Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Friday, May 12, 2017

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1 Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Friday, May 12, 2017 Twins flex power muscles early, edge White Sox. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 1 Jose Berrios, Twins' top starting pitching prospect, called up to make Saturday start. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 2 Twins-Cleveland series preview. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 3 Twins call up righthander Jose Berrios, other notes. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 4 There are opportunities for Twins pitching prospects. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 4 Twins righthander Jose Berrios still a possibility to start on Saturday. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 6 Brandon Kintzler, Twins hold on for 7-6 win over White Sox; Berrios to start Saturday. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 7 Twins great Frank Viola helped fellow lefty Adam Wilk stay on track. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 8 Trio of early HRs leads Twins to finale win. MLB (Merkin & Bollinger) p. 9 Kintzler's new changeup grip pays off quickly. MLB (Bollinger) p. 10 Berrios gets call to start Saturday vs. Indians. MLB (Bollinger) p. 11 Wilk ends hectic week as member of Twins. MLB (Bollinger) p. 11 Santana set for series opener against Tribe. MLB (Bollinger) p. 12 Reports: Twins to call up top pitching prospect J.O. Berrios to start Saturday. ESPN 1500 (Wetmore) p. 12 Wetmore s 5 thoughts: Dozier s back, Sano s birthday bash, Escobar s moves. ESPN 1500 (Wetmore) p. 13 Twins have hired a baseball ops assistant, as front office continues to grow. ESPN 1500 (Wetmore) p. 14 Expert s mock drafts torn, but least controversial for Twins pick is Brendan McKay. ESPN 1500 (Wetmore) p. 15 Sano hits birthday homer, Twins hold off White Sox. FOX Sports p. 16 Twins in no rush to promote Jose Berrios. FOX Sports p. 17 Twins To Promote Jose Berrios. MLB Trade Rumors (Adams) p. 17 Twins flex power muscles early, edge White Sox La Velle E. Neal lll Star Tribune May 12, 2017 CHICAGO The power show the Twins put on early Thursday should ve kept them out of a battle of the bullpens, but that s where they were as soon as Matt Davidson s home run in the sixth landed in the left field seats. The Twins six-run lead was down to one, and they had to outbully the talented White Sox bullpen. This would have been a pretty bad loss if things had continued the way they were going, said righthander Phil Hughes, the starter whose exit in the fifth inning was part of the problem. Beat up and beleaguered, the relief corps became impenetrable, shutting down the Chicago offense over the last three innings of the Twins 7-6 victory over the White Sox. An out-of-form Ryan Pressly took the mound in the seventh and struck out the side. He ended a nine-pitch battle with Jose Abreu by blowing a 97-miles-per-hour fastball by the slugger. Hughes then struck out Avisail Garcia, who had homered off him in Target Field last month, to end the inning. Probably his best outing, Twins manager Paul Molitor said. He s mixed in a couple along the way. But to come in a one-run game after we had lost momentum and shut it down, three good hitters. Aggressive with his fastball, command of his off-speed pitches. To get through that inning and give us a chance to set up the eighth and ninth. Matt Belisle got the first out of the eighth but walked Davidson and Tim Anderson. Molitor then turned to closer Brandon Kintzler. Kintzler had

2 one four-out save this season and three last season, but never a five-out save. After a wild pitch allowed the runners to move to second and third, Kintzler got two strikeouts to end the inning. Then he pitched a ninth as the Twins held on to win the nail-biter. That s a big-league save right there, Molitor said. Chicago s talented bullpen shut down the Twins offense late. White Sox relievers entered the game second in the major leagues in ERA, at The Twins were 26th, at But the Twins were equal to the Sox on Thursday. Some big swings early helped the Twins race to a 6-0 lead. A four-run first inning was fueled by Eduardo Escobar s three-run homer halfway up the stands in left. Brian Dozier followed with a home run to left in the second, and Miguel Sano added an opposite-field shot off Chicago starter Derek Holland to make it 6-0. The three home runs off Holland tied a career high. But the Twins have been hitting home runs off everybody