports calendar: The Twins in “The Great Race,’’ the Vikings with Norm Van Brocklin gone and Bud Grant hired as coach, the arrival of the North Stars, the Muskies and Met Center, and the Gophers earning what remains the last Big Ten football title as tri-champions with Purdue and Indiana. These retrospectives give us a chance to put researcher John Wareham to work in the Star Tribune library. The broad sheet copies from that research always seem to present as much interesting stuff as what makes its way into the articles. One intriguing sidelight was found in Twins pieces in the June 21, 1967 editions of the Minneapolis Morning Tribune and the afternoon Minneapolis Star. The Twins had played a Tuesday night exhibition game at Indianapolis against the Indians of the Pacific Coast League on June 20. Tom Briere, the beat writer for the Tribune, had a story on the exhibition game, leading with the fact that third base coach Billy Martin had entered at second base in the sixth inning and had a couple of hits. There was also a four-paragraph item – obviously, written under a severe deadline – that an altercation had broken out between Ted Uhlaender and Tony Oliva on the team bus from the Detroit airport to the hotel. The final paragraph also said pitcher Dave Boswell had “instigated the fracas with some by-play in the back of the bus.’’ Max Nichols’ piece in the afternoon Star included the information that manager Cal Ermer had called a noon meeting with the players to discuss the situation. Nichols’ coverage included this: “These three players exploded in a pushing, shoving and shouting contest about midnight as the Twins bus neared the Detroit hotel.’’ He also wrote, “Gestures by Boswell evidently started the scuffle.’’ There were two parts to this 50-year-old story for me: One, Tony Oliva is my favorite all-time Twin, as a player and personality; and two, Briere and Nichols were riding on the team bus (as beat reporters often did in that era) and felt the freedom to publish what they had observed. I was at the ballpark Friday to interview Ron Gardenhire. I wrote that piece for Saturday’s paper and then decided to go to ask Tony O. about the blowup on the bus, figuring there wasn’t that much to it. “Hey, Senor,’’ as I’ve called him for 40 years, I said, “I ran across these clippings of a fight on the team bus in 1967. You’re not a fighter.’’ Tony walked over and said: “That’s true. I’m not a fighter, I’m a lover.’’ Then, Tony took the copy of the Star’s front sports page, looked at the headline – “Ermer’s Strong Hand Calms Twin Squabble’’ – and offered the slight smile that indicates he’s interested in something. “There was a part of this that no one would talk about, and the writers didn’t write,’’ he said. “Boswell had a gun on the bus. “It was an exhibition game, and I don’t know – there was probably a lot of drinking by some players, if they weren’t playing, or after they left the game. We were on the way in from the Detroit airport, and Boswell started waving around a gun, above his head, like he was going to shoot a hole in the roof. “I don’t know if the gun was loaded or not. I told Boswell to put the gun away, that it was not funny, it was dangerous. “That’s when Uhlaender got involved.’’ Tony shook his head and said: “Ted and I had played together since the instructional league. He was my interpreter then, because he knew some Spanish. We were friends. But that night, some stuff came out of him that got quite a few players mad … not just me. “He started saying, ‘You Cubans this, Cubans that,’ and it wasn’t good. Sandy Valdespino was hotter than I was. He was coming over the seat. And Ted was saying, ‘You’re going to have the black guys on your side over this, but I’m going to have the white guys.’

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“Harmon [Killebrew], [Bob] Allison … they were looking at him, didn’t know what to do. Ermer said something to us when we got off the bus. They didn’t want any mention of the gun, so people wondered, ‘Why was Tony telling Boswell what to do?’ ‘’ Oliva said there was a knock on his door the next morning at 9 o’clock. It was Uhlaender. “He said, ‘You know me, Tony … we go way back; that stuff I said, that’s not the way I am,’ ‘’ Oliva said. “I told him, ‘That was last night. We will forget it.’ “That was quite a team meeting. We played good after that and almost won a pennant, but we played that way because we had a good team. There were some bad feelings after that mess on the bus.’’ Dang. This was way more than I expected when going downstairs at Target Field to see my man Tony O. on Friday. Byron Buxton electrifies in 10-3 Twins win over Diamondbacks

Mike Berardino |Pioneer Press | August 18, 2017

Not long ago a few of Byron Buxton’s Twins teammates started ribbing him good-naturedly about his on-field stoicism. “Some of the guys were saying, ‘You don’t ever show any emotion,’ “ Buxton said. “So I said, ‘All right, I’ll start.’ “ Then came Friday night’s 10-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks and another round of electrifying play from the Twins’ blazing center fielder, who scored three runs and fell a single shy of the cycle after his second career inside-the-park homer. On a six-homer night the Twins moved back into second place in the American League Central and matched their top power output of the season: May 2 against the Oakland A’s. Miguel Sano had two mammoth blasts, but it was Buxton’s livewire act that everyone was talking about afterward. “All the energy he brings to the game, it’s amazing,” said Twins right-hander Ervin Santana, who overcame a slow start in improving to 13-7. “And the way he plays, he hustles every time. It makes me put more zeros on the board and get more into the game.” Buxton’s night started with a one-out stand-up triple to center in the second inning. Next came his eighth homer and first inside-the-parker at Target Field, a leadoff drive that took a funny carom off the wall in right center. After Buxton slid home headfirst with the tying run, he popped to his feet, pumping his fists and clapping his hands as he shouted toward the home dugout. There was no disguising his joy at playing this game, and the home fans responded to his display. “It’s amazing, especially when the fans get into it and back you up,” Buxton said “That pushed us a little bit and changed the momentum of the game.” According to Statcast, Buxton circled the bases in 13.85 seconds, topping his own record from the final day of the 2016 regular season, when he opened the game with a speedy tour of the bases against Chris Sale in Chicago. No other player has gone lower than 14.24 seconds on an inside-the-parker in the brief Statcast era. In the sixth, Buxton ripped a double past third, bringing him within a single of the 11th cycle in Twins history. As fate would have it, the authors of the first and most recent cycles in club history were on hand for Buxton’s outburst. Rod Carew accomplished the feat at Kansas City on May 20, 1970. Carew, in town for Twins hall of fame weekend, was part of the first-pitch ceremony with the parents of Konrad Reuland, his heart donor. Also in the house was Michael Cuddyer, set for his hall induction on Saturday night. His cycle with the Twins came on May 22, 2009 against the Milwaukee Brewers. While both Carew and Cuddyer needed five at-bats for their cycles, Buxton had a chance to do it in four straight trips. Facing reliever David Hernandez, he lined out to second baseman Daniel Descalso, perfectly positioned near the bag. Sano and Eduardo Escobar, who each cracked two-run homers earlier in the seventh, were among disappointed Twins teammates pulling for the cycle as they stood at the dugout railing.

