Minnesota Twins Daily Clips. Sunday, April 9, 2017

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1 Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Sunday, April 9, 2017 Twins drop first game of the season, 6-2 to White Sox. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 1 Paul Molitor adapts to 'more challenging' MLB replay system. Star Tribune p. 2 Postgame: Strike zone was tight, but Mejia says he kept his temper. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 3 Minnesota Twins remain committed to slumping Byron Buxton. Pioneer Press (Bernardino ) p. 4 Sloppy Twins no longer unbeaten after Adalberto Mejia struggles. Pioneer Press (Bernardino ) p. 5 Charley Walters: Analytics part of game plan in Twins hot start, Falvey says. Pioneer Press (Walters) p. 6 First errors of season prove costly to Twins. MLB (Bollinger) p. 7 Castro homers, but Twins' 4-win streak ends. MLB (Bollinger and Trotto) p. 8 Dozier focused on sharpening art of the steal. MLB (Bollinger) p. 9 Wetmore: 2 bits of bad news and 3 silver linings from Twins first loss ESPN (Wetmore ) p. 10 Twins drop first game of the season, 6-2 to White Sox Phil Miller Star Tribune April 8, 2017 CHICAGO The Twins' feared flaws hadn't erupted in the first four games of 2017, but that doesn't mean they disappeared entirely. Now, only their winning streak has. Remember how frustrating Twins starting pitchers could be last year, and how sloppy the defense often was behind them? If those memories were erased by a 4-0 record, they came flooding back Saturday, when Adalberto Mejia lasted only 10 batters in his first major league start, and Miguel Sano committed his first two errors of the season. The White Sox took advantage of the mistakes early on, clubbed a couple of homers later, and ended the Twins' nothing-but-winning week with a 6-2 loss. "We talked about having some pretty clean games in the first four," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "Today was a different story." Partly it was due to conditions: The game was played in a sneaky-strong and swirling wind that was responsible for two catchable pop-ups falling to the ground. But the wind can't be blamed for Sano's shaky defense, nor Mejia's failure to finish off hitters. And the biggest gaffe turned a White Sox blunder into a setback for the Twins. Avisail Garcia, who finished the day just a double short of a cycle, was caught breaking for the plate in a squeeze play gone awry during the second inning. Catcher Jason Castro backed him up toward third then threw the ball to Sano, who made a major miscalculation. "You could tell right away, he thought he would be able to catch [Garcia]," Molitor said. "I don't mind running a guy towards home. If you execute on one throw, you're going to be fine. But but he realized too late he wasn't going to catch him, and he tried to get rid of the ball too quickly." Sano tried to shovel the ball back to Castro but bounced his toss off Garcia's shoulder, enabling him to cross the plate. Garcia is faster than you thought, isn't he, Miguel? "Yeah, he is," Sano said, "but I'm still supposed to get an out." So is Mejia, and that didn't go as well as planned, either. The 23-year-old lefthander tried to put aside the emotions of his first start, but he couldn't do the same with Chicago third baseman Todd Frazier, who led off the second inning by fouling off eight consecutive 3-2 pitches. The

2 14-pitch at-bat one of only five that long against the Twins in the past seven years ended in a walk, and Frazier scored when Garcia scorched a pitch to the wall in right-center, just out of Byron Buxton's reach. "You could see him getting frustrated because he was making good pitches and [Frazier] was finding ways to stay alive," Molitor said. "But that's the nature of the game up here these guys are going to grind. You take a breath and go on to the next guy." After the botched rundown made it 3-0, Mejia got two quick outs, but he then walked Jacob May and hit Tyler Saladino with his 40th pitch of the inning. "It got away from him a little bit," Molitor said. "I watched the pitch count climb there in the second inning. I was hoping he could get us off the field, but 40 pitches in one inning, it's not usually a good sign." Jason Castro's first home run with the Twins, a two-run shot in the sixth, cut the deficit to 3-2, but Chicago answered in the bottom of the inning. Reliever Justin Haley, who had retired 10 of the first 12 hitters he faced, gave up a one-out single to Frazier before Garcia launched a homer that bounced off the back wall behind the center-field fence. Geovany Soto blasted Haley's next pitch into the left-field seats, and the Twins' streak was officially doomed. "We made some mistakes," Molitor said, "and they made us pay." Paul Molitor adapts to 'more challenging' MLB replay system Star Tribune