these days. Thursday marked their 12th game in a row with a home run. And they have hit 17 homers in eight games this month. Sano leads the team with nine, and Dozier is next with five. Chicago scored twice in the fourth to get within 6-2, one run scoring when Byron Buxton dropped a routine fly ball. Escobar s RBI double made it 7-2 in the fifth. Hughes had a nice cushion to work with and was throwing plenty of strikes. He breezed through the third inning needing just seven pitches. But he suddenly lost command in the fourth inning, needing 27 pitches to get through it. Molitor was forced to lift Hughes after 4⅔ innings. You can t let the wheels come off like that, Hughes said. Thankfully we had a big enough cushion that it didn t cost us. In a tight game it would be a real difference-maker. Jose Berrios, Twins' top starting pitching prospect, called up to make Saturday start La Velle E. Neal lll Star Tribune May 12, 2017 CHICAGO After Thursday s victory over the White Sox, the Twins revealed their starter for Saturday s game against Cleveland. It s righthander Jose Berrios, the organization s top starting pitching prospect. It seems like it s just time, Twins manager Paul Molitor said. Berrios is 3-0 with a 1.13 ERA for Class AAA Rochester, and the Twins have tried to dive deeper into his pitching than stats alone. They wanted to make sure he s spotting his fastball and mixing his pitches. They don t want him to have success doing things in the minors that won t work in the majors. By many accounts, Berrios is doing that and that increased his chances of a call-up. He is the top International League pitcher, having allowed 25 hits, two home runs and eight runs (five earned) in 39⅔ innings. He has struck out 39 and walked eight. In his last start against Pawtucket on Sunday, he allowed six hits and one run in 6⅔ innings, striking out four with no walks in the 3-1 victory. He s strung together some starts, Molitor said. We have been impressed with some of the things he has been doing in terms of progress in the areas that we needed to see. The Twins will announce the corresponding roster move before Saturday s game. Berrios was called up three separate times last season and spent time refining his mechanics as he went 3-7 with an 8.02 ERA in 14 starts. Ervin Santana and former pitcher Bert Blyleven joined in at some of his bullpen sessions late in the second, offering advice. Berrios made his major league debut against Cleveland on April 27, 2016, giving up five runs over four innings. 2

3 New guy s wild ride Lefthander Adam Wilk, back in Las Vegas after being designated for assignment on Monday, was headed for the golf course Wednesday with some friends when he received word that the Twins had claimed him off waivers from the New York Mets. He told a couple of members of his group that he can t do that anymore. Got the flight info and left Vegas. He s been deep into itineraries the past few days, as he s piled up the frequent flier miles hopefully to keep his career going. He flew early Saturday with his Class AAA Las Vegas team to Albuquerque, N.M., through Denver, when he was told the Mets needed him to pitch on Sunday for Matt Harvey, who was being suspended. Wilk then flew from Albuquerque to Los Angeles to catch a red-eye to New York, landing around 8:30 a.m. He went straight to CitiField, where he lasted just 3 ⅔ innings against the Marlins. All in 24 hours, he said. Pretty chaotic. On Monday, he was designated for assignment by the Mets. He returned to his home in Las Vegas to wait for a call. The Twins made that call, and Wilk took off for Chicago to join his new team. He s a spot-hitting lefty who mixes in a slider and changeup with his high-80s fastball and cutter. I was pretty happy, he said. Getting DFA d in New York, you always want to be claimed by somebody. I got the call around 11 a.m. [Wednesday]. The bouncing around has reflected his career. Wilk, 29, broke in with Detroit in After spending 2012 with the Tigers, he has been with six different organizations, including the NC Dinos of the Korean Baseball Organization. He s 0-4 with a 7.02 ERA in 10 major league games, including four starts. Last season ended with hip labrum surgery following a June 24 start. Etc. Second baseman Brian Dozier returned to the starting lineup Thursday after missing three games with a sprained left ankle. He stuck out in his first at-bat, then homered in the second inning. Twins-Cleveland series preview La Velle E. Neal lll Star Tribune May 12, 2017 TEXT SIZE 0 PRINT MORE THREE-GAME SERIES AT PROGRESSIVE FIELD Friday, 6:10 p.m. FSN, 96.3-FM RHP Ervin Santana (5-1, 1.72) vs. RHP Josh Tomlin (2-3, 7.12) Saturday, 3:10 p.m. FSN, 96.3-FM TBA vs. RHP Mike Clevinger (1-0, 0.00) Sunday, 12:10 p.m. FSN, 96.3-FM LHP Hector Santiago (4-1, 2.76) vs. RHP Trevor Bauer (2-7, 7.36) Twins update 3