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“I started walking toward the batter’s box and I usually look at the label of my bat and I completely missed all of that,” Buxton said. “I just saw red jerseys on the rail, everybody standing up. It was kind of just, ‘Whoa.’ It felt like a pitcher pitching a perfect game with two outs (in the ninth). That’s how it felt.” Sano’s first homer, a majestic 440-foot blast over the bullpens, ended a home drought of nearly a full calendar month. It also was just the second homer anywhere for Sano since Aug. 2 as he has seen his majors-leading strikeout total climb. He homered again his next time up, this one traveling an estimated 469 feet and giving him 28 homers. There again, Buxton provided the spark, telling Sano before the game he would hit two homers. “I just kept repeating it,” Buxton said. “I had a feeling he was going to get locked in. Right before he hit the first one, I said, ‘Hey, man, be you. Don’t worry about anything. Just go out there and be yourself.’ I think that kind of clicked for him.” Max Kepler homered for the second straight game, giving him six homers in August and 16 on the year, and shortstop Jorge Polanco drove in a pair of runs on a two-hit night. Brian Dozier’s 24th homer gave him 141 for his career, tying Cuddyer for 10th in Twins history. John Shipley: Only Ron Gardenhire’s eight uniforms have changed

John Shipley |Pioneer Press | August 18, 2017

A few years ago before a Twins game, then-manager Ron Gardenhire and former Pioneer Press beat writer Gregg Wong crossed paths in the Target Field clubhouse. Maybe it was the Metrodome. Wong, then as now working as an official major league scorer, spied his onetime foil sitting in the manager’s office and instinctively hurled a barb his way. Gardenhire fired back. This went on for a while, each working off what the other had just given him, spitting out new lines on tacit command. It was incredibly entertaining. That’s when it became clear to a reporter fresh on the Twins beat: OK, this guy is smart — smarter than you. He just hasn’t rubbed your face in it. He never did. You could argue with Gardenhire, write something he didn’t like, even get into a shouting match; the next day it was over. Back at Target Field for the first time as an opposing coach on Friday, Gardenhire was the same person fans and reporters saw during 13 seasons as the Twins’ manager, win or lose. Asked for his duties as bench coach for Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo, Gardenhire touched index fingers as if about to reel off a list. “I do a lot,” he said. “I make sure he has coffee …” His biggest decision of the day, he added, is choosing which pieces of the Diamondbacks’ eight official uniforms he will wear. “I went out and started buying my own shoes so they would match,” he said. The Diamondbacks were in Minnesota to open a three-game interleague series, and it marked Gardenhire’s first time working in Target Field’s visiting clubhouse. As he did nearly every day as the Twins’ manager, he sat atop of a dugout bench and entertained a gaggle of reporters during batting practice, only this time on the third-base side. “Love it,” Lovullo said. “I’m a lucky guy to have him sitting by my side. I know he’s home again. I’m trying to absorb as much as I can and take it out of his mind, and put it in mine. I’m lucky. He’s got a thousand (career) victories. He did a lot of good things in this town. He deserves that attention.” Before the game, Twins President Dave St. Peter presented Gardenhire with a $186,000 check for prostate cancer research, a cause he has added to his list since he was diagnosed with the disease in February. He had his prostate removed on April 19 and joined the Diamondbacks on the bench a month later. On Friday, he received positive results from his latest blood tests. “I don’t have a prostate, so I know I don’t have prostate cancer,” he deadpanned. “But whether it’s dead or not, I guess that’s a long-term thing to see if this cancer, how aggressive it was and will it ever show up again?” That’s news for later. The Diamondbacks entered Friday fairly ensconced in one of the National League’s two wild-card playoff spots, and Gardenhire is having fun again. Between losing his job and being diagnosed with cancer, it had been a long couple of years for the family —

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which still, incidentally, calls Minnesota home. Gardenhire interviewed for managerial jobs in San Diego and Washington, but this seems to have worked out pretty well. Lovullo got a smart baseball man to bounce ideas off, and Gardenhire got a chance to recover from cancer and still be helmsman on his first playoff-bound team since the 2010 Twins won the AL Central. It was good to see him. “I’m just going with it. I’m just trying to have fun and enjoying baseball again,” he said. “It’s exciting, and I like it. After I got out, I was pretty disappointed about the whole package of baseball, how it ended up. I didn’t want it to end like that, losing. So I refreshed myself, I’ve gotten back in it, I’m enjoying the heck out of this.” Ageless Bartolo Colon providing levity, wisdom in Twins clubhouse