April 8, 2017 It didn t take long for Twins manager Paul Molitor and Sean Harlin, director of major league video, to deal with new instant replay rules. In the seventh inning of the Twins 9-1 victory over the Royals on Opening Day, Max Kepler dropped down a bunt and raced to first base. Kansas City pitcher Matt Strahm fielded the ball and threw to first, where umpire Tony Randazzo called Kepler out when he appeared to be safe. And the pressure was on, as Major League Baseball now demands that teams take no longer than 30 seconds to decide whether to challenge a play. Molitor stood in front of his dugout as the clock above the bullpens in center field ran down. Harlin also saw the clock on a screen in his office as he reviewed the play. There s something about when a clock is ticking, Molitor said. It puts everybody ill at ease. There were three seconds left on the clock when Molitor got the go-ahead from Harlin to challenge the call. There was no way to prepare for the first time, Molitor said. I ve never really had to think about, What if it gets to zero and I don t have the information, Molitor said. What am I going to do? The rule is meant to speed up the replay process, but no one is sure how much time will be saved. What the rule does is put a video coordinator on notice. Their decisions are based on the footage that s available to them, and different parks provide different angles. Super slow-motion replay is must-see in these situations, and there have been a few occasions when Harlin has had to make a decision without super slo-mo because it wasn t ready. That raises the possibility that a game-changing play could be affected by the new decision clock. If it was the same as last year, I would be not as confident, Harlin said. Knowing now that we have only 30 seconds, maybe we will start to get those angles a little quicker from them. They did a great job on Monday. They got it to me in 15 seconds. Molitor remains in see-how-it-goes mode. He wants to see how quickly the clock is started to figure out if he can buy Harlin a few extra seconds to examine replays. He also will be prepared for the times Harlin can t get the angle he needs to arrive at a decision. 2

3 I can see it being more challenging, Molitor said. Some places are going to have better camera angles than others. Some ballparks have more cameras. There s a lot of little things in there, but this is what they want to do. AL CENTRAL REPORT Indians: Carlos Santana is hitting leadoff, where he also hit 86 times for Cleveland last season. He hit 34 home runs in 2016, but he also has walked at least 91 times in six consecutive seasons and has a career on-base percentage of.366. He presents a dilemma for opponents in that he can be patient at the plate while being able to score runs with one swing of the bat. Royals: The Kansas City bullpen gave up 14 runs while being swept in three games by the Twins. Two years ago, Royals relievers gave up eight runs during the entire month of April. No longer with a flock of power arms, the bullpen is the area where Kansas City looks markedly different, and the problems they encountered at Target Field could be the start of a long season. Tigers: Detroit could not have picked a better person to throw out the first pitch Friday before its home opener than Pudge Rodriguez. As the Tigers also honored the recently deceased Mike Illitch, Rodriguez was Illitch s first major free-agent signing in And Rodriguez will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer. White Sox: Chicago finally is getting a look at third baseman-designated hitter Matt Davidson, above, acquired from Arizona for Addison Reed in Davidson was called up from the minors last June but broke his foot while rounding first base. He missed the rest of the season and had to earn his spot on the roster this spring. Three observations... Uh-oh. Mets righthander Seth Lugo, who pitched for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic, has a partly torn elbow ligament. That will fuel more complaints about the timing of the tournament. Seattle s Safeco Field has added toasted grasshoppers to its menu. I don t care how much protein it contains, I will not be ordering any. With Junior Guerra, Milwaukee s Opening Day starter, landing on the disabled list, Tommy Milone a former Twin and a great guy will get a start. But another former Twin, Matt Garza, is close to coming off the DL and could replace him soon.... and two predictions Manny Machado is my pick to win AL MVP this season. The Orioles third baseman is not even 25 yet but has two 30-homer seasons under his belt and he s awesome defensively. The Twins will finish April with a record. Postgame: Strike zone was tight, but Mejia says he kept his temper Phil Miller Star Tribune April 8, 2017 CHICAGO Some final notes over the Twins first loss of the season: Adalberto Mejia glanced over his shoulder at home plate umpire Carlos Torres as he left the field in the second inning Saturday. Torres strike zone, the lefthander said, was a little bit tight. But the rookie pitcher was quick to add that he was more angry with himself for not throwing strikes. It s my job to throw the ball over and his job to call the strikes, Mejia said. I wasn t mad [at Torres]. Obviously I wanted to do my job, [and] I was kind of frustrated, but not really mad. Put the umpire out of your head, manager Paul Molitor advised. I think that s part of the maturity process. He s got pretty good demeanor on the mound overall, the manager said. There were some close pitches early. He had a four-pitch walk early where we thought some of them might have been strikes. But you re not always going to get the call, so you ve got to rise above that. 3

4 XXX It s not just the Twins outfielders who have made some great defensive plays this week. Brian Dozier had a highlight on Saturday. With Avisail Garcia on first base in the fourth inning, Geovany Soto smashed a grounder up the middle. Dozier had to dive to reach it, and just managed to glove it. He turned and made a glove-hand flip to Jorge Polanco, who had plenty of time to step on second and throw out Soto for the double play. We got a nice hop off the mound, which gave him a chance. It kind of skipped a little bit, Molitor said. Any time you can react like that and get full extension, with the glove flip, it was a pretty double play. XXX Justin Haley pitched well for 3 2/3 innings, but the last three batters he faced all scored. Todd Frazier singled, and Garcia and Soto both homered to end the rookie s day. Michael Tonkin made his 2017 debut, and got eight outs without allowing a run. One other Twins pitcher had a good day Saturday, too. Jose Berrios allowed three hits over six scoreless innings, striking out seven to pick up the win for Class AAA Rochester over Syracuse, Minnesota Twins remain committed to slumping Byron Buxton Mike Berardino Pioneer Press April 8, 2017 CHICAGO Byron Buxton, stuck in a season-opening slump and struggling to make contact, remained resolute Saturday morning even after being dropped from third to seventh in the Twins lineup. We had a little chat, Twins manager Paul Molitor said. I still feel it s going to get going here. I just think it s going to be an at-bat or two where he feels something. There s no question he s pressing a little bit here. Entering Saturday s play, Buxton led the majors in strikeouts. He then doubled and struck out twice in four trips, leaving his average at.091 with 13 strikeouts in 22 at-bats. We all know how things are magnified early in the year, Molitor said. The reality is a major league at-bat has pressure. I don t care if you re first, third, seventh, ninth. You still have to try to find a way to have good at-bats. (To relieve) maybe at least some of that psychologically, we ll bump him down and see how it goes. As he was with the media late Friday after his fourth career four-strikeout game, Buxton spoke and acted before his manager like someone fully convinced these struggles are temporary. He was solid as can be, Molitor said. Unwavering. Transparent. Knows it s been tough, but not discouraged. I think we re all excited about him getting going here at some point. Could be today. Buxton was demoted to Triple-A Rochester last season after his only four-strikeout game of That came April 24 at Washington and left Buxton hitting.156 with a.208 on-base percentage through 49 plate appearances. His strikeout/walk rate was 24/2, but he did have five extra-base hits before getting shipped out. PIONEERS HOCKEY Growing up in Littleton, Colo., Twins reliever Taylor Rogers was well aware of the hockey dynasty at the nearby University of Denver. So he was definitely pulling for the Pioneers, seven-time national champions, as they prepared to face Minnesota Duluth in Saturday s Frozen Four title game at Chicago s United Center. I went to their games as a kid, starting when I was 10 or 11, Rogers said. Every year they re in the top 10, it seems like. Hockey was a big deal out there. 4