4 How good have Santana and Santiago been as a 1-2 punch? According to the Elias Sports Bureau, they are the first Twins teammates to be 4-1 or better with an ERA under 3.00 through seven starts since That's when Jim Kaat (6-1, 1.11 ERA) and Bert Blyleven (4-1, 2.63) styled for the Twins. Santana held the Indians to one run over six innings on April 20 at Target Field, in a game the Twins eventually lost 8-7. Santana is 5-11 overall against Cleveland with a 4.22 ERA. Brian Dozier was 1-for-13 against Cleveland in three games at Target Field last month. Indians update Tomlin's raw numbers aren't sexy, but he beat the Twins at Target Field on April 18 and won his most recent start on Saturday when he held the Royals to one run on three hits over seven innings. Ace Corey Kluber is eligible to come off the disabled list on Saturday, but his strained back has not completely healed. Clevinger, who has shown an improved curveball, will get another start instead. Lefthander Andrew Miller and closer Cody Allen are as lethal as any one-two bullpen punch in the league. But Allen took the loss on Wednesday against Toronto.... Carlos Santana was 6-for-14 against the Twins last month. Twins call up righthander Jose Berrios, other notes La Velle E. Neal lll Star Tribune May 11, 2017 Three quick notes following the Twins' 7-6 win over Chicago" THE RETURN OF BERRIOS: Twins manager Paul Molitor said it's time. Time to see what Jose Berrios can do now that he's worked on some things at Class AAA Rochester. He's 3-0 with 1.13 ERA there and, by the Twins' accounts, he's polished his pitching: He s strung together some starts, Molitor said. We have been impressed with some of the things he has been doing in terms of progress in the areas that we needed to see. The Twins will announce the corresponding move for Berrios before Saturday s game. I think the would have preferred to keep him down there a little longer, but they are running out of options. Righthander Nick Tepesch was the other option, but he'd be working on extra days rest again, and the Twins didn't want to take that chance. PRESSLY'S BIG INNING: Brandon Kintzler pulled off the five-out save on Thursday, but I thought Ryan Pressly had the bigger inning when he struck out the side in the seventh. The White Sox had clawed their way back to 7-6 in the sixth, and the Twins needed to remember what it was like to pitch a clean inning again. Pressly struck out the side, including Avisail Garcia, who homered off of him at Target Field last month. Coaches were worried about his confidence, but Thursday's outing should bring it back. NITPICKS: 1. I thought Robbie Grossman should have scored from third when Jose Abreu missed catching the throw on what would have been an inning-ending double play. I don't think he saw the ball right away and held his ground, but he could have scored. 2. I thought Marvin Hudson had a weird strike zone. Phil Hughes pretty much confirmed it when after the game. "There were some things that happened that forced me to throw a couple extra pitches," Hughes said. But Hughes was upset with himself too, for giving back most of the lead. On to Cleveland! There are opportunities for Twins pitching prospects La Velle E. Neal lll Star Tribune May 11, 2017 So far, the Twins have called up Buddy Boshers, Nick Tepesch and Drew Rucinski and added Adam Wilk off waivers to stabilize their pitching staff. It's safe to assume those weren't the moves Twins fans expected at the start of the season. But the moves reflect a combination of injuries and struggles on the major league level while the highly thought of prospects in the minors are not quite ready. This is not meant to be an open letter to prospects in the minors, but several pitchers should be looking at the Twins situation and thinking, "there's money to be made up there." I think Wilk is an interesting story as he tries to stick in the majors. But he throws 88 miles an hour. Maybe the Twins wanted an extra lefty this weekend to use against Jason Kipnis, Michael Brantley and Lonnie Chisenhall. The addition of Wilk and the trade for Kevin Champman (sent to 4