Mike Berardino |Pioneer Press | August 18, 2017

In many ways, Bartolo Colon is the gift that just keeps on giving. Not only to the media and the Twins’ fan base, which delights in tracking everything from the 44-year-old’s pitching exploits to his cryptic statements delivered with the help of a team-issued translator, but to his 10th and latest employer as well. In addition to his work on the mound, where Colon will make his seventh start for the Twins on Sunday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, he has made himself available to young teammates — pitchers and hitters — for regular sessions filled with wisdom and humor. “It’s not like Kirby Puckett, where you know where he is in the clubhouse all the time,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “I just think it’s more subtle. It’s kind of ongoing throughout the day. Might be at the lunch table, which he visits a couple of times.” Molitor paused and waited for the wave of laughter to arrive, which it soon did. “He doesn’t take himself too seriously,” Molitor said. “I think at times we all get a little too tightly wound about who we are and where we are in the game. It takes a little pressure off.” Even when he’s not in the room, Senor Joke provides much-needed comic relief and levity in the midst of an unlikely postseason push. All this for the pro-rated minimum salary of $222,185.80 for the final 76 days of the regular season. The Atlanta Braves are on the hook for the remainder of his $12.5 million salary after releasing him in June. How funny is that? “He’s hilarious,” catcher Chris Gimenez said. “He runs around, joking around, stepping on cups, making noise in the dugout. He’s got this foam roller, and he bangs it around. He scares everybody all the time. He’s just having fun. He’s a 44-year-old who’s 12.” At first glance, Miguel Sano wouldn’t appear to have much to discuss with Colon. When the pitcher made his big-league debut with the Cleveland Indians in April 1997, Sano was 3 years old. While Sano is an all-star third baseman with a second-place finish in last month’s Home Run Derby, Colon has a wild swing that has launched a thousand memes. And yet, somehow, these two proud products of the Dominican Republic have hit it off. “To me, it’s great,” Sano said. “He has a lot of experience in baseball, like 20 years. He tries to give good things to everybody here, all the young players. He’s a great man. He sees how we’re doing. He tries to help people out, on and off the field.” While Sano leads the majors in strikeouts and is on pace to shatter the big-league record for season strikeouts, Colon recently found a way to get him to laugh about it. After Sano’s third strikeout in as many trips during a recent day game, Colon asked to see Sano’s bat. He then took a baseball and repeatedly tapped it against the barrel of Sano’s bat as if to show him where the ball is supposed to go. “That’s what he told me,” Sano said with a laugh. “He took the ball and said, ‘Hit it here. Hit it here. Hit it here.’ After that I got a base hit.” Even Molitor, who went over during the conversation to see what was going on, got a chuckle out of that exchange.

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“I think they’ve built a relationship rather quickly,” he said. “I don’t know how much they interacted before he got here, if at all, but I know that Colon has helped him. He’s probably given him some wisdom, but he’s also not afraid to challenge with a little sarcasm now and then too. It works more than one way.” Between Ervin Santana and Colon, Sano has found veteran pitchers who not only share his mischievous sense of humor but also his advanced instincts for the game and its many subtleties. That’s how Colon and Santana have climbed to second and fourth, respectively, on the all-time wins list for pitchers born in the Dominican. “I try to learn from people like that,” Sano said. “(Colon) is an old guy here on the team. He has more experience than everybody here.” Added Molitor: “He’s just got a presence that kind of commands respect from everybody here, and the fact he’s been able to contribute the way he has makes him even more of a centerpiece for our guys to flock to at times.” And to think, none of this might be happening if Colon hadn’t answered a recruiting call to his cell phone back in the Dominican on the morning of July 5. “My phone rang, and I didn’t know whose number it was,” Colon said through a translator. “I don’t like answering numbers I don’t know, but I decided to answer it, and it was Ervin.” Released a week earlier, Colon had only heard from the New York Mets, for whom he won 44 games from 2014-16 and pitched in the 2015 World Series with Twins special assistant Michael Cuddyer as his teammate. At the request of the Twins’ front office, Santana was calling with a sales pitch. It was important enough that Santana, due to pitch that night against the Los Angeles Angels, interrupted his normal routine to call his Angels teammate from 2005-07. While Santana’s bosses have asked him about particular players over the course of his 13-year big-league career, this was the first time he’d been directly enlisted to make a recruiting call. “It was because I played with him and we’re good friends,” said Santana, who also pitched in Atlanta for one challenging season in 2014. “I didn’t mind. I don’t really have my game face on yet in the morning.” Asked what he remembered about the call, Santana smiled. “I just asked him, ‘Would you like to play with us?’ ” he said. “Bartolo was like, ‘Yeah, of course, I would.’ It was not a long conversation.” Colon only had a few questions: about the Twins’ clubhouse, about the coaching staff, about the general work environment. His old friend’s word was good enough for him. “I said, ‘Everybody’s great. You’re going to have fun with us,’ ” Santana said. “He told me he was going to give me a call back after he talked to his agent, and then the next day I called him because he didn’t call me.” This time there was a throaty chuckle on the other end of the line. Santana could immediately tell his recruiting pitch had worked. Two days later, after working out a plan for one tune-up start at Triple-A Rochester with Colon’s agent, the Twins officially announced the signing. “He told me he decided to come with us,” Santana said. “I knew he was going to teach the young guys more than I could because he has more time than me. He was the right guy for us.” Colon, it should be pointed out, has since added Santana’s cell number back into his contacts. He is thankful he decided to break his rule and answer that call from an unknown number. “Everything happens for a reason,” Santana said. “If he picks up the phone, he ends up here. If he doesn’t pick up the phone, he probably signs with the Mets.”

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Twins score 10 unanswered runs to beat D-backs