5 Wild left wing Jason Zucker is among the 75 University of Denver products who have gone on to play in the NHL. Bill Masterton, who died on the ice while playing for the North Stars in 1968, played for the Pioneers as well. Rogers and his twin brother, Tyler, however, never played hockey growing up in Colorado. I don t think my parents wanted to buy two sets of hockey gear, Rogers said. BERRIOS ROLLS Right-hander Jose Berrios struck out seven and allowed just three hits and a walk in six shutout innings as Triple-A Rochester rolled to a 10-0 win over Syracuse in its weather-delayed opener. Berrios was efficient, requiring just 77 pitches and throwing 62.3 percent of them for strikes. He made 14 starts for the Twins last season but was sent back to the minors after missing nearly three weeks this spring at the World Baseball Classic with Team Puerto Rico. Left fielder Ben Paulsen hit a grand slam and Mitch Garver drove in four with a pair of doubles. ByungHo Park, a surprise demotion at the end of spring training, went 2 for 4 with a walk, a double and a pair of runs. BRIEFLY Molitor and Twins players Brian Dozier and Kyle Gibson joined former NFL coach (and former Gophers quarterback) Tony Dungy by Skype on Saturday morning for Arise With the Guys, an annual prayer service organized by Grace Church in Eden Prairie. Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford joined former quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Rich Gannon for the event, which Molitor said drew 5,000 male participants. Sloppy Twins no longer unbeaten after Adalberto Mejia struggles Mike Berardino Pioneer Press April 8, 2017 CHICAGO Adalberto Mejia s first big-league start did not go as hoped. As a result, the Twins will not be going after all. Whether it was nerves, mechanics or frustration with the strike zone of rookie plate umpire Carlos Torres, the burly Twins left-hander was chased after recording just five outs in Saturday s 6-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox. Falling for the first time after a 4-0 start, the Twins were unable to match the 1968 Twins six-game winning streak to start the year, best in Minnesota franchise history. I think that s part of the maturity process, Twins manager Paul Molitor said. I think he s got pretty good demeanor on the mound overall. There were some close pitches early. You re not always going to get the calls. You ve got to rise above that. Asked if he thought Torres, his fellow Dominican, had a tight strike zone, Mejia offered a thin smile. I thought it was a little bit tight, he said through a team translator, but my job is to throw the ball over. His job is to call strikes. I threw the ball, and he wasn t throwing strikes. That s out of my control. Catcher Jason Castro homered for the first time in a Twins uniform, his two-run shot in the sixth pulling the Twins within a run. The White Sox, however, quickly answered with homers by Avisail Garcia and Geovany Soto off rookie reliever Justin Haley. Those blasts came on consecutive pitches, a 90-mph fastball and an 85-mph slider, as the Twins bullpen saw its season-opening scoreless streak end at 16 1/3 innings. For Mejia, meanwhile, it was a far cry from the dominant spring that won him the fifth spot in the starting rotation. From Tyler Saladino s game-opening double on an 0-2 count to the two-strike plunking he gave Saladino on his 51st and final pitch, Mejia struggled with his command. In between he gave up a pair of second-inning walks and a run-scoring triple to Avisail Garcia that Byron Buxton couldn t corral while crashing into the center-field wall. Todd Frazier s 14-pitch leadoff walk in the second seemed to sap Mejia s energy on a sunny-but-cool afternoon. He had needed just 11 pitches to get through the first with his parents, Antonio Mejia and Cristobalina Batista, watching back home in Bonao, Dominican Republic. 5

6 It didn t take anything out of me, Mejia insisted. I just had to focus and make sure I was throwing strikes, and I wasn t doing that up on the mound. I tried. I tried to get him out, but give him credit because he had a heck of an at-bat. Moments later, Garcia was picked off third on a botched squeeze play but scored when Miguel Sano s throw came too late and off line for Castro to apply the tag. Charged with a throwing error, Sano later booted a routine grounder (again from Saladino) in the fifth as the Twins saw their error-free streak end at four-plus games and 140 chances to start the year. I tried to touch Garcia, but he s got more speed than me, Sano said. Molitor said he doesn t mind chasing the runner toward home on that play. If you execute on one throw you re going to be fine, he said. Miggy realized too late he wasn t going to catch him and he tried to throw the ball too quickly and the exchange wasn t good. Castro s homer off White Sox starter Miguel Gonzalez (1-0) was the Twins first hit this series after 17 hitless at-bats with runners in scoring position. Going back to Thursday s game, they had been 3 for 32 before Castro connected for his first homer since Sept. 13 against the Texas Rangers. The Twins finished 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position as they failed to become the second team since 1900 to follow a 100-loss season with at least five straight wins to start the year. The 2003 Kansas City Royals, according to Elias Sports Bureau, went 9-0 after suffering 100 losses the prior season. Three other Twins teams have managed 4-0 starts: the 1987 World Series champions as well as teams in 1979 