5 Rochester for Danny Santana) show that the Twins felt they were short on lefties. What's lacking in the bullpen is obvious: The Twins need power arms to attack dangerous hitters late in games. Ryan Pressly can be one solution, but he's trying to rebuild his confidence after hitting a rough patch. Michael Tonkin could have been that guy, but he only made the team out of camp because he was out of options. And now he's been designated for assignment. There are three relievers at Class AAA Rochester who could be factors sooner or later in the season. Righthander J.T. Chargois is at the top of the list. He throws hard, has a good breaking ball and improved after a rocky baptism last year. He had a spot in the bullpen waiting for him in spring training, but he let it slip through his fingers. Now he's been injured for the Red Wings with an elbow impingement. He's in Florida for rehab and could be back with Rochester in a couple weeks. Two interesting guys could be options down the road. Trevor Hildenberger has a funky delivery that is working at Rochester. Nick Turley is 27 and has been plagued by huge walk rates in his career. But he posted an 0.44 ERA to force his way out of Class AA Chattanooga and has allowed one run through six innings at Rochester. He cut down his walk rate at Chattanooga and has to prove he can do it at Rochester. Twins CBO Derek Falvey spoke positively of him Tuesday. There's more heat at Chattanooga, where darn near the whole bullpen has excelled. Nick Burdi has an 0.77 ERA in 10 games there and has to be close to a promotion. I did notice that he has four walks in 11.2 innings, which might not please Twins officials. But I was told Burdi's fastball is sitting around 98 miles an hour and twice hit 100 earlier this week. That's what the Twins lack. It's a race between Nick and his brother Zack, a prospect for the White Sox, to make it to the majors. Zack throws 100 too and is at Triple-A. Lefty Mason Melotakis has an 0.60 ERA after 12 games at Chattanooga. It's been a tough road for Melotakis, 25, a member of the Tommy John surgery club. He also was slowed with an oblique injury during spring training. In fact, I think Burdi (wrist injury last season limited him to 3.0 innings) and Melotakis are at Chattanooga because of their recent injuries and will be moved up soon. Rochester's weather might be a factor as well. John Curtiss has 12 scoreless innings and five saves at Chattanooga. The former starter is thriving in a relief role. Curtiss, Luke Bard and Randy Rosario are relievers to watch for the Lookouts. But Chargois, Burdi and Melotakis are the three relievers who should be on the radar to be called up over the next few weeks. We know the starting pitching situation. The Twins are taking a cautious approach with Jose Berrios, and I think it's the right move. Twitter, once again, is torching the Twins for not calling him up now. I've reminded them that their track record for demanding callups and having them work out once it happens has not been good. I had the Rochester radio announcer, Josh Wetzel, on KFAN last week, and he said Berrios has been effective throwing mph fastballs and not the heaters we have seen in the past. Falvey believes Berrios is throwing more sinkers, which would explain the velocity. The big adjustment for Berrios is mental: trusting that he has the stuff to get major league hitters out. With the Twins rotation the way it is right now, I can't see him staying down there much longer. The next best starting prospect, to me, is Fernando Romero at Chattanooga. You should track his starts. I saw him hit 97 during spring training with legitimate breaking pitches. He's a confidenct young man who put on sunglasses when he spoke to the media in the clubhouse during camp. I started calling him Bruno Mars with a fastball. I don't think this is his year to debut, but he has the stuff to be at least a No. 2 starter. The Twins have had some bad luck. Ryan O'Rourke is good against lefties, but is out with Tommy John surgery. Trevor May would have been an option for the rotation, but had Tommy John surgery too. Who saw Kyle Gibson winding up in the minors after the spring he had? And Ryan Vogelsong would be their No. 3 starter right now if he hadn't asked for his release during camp. The Twins were forced to move Tyler Duffey into the bullpen, with generally favorable results. The lack of pitching depth in the organization has been exposed. But there are some prospects who should be licking their chops at the opportunity to get up here. 5