Shane Jackson and Steve Gilbert| MLB| August 19, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins hit six homers, including a pair by Miguel Sano, to overcome a three-run deficit and back right-hander Ervin Santana in a 10-3 win over the D-backs in Friday night's Interleague series opener at Target Field. With the win the Twins moved into a tie with the Angels for the second American League Wild Card spot. Meanwhile, the D-backs fell one game behind the Rockies in the race for the top National League Wild Card spot and their lead over the Cardinals shrunk to four games for the second spot. Byron Buxton paced the offense, going 3-for-4 and missing hitting the cycle by a single. Buxton's homer was an inside-the-park one, while Sano, Max Kepler, Eduardo Escobar and Brian Dozier all went over the fence. In the case of Kepler and Sano, theirs went way over as both traveled 440 feet, according to Statcast™. "It was an extremely fun baseball game," Minnesota manager Paul Molitor said. "Inside-the-park home run is as exciting play our game can offer. And when you have one of the fastest players in the game to do it, it was really a boost for us. Then the long balls, the real long balls, started to come." Sano's second homer hit the facing of the third deck and traveled 469 feet, which was his longest home run since Statcast™ starting tracking at the start of 2015. Sano became just the second player to hit multiple homers in a single game that traveled at least 440 feet. The only other player to accomplish the feat was teammate Eddie Rosario, who did so with a pair of 440-foot shots June 13. Santana (13-7) overcame a rough beginning and retired 10 in a row at one point as he lasted six-plus innings. D-backs starter Zack Godley (5-6) fanned 10, but allowed four runs over 5 1/3 innings. The D-backs grabbed a 3-0 lead thanks to a pair of runs in the first and a solo home from David Peralta in the second. "They gave me an early lead and I just couldn't hang onto it," Godley said. MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Scoring in a flash: Buxton collected his second career inside-the-park homer to lead off the fourth. His drive to center hit off the wall and bounced away from outfielder A.J. Pollock. Buxton circled the bases in 13.85 seconds, the fastest recorded since Statcast™ was introduced in 2015, and slid headfirst into home plate just ahead of the tag. "It was amazing, especially when the fans get into it and back you up," Buxton said. "That pushed us and changed the momentum of the game." Stranded: The D-backs had a golden opportunity to do some damage in the seventh when Gregor Blanco drew a leadoff walk and Peralta followed with a single to right. The Twins went to their bullpen and Trevor Hildenberger got Pollock to ground into a double play and Jake Lamb to pop out to end the threat. It was the second straight inning Arizona had the first two runners on and wound up with nothing to show for it. "I think those are some key moments where we probably came out of the zone and didn't create the opportunities we would hope for," D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said on the two missed chances. QUOTABLE "There are a few guys, the guy in Cincinnati -- [Billy Hamilton]. I go back to my era and there are guys like Willie Wilson and Bo Jackson. There are some people that when they get going -- it's hard to compare at that speed, but I don't know if many guys come close to that time from home-to-home." -- Molitor, on how Buxton's speed compares to other players SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS Dozier clubbed a solo shot in the eighth, marking his 24th homer of the season and 141st of his career. He tied Michael Cuddyer -- who will join the Twins Hall of Fame on Saturday -- for 10th-most in team history. WHAT'S NEXT D-backs: Zack Greinke will look to keep his winning ways going when he takes the mound Saturday at 4:10 p.m. MST against the Twins at Target Field. Greinke is 6-1 with a 2.78 ERA over his past nine starts. He beat the Astros his last time out. Twins: Jose Berrios (10-5, 4.27 ERA) is slated to start for Minnesota at 6:10 p.m. CT. Berrios allowed six runs on as many hits in 3 1/3 innings against Detroit in his last start. Berrios has allowed five runs in the first inning in each of his past two starts.

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Byron Buxton breaks his own Statcast record

Shane Jackson| MLB| August 19, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS -- Twins center fielder Byron Buxton sprinted out of the batter's box, but was halted in his tracks along the first-base line when his liner was snagged by D-backs second baseman Daniel Descalso in the seventh inning. Arizona's infield shift spoiled a potential hit up the middle for Buxton, who finished a single shy of the cycle, in Minnesota's 10-3 rout of Arizona on Friday at Target Field. He was embraced with hugs from teammates in the dugout after just missing out on becoming the 11th Twin to record a cycle. Buxton recalls his teammates telling him they would petition to get him another at-bat, though the attempt, like the cycle, fell short. "I saw the red jerseys standing up on the rail and everybody standing up," Buxton said on his walk to the plate in his final at-bat. "I felt like a pitcher pitching a perfect game with two outs." But it was the facet in which Buxton came so close to cementing his name in history that was even more impressive. It's no secret that Buxton is one of the fastest players, and he showcased just that on two occasions. To lead off the fourth, Buxton recorded his second career inside-the-park home run to even the score at 3. According to Statcast™, Buxton went from home-to-home in 13.85 seconds, which is the fastest such time tracked by Statcast™. In fact, Buxton broke his own record of 14.05 on his previous inside-the-park homer, last Oct. 2 at the White Sox. "My strides got messed up [rounding third]," Buxton said. "I usually try to count my strides out as I'm running. I took a wide turn at second and think it kind of pushed me out to stutter step at third." Afterward, Buxton said that he usually takes anywhere from five to seven strides between bases. Buxton -- who went 3-for-4 -- now owns two of the five fastest home-to-home times in Statcast™ history. Dee Gordon (14.24), Kevin Kiermaier (14.63) and Jarrod Dyson (14.72) round out the Top 5. "I go back to my era and there are guys like Willie Wilson and Bo Jackson," Minnesota manager Paul Molitor said. "There are some people that when they get going -- it's hard to compare at that speed, but I don't know if many guys come close to that time from home-to-home." In his first at-bat in the second, Buxton recorded his second triple of the season and scored on a Jorge Polanco double to put Minnesota on the board. Per Statcast™, Buxton's triple was accomplished in 10.56 seconds, his fastest triple of his career. It was the third-fastest triple tracked by Statcast™, trailing a pair of triples by Billy Hamilton, including a personal best of 10.45 seconds. Buxton's sprint speed on the triple was an impressive 30.8 feet per second -- anything above 30 ft/s is considered elite. On his homer, Buxton's sprint speed was 30.9 ft/s. To put that in comparison, Buxton's average sprint speed on the season is 30 ft/s, which is the second-best mark in the Majors behind Hamilton. Friday's efforts extended Buxton's hitting streak to eight straight, and he's hitting .464 (13-for-28) during that span, even if he did fall just shy of history. Then again, with his speed, perhaps a single may have not been feasible. "I know he would have went to second, the guys were giving him a hard time about you have to fall down," Molitor said.