and Charley Walters: Analytics part of game plan in Twins hot start, Falvey says Charles Walters Pioneer Press April 8, 2017 Derek Falvey, the Minnesota Twins chief baseball executive hired after the team lost 103 games last season, has emphasized modern analytics among strategies to get the club winning again. Has the application of statistical data that s being collected by Falvey s new front office aided in the Twins surprising start? I would say for us, we re using analytics to drive a lot of decisions and merging that with our scouting information, said Falvey, 34. We re doing that whether it s the first two games of the season or whether we re making decisions in the draft or anything in player development. The Twins surprised season-opening opponent Kansas City by impressively sweeping three games at Target Field. I think guys like (scout) Jeremy Hefner and (coach) Jeff Pickler and the coaching staff and Paul (manager Paul Molitor) together did a really great job of using the information that they have, and that includes the scouting and the video looks along with some of the analytics to help prepare the game plan, Falvey said of the opening series. Joe Mauer, the Twins first baseman who turns 34 next week, said of the team s new emphasis on analytics, It s information, and information is good. Tom Kelly, who managed the Twins to World Series championships in 1987 and 1991, has donated most of his personal baseball memorabilia collection to the team s archives. The Twins superb curator, Clyde Doepner, has put it on display in three cases in the Delta Club area at Target Field. Kelly, 66, is keeping his World Series trophies and rings. But he has given away the rest, including 1987 final-out baseballs from the division, pennant and World Series games; his personalized presentation bats awarded for managing in the World Series; five major and minor league championship rings, assorted worn jerseys from his career, and a champagne bottle given by Scott Erickson on the day of his 1994 no-hitter against Milwaukee at the Metrodome. Erickson wrote on the bottle to Kelly, Thanks for not taking me out. Also donated was the ball that Kelly hit for his only career home run against Detroit s Vern Ruhle in 1976 at Tiger Stadium. 6

7 Among former Twins flying into town from Phoenix to attend former coach Rick Stelmaszek s first-pitch ceremony on Opening Day was ex-twin Justin Morneau, who finished last season with the White Sox. First time I ve watched a baseball game from the stands since 1999 it was different, said Morneau, 35. In 58 games for Chicago last year, Morneau, the 2006 American League MVP with the Twins, hit.261 with six home runs and 25 runs batted in. Morneau continues to work out and still wants to play. I do, but it s not really up to me, he said. Meanwhile, Morneau is coaching his son s T-ball team in Arizona. Just trying to get them to stand straight and swing hard and not confuse them too much, he said. Morneau is also building a home in suburban Minneapolis that will be completed in September. If the Twins continue to play well, there should be a nice uptick in ticket sales for their 10-game homestand that begins Friday against the White Sox. The Twins have six former catchers playing elsewhere this season, a list compiled by autograph collector Joel Thingvall: Drew Butera, Kansas City; Wilson Ramos, Tampa Bay; Kurt Suzuki, Atlanta; Chris Hermann, Arizona; Eric Fryer, St. Louis; and Rene Rivera, Mets. Infielders: J.J. Hardy, Baltimore; Danny Valencia, Seattle; Trevor Plouffe, Oakland; Eduardo Nunez, San Francisco. Outfielders: Denard Span, San Francisco; Aaron Hicks, Yankees; Ben Revere, Angels; Carlos Gomez, Texas; Kendrys Morales, Toronto. Pitchers: Francisco Liriano, Toronto; Ricky Nolasco, Angels; R.A. Dickey, Atlanta; Matt Garza and Tommy Milone, Milwaukee; Fernando Abad, Boston; Anthony Swarzak, White Sox; Casey Fien, Seattle; Brian Duensing, Cubs; Pat Neshek, Philadelphia; Liam Hendricks, Oakland; Neil Ramirez, San Francisco. Jacque Jones is a coach for Washington, Ron Gardenhire for Arizona, Carl Willis and Chili Davis for Boston, Brian Buchanan for Kansas City, Mike Pagliarulo for Miami, Ron Washington for Atlanta and Paul Sorrento for the Angels. Pete Mackanin is manager for Philadelphia. On Nov. 14 in New York, the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association will present Hall of Fame ex-twin Bert Blyleven with its Lifetime Achievement Award. First errors of season prove costly to Twins Rhett Bollinger MLB April 8, 2017 CHICAGO -- It wasn't just that the Twins started out the season with a 4-0 record, it's that they looked like a different team than the one that lost 103 games a year ago -- especially on the defensive side. But that wasn't the case in their first loss of the season on Saturday, a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the