6 Twins righthander Jose Berrios still a possibility to start on Saturday La Velle E. Neal lll Star Tribune May 11, 2017 Don't rule out Jose Berrios starting on Saturday against Cleveland. The Twins remain in deliberation mode as Saturday's approaches. But there are some interesting signals flashing that makes Berrios, the Twins' top starting pitching prospect, a legitimate candidate to face the Indians. One, Twins manager Paul Molitor announced this afternoon that righthander Nick Tepesch is available out of the bullpen against the White Sox. Tepesch was believed to be a candidate for Saturday - and still is if he's not needed tonight. But the possibility of him pitching tonight is an interesting development. Two, Berrios, 3-0, 1.13, was in line to start on Friday against Pawtucket. But Rochester has announced that lefthander Jason Wheeler will start. Now, given the weather problems Rochester has had, the rotation might just be pushed back a day. But that leads us to... Three, the Red Wings currently have the infamous "TBA" starting on Saturday instead of Berrios. The Twins appear to be buying time to make a decision. At this point, it looks like it will be Berrios or Tepesch. How Tepesch is used tonight could determine which way the Twins go. Lefthander Adam Wilk, claimed off waivers on Wednesday, has joined the team and will be in the bullpen tonight. He pitched with Drew Rucinski and Hector Santiago when he was with the Angels in Twins manager Paul Molitor indicated that Rucinski and Wilks are buddies. That's interesting, since Rucinski was optioned to Rochester to make room for Wilks. That's baseball. Brian Dozier returns to the lineup tonight, although Molitor said Dozier's ankle still looks bad. We'll see how it affects his mobility. Twins Brian Dozier, 2B Robbie Grossman, RF Miguel Sano, 3B Jorge Polanco, SS Joe Mauer, 1B Eduardo Escobar, DH Chris Gimenez, C Eddie Rosario, LF Byron Buxton, CF Phil Hughes, RHP White Sox Melky Cabrera, LF Tyler Saladino, 2B Jose Abreu, 1B Avisail Garcia, RF Todd Frazier, DH Matt Davidson, 3B Tim Anderson, SS Omar Narvaez, C Luery Garcia, CF Derek Holland, LHP 6

7 Brandon Kintzler, Twins hold on for 7-6 win over White Sox; Berrios to start Saturday Mike Berardino Pioneer Press May 11, 2017 CHICAGO Before Thursday night, Brandon Kintzler had secured four-out saves four times in the major leagues, including April 9 at this same location. However, the Twins journeyman closer plowed fresh ground in a 7-6 win over the Chicago White Sox, recording the final five outs of a game the Twins spent most of the evening trying to give away. After the game, the Twins announced 22-year-old right-hander Jose Berrios would be recalled from Triple-A Rochester to start Saturday afternoon in Cleveland. We re going to give Jose the ball, Twins manager Paul Molitor said. It just seems like it s his time. Berrios, who struggled to an 8.02 earned run average in 14 big-league starts last season, is 3-0 and leads the International League with a 1.13 ERA. He gets the nod over veteran right-hander Nick Tepesch, who didn t make it out of the second inning on Saturday against the Boston Red Sox. (Berrios) has strung together some starts, Molitor said. We ve been impressed with some of the things he s been doing in terms of progress in areas that we need. He s responded, so I think it s time for him to get an opportunity. Entering with the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the eighth after back-to-back full-count walks off struggling veteran Matt Belisle, Kintzler uncorked a wild pitch before striking out both Omar Narvaez and Leury Garcia to end the threat. Working for the first time in six days, dating to his first blown save of the year, Kintzler came back with a quick ninth to nail down his 25th save in 29 tries since assuming the role last June. He had three four-out saves last season, but none after July 9. That was a big-league save for sure, Molitor said. The bullpen did a nice job to close it out, especially Brandon. He s fresh. He hasn t had a ton of work as of late. I was just taking a chance there, trying to get a groundball. That capped an important two-game response from a beleaguered Twins bullpen that entered with a 4.79 earned run average, 24th out of 30 big-league teams. Since suffering through a 10-run ninth inning on Sunday against the Boston Red Sox, Twins relievers have allowed one run in 6 2/3 innings, all in this rain-shortened series against the White Sox. That came on Matt Davidson s sixth-inning homer off Tyler Duffey that pulled the White Sox within one run and wiped out nearly the last vestige of a 6-0 lead through two. In the past two games, Twins relievers have struck out 10, walked two and allowed three hits. Ryan Pressly, who entered with an 8.74 ERA, struck out