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Rod Carew meets family of heart, kidney donor

Shane Jackson| MLB | August 19, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS -- Mary Reuland admitted that it was the most difficult phone call she has ever made in her life. Last December, exactly one day after Konrad Reuland's funeral, Mary started gathering information and making the connection that her son's organs had been donated to Hall of Famer Rod Carew. Shortly after, Mary decided to give Rod's wife, Rhonda, a call, in hopes they could meet. "I called her and said, 'Hey listen, my name is Mary Reuland and I think your husband may have my son's heart and kidney. Call if you want to talk,'" Reuland said during a news conference at Target Field before Friday's Twins game against the D-backs. "She called a couple days later and the rest is pretty much history." Carew, who played with the Twins from 1967-78, suffered a massive heart attack while golfing near his home in Southern California on Sept. 20, 2015. He was then dealing with life-threatening complications around the time that Konrad passed away at age 29 with a brain aneurysm. Konrad, a tight end for the Ravens and Jets for three seasons, signed up to be an organ donor because of a conversation years before with his mother. Mary admitted that she elected to be an organ donor, in order to potentially help people, and Konrad did the same. And as a result, it was Carew, an 18-time All-Star and seven-time batting champion, who was saved by Konrad's heart and kidney. "I never once thought I was going to die," Carew said. "I knew that coming through this, all I want to do and continue doing is to do whatever I can to help other people survive. Because he gave me a second chance at life, I'm going to take advantage of it. Konrad and I are going to be running all over this country." The Reuland family threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Carew as the Twins celebrated Donor Day at Target Field on Friday. Before and during the game the Twins, LifeSource, the National Kidney Foundation and Kidney Specialist of Minnesota celebrated Carew and honoring donors and donor families. "It's so comforting to know a part of him is still up here and he is doing what he did in life. He loved to help people," Mary Reuland said. "Konrad is looking down and smiling. He's giving us a different way to try and raise awareness and help people." Gardenhire cheered in return to Target Field

Shane Jackson| MLB| August 18, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS -- D-backs bench coach Ron Gardenhire, a former Twins manager, sat on top of a bench and fielded questions from reporters before the series opener against Minnesota on Friday. His return to Target Field warranted an exceptionally crowded media scrum, as he answered questions about what it means to see familiar faces and be back in the ballpark again. There was one thing that was unique, however, the fact that he was doing all this from the visitors' dugout. "In this dugout? It feels great, I've never been in this dugout," Gardenhire said. "It's nice to be back in Minnesota. I got off the plane [Thursday] night and went to the house; that was good. Come out here and see a lot of good friends and a lot of good people who work here." The Interleague series between the Twins and D-backs granted Gardenhire the opportunity to make his return for the first time as a member of the opposition. Gardenhire spent 13 seasons as Minnesota's manager, leading the club to six American League Central titles. The Twins donated $186,000 for prostate cancer awareness, in honor of Gardenhire, moments before the first pitch. Gardenhire was greeted with a standing ovation and a thunderous applause when he was recognized on the video board. Gardenhire, who succeeded Tom Kelly in 2002, posted a career record of 1,068-1,039 with the Twins. Minnesota won the division in each of his first three seasons and four in his first five seasons. He was named AL Manager of the Year in 2010, while finishing as a runner-up in the category in '03, '04, '06, '08, and '09. But Gardenhire was dismissed in September 2014. His victory total as a manager is the second-highest mark in club history, behind Kelly's 1,140 wins. Arizona hired him as a bench coach this past offseason. "It's more of a chess match in the National League than it is in the American League," Gardenhire said. "It's a little bit different baseball with the pitchers hitting. I think it's a learning experience."

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Gardenhire's return coincides with Twins' Hall of Fame weekend, as they plan to induct two members into the team's Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame plaques for Michael Cuddyer and Andy MacPhail will be revealed at Target Plaza on Saturday. Cuddyer will be inducted Saturday, while MacPhail's induction will be held Sunday. Cuddyer played 11 of his 15 seasons with the Twins and was an All-Star in 2011 under Gardenhire. MacPhail served as a general manager for nine seasons, including the World Series championship teams in 1987 and '91. "That's what is really cool, getting to see a bunch of things up here," Gardenhire said. "Michael was obviously one of our great players. That's pretty neat. I'm happy to be here for him." Zulgad: Byron Buxton falls short of hitting for cycle but also shows no signs of slowing down

Judd Zulgad|1500 ESPN| August 19, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS – The Twins trailed the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-2, when center fielder Byron Buxton led off the fourth inning on Friday night at Target Field. Buxton, who already had tripled and scored in the second inning, lifted a ball toward right-center that flew over the head of Diamondbacks center fielder A.J. Pollock and caromed off the fence just to the right of the 403 sign. As the ball bounced back toward center field, Pollock had to know he was in trouble. Buxton, using his deer-like strides, was making his way around the bases and already had made a decision. He wasn’t stopping. “About two steps around first base,” Buxton said when asked at what point he knew he was going to try to circle the bases. “Once I saw that the ball had kicked away from him, it was kind of just put my head down and run.” As Pollock made an off balance throw toward the infield, Buxton appeared to be picking up speed. Even as he made a suspect turn around third base, there was no indecision. The relay throw arrived in catcher Chris Iannetta’s mitt as Buxton slid head first toward the back side of home plate, touching it with his left hand. Buxton celebrated with the type of emotional display that rarely had been seen from him until the past month as the crowd of 25,830 erupted. That inside-the-park home run tied the score and, combined with five Twins home runs that actually left the park, including two impressive blasts by Miguel Sano that went a combined 926 feet, Minnesota cruised to a 10-3 victory. The win lifted the Twins to 61-59 on the season and moved them into a tie with the Los Angeles Angels for the second wild-card spot in the American League. The Angels lost, 9-7, at Baltimore. While the Twins’ conventional home runs were impressive, Buxton’s will be the most memorable. Statcast reported it took Buxton 13.85 seconds to circle the bases, breaking his own record for fastest home run time. The fastest time by any other play, according to Statcast, is 14.24 seconds. (Buxton hit his first career inside the park home run on Oct. 2, 2016 against the White Sox in Chicago.) “To be critical, he probably didn’t make the best turn at third, which made it a little closer,” than it should have been, Molitor said. “But when you’ve got closing speed, it was an outstanding finish to the play.” So what happened, Byron? “My strides just got messed up,” said Buxton, estimating that he takes five to seven strides between the bases. “Usually I try to count my strides out as I’m running. I took a wide turn at second and that kind of pushed me out to stutter step at third.” Buxton wasn’t done after hitting the home run. He added a double down the left field line in the sixth inning and scored his third run of the game following a wild pitch that enabled him to take third base. Buxton came up in the seventh with a chance to hit for the cycle, but lined to second base. As Buxton approached the plate, the crowd rose to its feet. Buxton also became aware of his teammates focusing on him from the dugout. “I was on deck and my mentality was just to go out there, stay the same, keep the same approach, don’t try to do too much,” he said. “I started