White Sox, as Minnesota was hurt by its first two errors of the season, and didn't play as crisp defensively as it had during its first four games. "We've talked about having some pretty clean games here the first four, but today was a different story," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "We made some mistakes, and they made us pay." The most glaring play came in the second after an RBI triple from Avisail Garcia. Geovany Soto tried to lay down a bunt but failed, and catcher Jason Castro threw to third baseman Miguel Sano to catch Garcia in a rundown. Sano tried to chase Garcia home, but by the time he threw to Castro it was too late, allowing the third run of the game. "I ran too close to the plate and I flipped the ball to home, but it was too late," Sano said. "So it was an error. I tried to touch Garcia, but he's got 7

8 more speed than me. I'm supposed to make the out there." Molitor was fine with the decision to run Garcia toward home, but said Sano was too late getting the ball to Castro, who also fumbled the flip and was originally charged with the error before it was switched to Sano. "You could tell right away when Miggy got the ball he thought he'd be able to catch him," Molitor said. "I don't mind running a guy towards home. If you execute on one throw you're going to be fine, but he realized too late he wasn't going to catch him, and he tried to get rid of the ball too quickly and the exchange wasn't good." White Sox manager Rick Renteria said it was a called squeeze play, and Garcia said he was just happy he was able to make it home. "I was a little bit surprised," Garcia said. "I'm happy that I scored and helped the team." Sano made a second error in the fifth on a routine grounder from Tyler Saladino, but the Twins got out of the inning without any damage. Sano said he remains confident in his defense, and will continue to work at getting better. "I made two errors today but there's nothing I can say about that," Sano said. "I need to keep going out there and do my job." Castro homers, but Twins' 4-win streak ends Rhett Bollinger and Sarah Trotto MLB April 8, 2017 CHICAGO -- Avisail Garcia went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs, falling a double short of the cycle, to back a strong effort from right-hander Miguel Gonzalez in the White Sox 6-2 win over the Twins on Saturday at Guaranteed Rate Field. It snapped Minnesota's four-game win streak to start the season. Garcia hit an RBI triple in the second off of lefty Adalberto Mejia, who was making his first career start. He added a single in the fourth before connecting on a two-run blast off right-hander Justin Haley in the sixth. He had a chance to hit for the cycle in the eighth, but grounded out to shortstop. "I feel more confident but have to keep working hard and play hard every day," Garcia said. "That's the only thing I can control." Geovany Soto followed Garcia's home run with one of his own off Haley, who pitched 3 2/3 innings in relief of Mejia. The latter was pulled after just 1 2/3 innings after giving up three runs (two earned) on two hits. "I wanted to do my job and go out there and throw strikes," Mejia said through a translator. "When [manager] Paul [Molitor] came out, I wasn't mad, I was more frustrated than anything. With myself." The back-to-back homers came after Jason Castro launched a two-run long ball for the Twins in the sixth to make it a one-run game. The tworun homer was the lone blemish for Gonzalez, who surrendered two runs on seven hits, with six strikeouts over six innings. "After having seven days off, it was a little tough, but I was able to minimize damage and be under control after that and just started rolling," said Gonzalez, whose start was pushed back because of a rainout. "Soto did a really good job back there changing speeds in that first inning. That kept me in the game." Moments that mattered Back-to-back blasts: Minnesota's bullpen hadn't allowed an earned run this season entering Saturday's game, and the Twins got back into the game thanks to Castro's two-run homer. But the White Sox essentially put the game away with Garcia's deep drive to center, and Soto's homer to left. Per Statcast, Garcia's homer left the bat at mph and traveled a projected 442 feet, and Soto's homer had an exit velocity of mph, going a projected 396 feet. It was Garcia's third-farthest-hit homer dating back to Costly timing for first error: The Twins played crisp defense in their first four games and hadn't committed an error until third baseman Miguel Sano botched a rundown following Garcia's triple. Garcia was picked off third following Soto's unsuccessful bunt attempt, but Sano couldn't catch him on the way to the plate. His flip home sailed high, and he was charged with his first of two errors on the afternoon. "I ran too close to the plate and I flipped the ball to home, but it was too late," Sano said. "So it was an error. I tried to touch Garcia, but he's got more speed than me. I'm supposed to make the out there." Sound smart with your friends Todd Frazier collected his first hit of the season when his sixth-inning single to right field snapped an 0-for-13 skid. Garcia and Soto followed 8