the hitters in a key seventh to earn the victory. His absent curveball reappeared as a put-away pitch to Tyler Saladino and Avisail Garcia, and in between he blew a high 97-mph fastball by Jose Abreu. Probably his best outing, Molitor said. Improving to 9-4 on the road with their fourth series win in five tries, the Twins also won for the sixth time in their past seven tries on the South Side. Eduardo Escobar, getting the start at designated hitter, keyed a four-run first with a three-run homer off White Sox lefty Derek Holland (3-3). Brian Dozier and Miguel Sano also clubbed solo homers an inning later, their fifth and ninth of the season, respectively. Dozier s came in his first game back from a sprained left ankle last week, while Sano s opposite-field shot came on his 24th birthday. With homers in 12 straight games, the Twins matched their best power surge since July 14-26, It was the 10th homer for Dozier in his past 19 games against the White Sox, reaching safely in each of those games. Twins right-hander Phil Hughes ran his scoreless streak against the White Sox to eight innings before running into trouble in a 27-pitch fourth that included a dropped fly ball (Byron Buxton) and a muffed double-play ball (Dozier). 7

8 Hughes gave up a three-run homer to Melky Cabrera before being lifted at 81 pitches with two down in the fifth. He entered with the fifth-best run support in the majors at 7.29 runs per nine innings, but this time couldn t grab a fifth win seemingly served up on a platter. Escobar added a two-out double in the fifth for his fourth run batted in of the night. Of Escobar s 31 career homers, five have come against the White Sox team that traded him to the Twins for Francisco Liriano in July Twins great Frank Viola helped fellow lefty Adam Wilk stay on track Mike Berardino Pioneer Press May 11, 2017 CHICAGO As a journeyman left-hander with underwhelming velocity, Adam Wilk could have been buried this season at Triple-A Las Vegas. Twins great Frank Viola, his pitching coach at that level in the New York Mets system, wouldn t let that happen. He was big on me just staying with my strength, Wilk, claimed off waivers this week, said Thursday after joining the Twins. Vegas is a very tough place to pitch. The wind blows out, small field, the ball carries pretty well. Viola, who interviewed for the Twins pitching coach job in November 2014, made sure Wilk stayed in attack mode. He just said, You ve got to throw strikes. Get ahead in the zone, Wilk said. You re going to get hit. It s going to happen. You re going to give up those fly balls that carry out 20 feet because of the wind. You ve just got to keep pitching to what you do. With 29 strikeouts and just five walks in 32 innings this season, Wilk took the advice to heart despite a 5.91 earned run average. The 29-year-old earned an emergency start at Citi Field on Sunday, giving up three homers and five earned runs in 3 2/3 innings against the Miami Marlins. Filling in for the suspended Matt Harvey, Wilk s travel itinerary went Las Vegas-Denver-Albuquerque-Los Angeles-New York and back to Las Vegas. Tough outing in New York, Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey said, but you have to give him a bit of a mulligan for how that worked out. Later designated for assignment to make room for ex-twins lefty Tommy Milone, Wilk is pleased to have landed with his sixth different organization in a pro career that began in He also had a one-year stopover in South Korea, where his NC Dinos translator was J.D. Kim, who served in the same role last season for ByungHo Park with the Twins. Wilk, who will work out of the bullpen for the Twins despite just 12 career relief outings, is healthy again after season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right hip. It nagged at him for up to two months, he said, despite working to a 3.61 ERA in 15 starts at Triple-A Durham in the Tampa Bay Rays system. Hip surgeon Thomas Byrd, team doctor for the NFL s Tennessee Titans, repaired the problem in Nashville. It was hurting pretty bad last year, Wilk said. I kept thinking that it might go away but it just never did. It just kind of got worse. It s all good now. GORDON MAKES THE LIST Double-A Chattanooga shortstop Nick Gordon was the only Twins prospect to make the updated Baseball America Top 100 when it was released Thursday. Gordon, 21, checked in at No. 47. Through 30 games for the Lookouts, his.331 batting average ranked third in the Southern League, and his combined on-base/slugging percentage of.880 ranked sixth. Chicago White Sox prospect Yoan Moncada ranked first overall. The 21-year-old Cuban second baseman, acquired from the Boston Red Sox this winter for lefty Chris Sale, has been getting plenty of coverage in the Chicago media, especially after this week s visit to Triple-A Indianapolis. Anthony Santiago, younger brother of Twins lefty Hector Santiago, was assigned this season to Triple-A Charlotte as a combination first-base 8