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walking toward the batter’s box, and I usually look at the label of my bat. I completely missed all of that and I saw just (Twins) red jerseys standing up on the rail. Everybody was standing up and it was kind of just, ‘Oh.’ I felt like a pitcher pitching a perfect game with two outs. That’s how it felt.” Said Molitor: “When you knock the first three legs out first (of a potential cycle), everyone’s very hopeful that he’d find a way to get a knock. The (foul) ball down the line (in his last at-bat), I knew he would have went to second. Guys were giving him a hard time about, ‘You’ve got to fall down or do something.’ He had a good at-bat. “He stayed inside the fastball, unfortunately, he got it right out there to the second baseman. But it was fun. The crowd was into it and they saw it from the beginning, after the triple and the homer, that this could be a special night. He came up a little bit short, but just the fact he’s contributing the way he is offensively, it’s been a big lift for us.” That’s the biggest thing about Buxton’s 3-for-4 night that raised his average to .240 on the season. This wasn’t one good game for a guy who spent much of the season struggling. It was another productive effort at the plate for a player from whom greatness has been expected since the Twins took him second in the 2012 Major League draft. He has now hit in a season-high eight consecutive games, going 13-for-28 (.464) during the streak. In 17 games in August, Buxton is batting .345 (19-for-55). Not long ago, the justification for Buxton remaining in the big leagues was the fact that even if he was hitting around .200 his defense in center field was so good that he belonged with the Twins because of the runs he was saving. But now Buxton is combing outstanding defense, with the type of offensive production that had been consistently lacking other than a few hot streaks here and there. Buxton said he is playing with more emotion, and has been doing so since late July, in part because his teammates have urged him to do so. Former Twins center fielder Torii Hunter, who has served as mentor to Buxton, and is in his first season working for the Twins in various capacities, also urged Buxton to show emotion. “He got onto me a few times about, ‘You don’t show enough emotion,’” Buxton said. “That kind of started the trend of, ‘I’ve got to start showing a little bit more emotion and start picking it up.’” But if Buxton wasn’t producing at the plate that emotion would mean little. On Friday, it meant a lot because Buxton played a key role in a Twins victory. So what’s the biggest change? “Just being comfortable and confident in the batter’s box,” Buxton said. “I know once I put my work in during the day that when I get in the game it’s time for me to have fun and go out there and be myself. … (I’m) still working on a few things to slow (the game) down a little bit more. But for the most part, my teammates and coaches help me out slowing the game down and just being myself out there.” Gardenhire just visiting, but Arizona bench coach returns to Target Field both healthy and happy

Judd Zulgad|1500 ESPN| August 18, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS – The Twins had gone 70-92 in 2014 – their fourth consecutive season of 92 or more losses – when the decision to fire Ron Gardenhire as manager was made. Paul Molitor, who had been on Gardenhire’s coaching staff in 2014, was selected for the job, beating out Boston bench coach Torey Lovullo and Twins minor league manager Doug Mientkiewicz. Gardenhire, who had led the Twins to six American League titles in 13 years as manager, remained on the club’s payroll but was no longer in the dugout. He spent last season as a special assistant to general manager Terry Ryan. Ryan was fired during the Twins’ 103-loss season in 2016, and Gardenhire’s two-year absence from the dugout came to an end in early November when he was hired as the Arizona Diamondbacks’ bench coach. Arizona had gone 69-93, finishing 22 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West, causing a big shakeup that included the dismissal of former Twin Chip Hale as manager. Lovullo, the same guy who was runner-up to replace Gardenhire in Minnesota, got the job as the Diamondbacks manager and hired Gardy. The results have been positive to date. Arizona entered Friday’s three-game interleague series against the Twins with a 67-54 record and tied with Colorado for second place in the NL West. That put the two teams 19 games behind the otherworldly Dodgers but tied for the lead in the NL wild card race.

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Gardenhire, who is second all-time to Tom Kelly in wins among Twins managers, was sitting in the visitor’s dugout for the first time on Friday as he talked to the Twin Cities media. “It’s been fun,” he said. “It’s kind of on a trial basis. I took the job just to see what it was like and Torey was nice enough to give me the job. It’s a good baseball team here and a really good bunch of guys. It’s nice being back on the field.” Gardenhire, who will turn 60 on Oct. 24, has reasons to be appreciative that go beyond being back in a big-league uniform. Gardenhire was diagnosed with prostate cancer during a physical just before spring training and had surgery in April that kept him away from the team for five weeks. He returned to the Diamondbacks in mid-May. “My health is good,” Gardenhire said. “I had a blood test today and it came back good. It’s just kind of an ongoing thing now. Once a year probably get checked out. But the doctor said everything looks great. I feel good and just am going on about my business.” The Twins welcomed back Gardenhire before the game and he received a nice ovation from those in attendance as he came out to home plate and acknowledged the cheers. Twins president Dave St. Peter then presented Gardenhire with a $180,000 check as a donation to fight prostate cancer on behalf of the team. Gardenhire, who looks far healthier than he did in his later years with the Twins, will be in town this weekend as the team inducts former outfielder Michael Cuddyer (Saturday) and former general manager Andy MacPhail into the team’s Hall of Fame. Cuddyer’s success came with Gardenhire in the dugout, so the timing of Arizona’s visit couldn’t have been better. “That’s what’s really cool, the weekend,” Gardenhire said. “Getting to see a bunch of things up here, talking to a lot of people. Michael, of course, obviously one of our great players who I had the opportunity to manage for quite a while. That’s pretty neat. I’m happy that I’m here for it.” Twins club 6 homers to erase deficit, clobber D-backs