9 with home runs for a three-run White Sox inning. Frazier drew a 14-pitch walk, and lined out earlier in the game. White Sox manager Rick Renteria especially liked the walk. "Huge -- that at-bat probably set the tone for the next hitter," Renteria said. "Fraz has been working really, really hard on trying to just stay on the ball a little bit longer. It paid off in that at-bat, in that he fought off quite a few pitches." Defensive gem Second baseman Brian Dozier turned an impressive double play in the fourth, making a diving stop up the middle on a hard-hit grounder from Soto and flipping to shortstop Jorge Polanco, who completed the transaction with a throw to first. "We got a nice hop off the mound and it gave us a chance," Molitor said. "It kind of skipped and changed directions a little bit. Any time you can react like that with full extension and a glove flip, it's a pretty double play." What's next Twins: Right-hander Ervin Santana starts the series finale for the Twins against the White Sox on Sunday at 1:10 p.m. CT. Santana was sharp on Opening Day, allowing one run on two hits over seven strong innings in a win. White Sox: Left-hander Jose Quintana makes his second start Sunday at 1:10 p.m. CT after allowing six runs and a career-tying three home runs against the Tigers on Opening Day. Dozier focused on sharpening art of the steal Rhett Bollinger MLB April 8, 2017 CHICAGO -- Despite having a career year that saw him hit 42 homers last season, Twins second baseman Brian Dozier reflected on what he could do better and committed himself to becoming a better basestealer in So far, it's worked out well for Dozier, who had three stolen bases in his first four games after stealing 18 in 20 attempts last year. "After every year, I always look back and ask myself why I haven't done more on the basepaths, stealing bases," Dozier said. "So I kind of want to take it to a different level. Everything is calculated. I know when the time is right, and I know the times of every single pitcher. I know when I can and can't make it." Dozier said preparation is the key to his success as he studies opposing pitchers, and bases his ability to steal on their time to home plate and the situation. He was happy with his 90 percent success rate last year, but felt he could've been more aggressive.. "I'm not a burner who can let my speed make up for bad jumps," Dozier said. "It's all calculated. But I'm going to take more chances. No one is going to out-prepare me before I take off. If I get thrown out being wise, I'm OK with that." Dozier also worked in Spring Training on getting better leads, and Statcast shows that's been the case so far early this year, as he's averaging 25.2 feet on his leads before his stolen bases compared to 23.2 feet last year. He's taken leads of 27.3, 24.5 and 23.8 feet -- the first of those a personal Statcast Era record on successful swipes of second. "My leads against [Danny] Duffy compared to [Ian] Kennedy were completely different, because Duffy has one of the best step-off moves in the game," Dozier said. "It's not like just because I have the green light I'm going to go. I'm going to calculate everything. I can't go if [the pitchers' time to home plate is] under 1.27 [seconds]. But with a bigger lead, it could be a 1.29 and make it easier." Twins manager Paul Molitor has noticed that aggression from Dozier on the bases, and said he's given him the green light this year. "He's not our fastest guy, but he's more adept than anybody else at knowing what he can do and how to find an edge," Molitor said. "He has good instincts and good judgment and good breaks. So far, he's had opportunities to be aggressive and he's taking advantage." Worth noting Amid a 1-for-18 start to the year through Friday, Byron Buxton was moved down from third to seventh in the lineup. Molitor met with Buxton before the game and said Buxton still feels confident about his offense. Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey was in the stands Friday night to watch potential No. 1 Draft pick Hunter Greene play for Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, Calif. Greene, a two-way player, struck out 13 batters, and reportedly hit 100 mph. 9

10 Wetmore: 2 bits of bad news and 3 silver linings from Twins first loss Derek Wetmore 1500 ESPN April 8, 2017 The Twins on Saturday lost their first game of the season. Depending on your perspective, that s either good news or bad news. I try to be as down the middle as I can in my analysis here on this fine website, and so I m going to give you wonderful readers a dose of each. Losing a baseball game is a suboptimal outcome, but on the other hand, Optimism Reigns. For starters, the bad news. The Twins had their no-error string snapped. It had been relatively clean fielding for Minnesota until Saturday, when they took a big step backward, although perhaps just for a day. Miguel Sano and Jason Castro failed to connect in a rundown after the White Sox botched a squeeze play with a runner on third base. Castro fired down to Sano at third base and they had the runner trapped, but Sano messed up the rundown, because he held the ball too long and couldn t track down the runner himself. It was a weird play, because it should have been an easy out, but Sano s bad decision cost an out and a run. Until that play, the only defensive issue was a ball Sano failed to field out of the lefty shift from about the shortstop s position in the opening series against the Royals at Target Field. To make matters slightly worse, Sano also botched a ground ball on a routine play in the 5th inning Saturday. Byron Buxton, who has been great defensively so far this season, dropped a ball and crashed into the chain-link fence in the outfield. It would have been an excellent catch. The bad news is that he didn t make it, the good news is that he stayed in the game after the collision. Oh, and he had his first hit to the outfield in the 3rd inning. Finally, Jorge Polanco failed to make a play to his right in the 7th. It would have been a nice play if he had made it, but it wasn t impossible. Whether or not Polanco can be a regular shortstop remains an open question, in my book. Saturday was the Twins first bad start from a pitcher. Actually, I d consider that pretty good news. Adalberto Mejia, the fifth starter out of spring training, only lasted 1 2/3 innings Saturday, which snapped a string of otherwise good starting pitching for Minnesota. That s by far the biggest question mark, and on balance it s the biggest variable to whether or not they ll have a good season this year. Mejia got 5 outs and gave up 3 runs (2 earned) in his first outing of the year. He also walked a pair of runners and left in the 2nd inning with White Sox runners on first and second base. He would have been out of the inning without a run scoring if not for Sano s gaffe. Ervin Santana pitched 7 strong innings on opening day (1 run). Hector Santiago followed that by giving up just 1 run in his 5 innings of work. Kyle Gibson capped the sweep of the Royals with 5 innings and 3 earned runs in a 5-3 Twins wins. Phil Hughes logged 6 innings of 1-run ball in his first start post-surgery. They weren t all excellent starts, but they were successful in limiting damage and keeping runs to a minimum. On the brighter side, J.O. Berrios posted solid numbers for Triple-A Rochester in the team s opener. Berrios pitched 6 scoreless innings with a 7:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He ll emerge in the Twins rotation at some point this summer, I would imagine. Now for some Good News Jason Castro continued to be an offensive force with a 2-run home run. I don t necessarily expect it to continue, but through five games, the new Twins catcher has been their best hitter. Starting 5-0 wouldn t have necessarily secured anything. Still, a 4-1 start is better than last year s toe-stubbing disaster out of the gates. I heard on the radio broadcast of the game that the 1968 Twins had started 6-0 (good!) and won just 79 games (oh, nevermind). 10

11 So I looked up that season and what s crazy to me about it is that the 1967 Twins had won 91 games. And they won 97 games in 1969! So for what it s worth, a good start doesn t exactly project to a great season. But let s not call it meaningless. Because in this case, the Twins did play four good games, with good defense and pitching both starting pitching and relief. All that stuff is good news for Minnesota. And if you picture the season 162 games and a.500 team is equally likely to win any of the 162 games (50% chance), then a 4-0 start means a little something. Let s say you think the Twins are a.500 team in terms of talent and health. Then the season resets after 4 games. Then theoretical.500 Twins win 79 of their remaining 158 contests (half), and finish That s probably spitting distance of a Wild Card spot in the postseason. Anyway, I m not saying this will happen, and made-up math like this has no practical bearing on the outcome of the season. My only point is that a 6-0 start wouldn t guarantee success (see 1968 Twins); and at the same time, the hot start isn t irrelevant (see the quality of play and my pretend-math thought experiment). Final silver lining: It was unlikely the Twins would finish the year Maybe the loss will help ease the mounting pressure. 11