AP| August 19, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS — Miguel Sano ended a tough stretch at the plate with some might. Sano hit two of the Twins’ season high-tying six home runs, including an inside-the-park dash by Byron Buxton, and Minnesota powered past the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-3 on Friday night. Eduardo Escobar, Max Kepler and Brian Dozier also went deep for Minnesota. Buxton finished a single shy of the cycle. Sano finished with three hits after going 4 for 25 in his last six games. He had no hits in his previous nine official at-bats, but walked three times. “I know he’s been working hard, just trying to stay on the ball and recognize pitches better. He’s getting walks. I know he’s getting close. Tonight, we saw the explosion,” manager Paul Molitor said. Leading 4-3 in the seventh, Sano hit the first pitch from reliever David Hernandez 452 feet into the second deck in left-center for two runs. Escobar added a two-run shot two batters later for an 8-3 lead. Sano hit one even further, 474 feet into the third deck, in the eighth for his first multi-homer game this season and third of his career. Minnesota also hit six home runs May 2 against Oakland. The five homers that left the playing field went a combined 2,169 feet. “Anytime I made a mistake with any pitch they took advantage of it,” said Arizona starter Zack Godley (5-6), who tied a career high by striking out 10, but allowed four earned runs in 5 1-3 innings. David Peralta had three hits for Arizona, including a home run, but six home runs was the most allowed by Arizona since Sept. 9, 2013, at the Los Angeles Dodgers. “You make some mistakes to good hitters at this level you’re going to pay for it,” manager Torey Lovullo said. No home run was more exciting than the one that didn’t clear a fence. Down 3-2 in the fourth, Buxton hit a ball high off the wall in right-center that rolled toward center field. As A.J. Pollock gave chase, Buxton

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circled the bases in 13.85 seconds, the fastest ever tracked by MLB Statcast, narrowly beating the throw by sliding headfirst across home plate. “About two steps around first base once I saw the ball had kicked away from him. It was kind of just put my head down and run,” Buxton said. Buxton scored after doubling in the sixth, the first of 25 inherited runners to score this year against Diamondbacks reliever Jorge De La Rosa. Seeking to become the first Twin since Michael Cuddyer on May 22, 2009, to accomplish the cycle, Buxton, who tripled in the second, lined out to Daniel Descalso in the seventh. Twins starter Ervin Santana (13-7) allowed three earned runs and seven hits in six innings. All the runs came in the first two innings before Santana retired 10 straight. WELCOME BACK GARDY Arizona bench coach Ron Gardenhire returned to Target Field for the first time as an opponent and received a standing ovation after a video tribute. The winningest manager in Twins history (1,068-1,039), Gardenhire led Minnesota to six postseason appearances in his 13 years in charge. He was let go after the 2014 season. The AL Manager of the Year in 2010 also spent 11 years as a Twins coach. “He did a lot of good things in this town. He deserves all that attention,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. A noticeably slimmer Gardenhire had surgery in April for prostate cancer. “I had a blood test today and it came back good, so it’s just kind of an ongoing thing now, once a year I’ll probably get checked out,” he said. “Doctor said everything is looking great. I feel good.” TRAINER’S ROOM Diamondbacks RF J.D. Martinez (illness) was scratched. . LHP Robbie Ray, out with a concussion since getting hit in the head by a line drive July 28, struck out 11 in 4 2/3 innings with Class A Visalia Thursday. He could return to the Diamondbacks rotation next week. UP NEXT Zack Greinke (14-5, 3.01) will start for Arizona on Saturday night against Minnesota’s Jose Berrios (10-5, 4.27). Greinke has allowed 18 earned runs in his past nine starts, going 6-1. Berrios allowed five runs in the first inning in both of his past two starts. Diamondbacks look to rebound versus Twins (Aug 19, 2017)

AP| August 19, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS — Byron Buxton’s speed and Miguel Sano’s power are keeping the Minnesota Twins in the American League playoff race. The Arizona Diamondbacks saw the duo’s potential on Friday and Zack Greinke will try to keep them down on Saturday as Arizona continues its own chase for a playoff spot. Buxton had an inside-the-park homer and was a single away from the cycle, while Sano hit two long home runs in Friday’s 10-3 Minnesota win in the first game of the interleague series. Greinke (14-5, 3.01 ERA) will take the mound for the Diamondbacks in the second game of the series on Saturday. The Twins will counter with young right-hander Jose Berrios, who is 10-5 with a 4.27 ERA in a strong sophomore season. Minnesota is hoping to build on Friday’s big game, which included a season high-tying six homers, with important signs shown from Buxton and Sano. “It was really good to see him,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said of Sano’s two homers. “I know he’s been working hard, just trying to stay on the ball and recognize pitches better. He’s getting walks, I know he’s getting close. Tonight, we saw the explosion.”

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It was Sano’s first multi-homer game of the season as he blasted his 27th and 28th home runs of the year. Buxton tied a career high with three hits and extended his hitting streak to eight games. He’s hit .464 during the streak. In 17 August games, he’s hitting .345. Once he scored sliding in head-first on his inside-the-park home run, Buxton was fired up and tried to spark the team on the bench. “Just show a little bit more emotion,” Buxton said. “They tell me a lot that I don’t show enough emotion. I need to show emot ion. So I just tried to do something to get us going.” Combined with a win in the final game of the previous series against Cleveland, Minnesota is feeling good again as it sits in a tie for an American League wild card spot with the Los Angeles Angels losing on Friday. “Most definitely; we faced a great pitcher today, a good team,” Buxton said of beating Arizona and starter Zack Godley. “We went out there and played Twins baseball and had a lot of fun. Went out there and swung the bats and played some good defense behind (Ervin Santana’s) solid outing.” Berrios will try to follow Santana’s start. The two have been the most consistent starters all season for Minnesota, which has sought improvement beyond the two all season. Berrios dazzled when he was first called up from Triple-A in May, but he’s hit a rough patch. He’s allowed at least four runs in three of his last four starts. He’s 1-2 with a 7.45 ERA during that span. Berrios is working on two days extra rest. He was originally scheduled to start Thursday against the Cleveland Indians. Wednesday’s rainout allowed Minnesota to recall a pitcher to start Thursday and Berrios was pushed behind Santana for Saturday and will be making his first career start against the D-backs. Greinke has plenty of experience against the Twins. He’s 5-8 with a 4.50 ERA in 23 games against Minnesota in his career. Greinke has made six starts at Target Field, going 1-3, though he hasn’t faced the Twins since April 30, 2014. The right-hander has been locked in leading the Arizona rotation as the D-backs hold a wild card spot in the National League. Greinke is 6-1 with a 2.78 ERA in his last nine starts. “I felt like I executed pretty good. I think I made a lot of good pitches,” Greinke said after holding the Houston Astros scoreless in 6 2/3 innings in his last start. “I have four pitches that have been good all year instead of two, and I can play with them.” Arizona will look to provide Greinke with more cushion. The D-backs missed chances against Minnesota on Friday, leaving three runners on in the first two innings, despite scoring three runs. “We scored a few runs and had them on the ropes a couple more times, but (Santana) made some pitches and got out of some messes and eliminated some potential threats,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “We’ve got to keep building those innings and cashing them in. That’s the key right now.” Twins Notes: Garver, Colon, Enns, Ervin, Rosario

Steve Adams| MLB Trade Rumors |August 18, 2017

In the wake of Robbie Grossman’s fractured thumb, the Twins are turning to one of their top organizational prospects. Catcher Mitch Garver, who ranked ninth on Fangraphs’ summer edition of the team’s top prospects, is being called up to the Majors, the club announced. In addition to his work behind the plate, the 26-year-old Garver has played 14 games in left field this season, so he can serve as a third catcher as well as a spare outfielder or first baseman. Garver’s bat also could be a nice addition to the team’s bench. In 372 Triple-A plate appearances, Garver has slashed .291/.387/.541 with 17 homers and 29 doubles. A few more notes out of the Twin Cities… Right-hander Bartolo Colon has enjoyed some success with the Twins after a terrible start to the season in Atlanta, and he tells John Shipley of the St. Paul Pioneer Press that he’s open to playing beyond the 2017 season. There was some brief talk of retirement for Colon, but the 44-year-old has turned in a solid 4.21 ERA in 36 1/3 innings with the Twins (albeit with more concerning peripheral metrics). Colon also tells Shipley that

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a phone call from former Angels teammate Ervin Santana may have been the tipping point in Colon signing with the Twins. The Mets were also pursuing a reunion with Colon, but the veteran righty said some urging from Santana, the Twins superior place in the standings and the opportunity to serve as a mentor for a number of young Twins pitchers all appealed to him. “…I thought it’s not only an opportunity for me to pitch, but an opportunity to teach other young players how to pitch and how to be big-leaguers,” said Colon. The Twins placed lefty Dietrich Enns, who was only just acquired from the Yankees as part of the Jaime Garcia swap, on the 10-day disabled list with a shoulder strain yesterday. Enns missed more than two months of the season with a shoulder issue as a member of the Yankees’ Triple-A club, and Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press suggests that the Twins could potentially seek additional compensation from the Yankees if Enns’ shoulder issue proves to be serious. The Astros and Mariners have both showed plenty of interest in right-hander Ervin Santana this summer, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reports in his latest podcast (audio link, Twins talk starts up around the 45:00 mark). However, Minnesota has never shown any real willingness to deal him, and there’s no reason to expect that they’d change that mentality now with a Wild Card spot still in the crosshairs. Minnesota GM Thad Levine joins Wolfson to discuss several Twins topics ranging from outplaying their run differential, to the performance of young players to the fine line between making short-term and long-term moves this time of year. Of surging outfielder Eddie Rosario, Levine notes that he and Twins chief baseball office Derek Falvey received quite a few inquiries from other clubs regarding Rosario. Many teams wanted to gauge whether the new front office duo valued Rosario (and others, though Levine doesn’t get into specific names) as highly as their predecessors. “We made it clear to them that we view this guy as part of the core, part of the future of this franchise,” said Levine of Rosario. The 25-year-old Rosario is hitting .297/.337/.500 with 16 homers, 25 doubles and a pair of triples this season. Twins' Byron Buxton sets new record for fastest inside-the-park homer

Dan Loumena| Los Angeles Times |August 18, 2017

The speed of Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton was on display again Friday night when he hit an inside-the-park home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks, circling the bases in a record time of 13.85 seconds, according to Statcast, MLB’s data tracking system. Buxton launched a deep fly ball to right-center field over Arizona’s A.J. Pollack, who could not field the carom off the base of the wall. By the time Pollack tracked down the ball, Buxton was headed to third base. Two relay throws to home plate were not in time to catch a sliding Buxton. According to Statcast, Miami Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon held the record after he circled the bases in 13.95 seconds during an inside-the-park homer against the San Francisco Giants in 2015. Gordon, while playing for the Dodgers in 2014, recorded the fastest home-to-home time of 13.89 seconds against the Colorado Rockies on a play that involved three errors (it was ruled a triple). Buxton was timed circling the bases in 14.05 seconds during the Twins’ final game last season when he led off against the Chicago White Sox with an inside-the-park homer.