9 coach and life-skills coach for Moncada. A right-hander pitcher who spent three years in the White Sox system ( ), Santiago retired to a position in the club s Latin American player-development program. He s helping Moncada: translating for him, keeping him calm, making him understand stuff outside of baseball, Santiago said of his 27-yearold brother. He s there for him, anything he needs. It s a great opportunity, the fact they entrusted that to him. BRIEFLY Right-hander Nick Tepesch was available out of the bullpen Thursday night. Just in case, Twins manager Paul Molitor said. Tepesch, who recorded just five outs on Saturday in only his second big-league start in more than 33 months, remained in line to start Saturday in Cleveland if that assignment doesn t go instead to young Triple-A right-hander Jose Berrios. Brian Dozier returned to the lineup after missing three games with a sprained left ankle. He was available off the bench on Tuesday but the Twins won 7-2 and didn t need him. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Ervin Santana and Santiago are the first Twins teammates in 45 years to start 4-1 with an ERA under 3.00 through seven starts. Jim Kaat (6-1, 1.11) and Bert Blyleven (4-1, 2.63) did that in Trio of early HRs leads Twins to finale win Scott Merkin & Rhett Bollinger MLB May 12, 2017 CHICAGO -- The Twins jumped to a six-run lead after two innings and held on for a 7-6 victory over the White Sox on Thursday night at Guaranteed Rate Field. All four runs scored off White Sox starter Derek Holland in the first were unearned courtesy of a Jose Abreu missed catch on what would have been an inning-ending double play off the bat of Jorge Polanco. Joe Mauer followed with a run-scoring single, and Eduardo Escobar crushed a three-run blast to left to complete the four-run uprising. Escobar finished 2-for-3 with a walk and four RBIs against his former team. "Guys don't take it as a deflating moment," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said of Abreu's error. "It's not the best moment to have, but it's not a deflating moment for them because as you can see they kept fighting." "I still have to make pitches after that no matter what happens," Holland said. "I know what the situation was, but overall, I feel like it's my fault more than anything. I didn't execute the pitches after that, and that's what put us in that bigger hole." Holland had given up three home runs in his first six starts, but he was touched for three in five innings Thursday, with Escobar, Brian Dozier and Miguel Sano connecting. The White Sox scored two in the fourth and three in the third -- all coming through a Melky Cabrera home run -- to chase Twins starter Phil Hughes. Matt Davidson also went deep leading off the sixth. The loss was the fifth straight for the White Sox, while the Twins improved to 9-4 on the road. "It was a good win because we had to fight," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "A lot of guys contributed offensively, and the bullpen did a great job closing it out." MOMENTS THAT MATTERED The Great Escape: The White Sox had a chance to tie the game in the eighth after Twins reliever Matt Belisle issued one-out walks to Davidson and Tim Anderson and the runners moved up a base on closer Brandon Kintzler's wild pitch. But Kintzler struck out Omar Narvaez on a 3-2 pitch and then fanned Leury Garcia to preserve the one-run lead. The right-hander went on to record the first five-out save of his career with a perfect ninth inning. "In that situation, if I walked a guy, I wasn't worried about it, because I was still a ground ball away," Kintzler said. "On the wild pitch, I slipped on the landing. But the changeup [to Narvaez], I started working on it yesterday and basically made it up. So I thought it was a good situation to try it." Being too aggressive: With the White Sox having already scored twice in the fourth to cut the Twins' lead to 6-2, Davidson cut the rally short by getting thrown out trying to go from first to third on Anderson's single to left. Davidson had the play in front of him, but left fielder Eddie Rosario threw him out with relative ease on a strong throw to Sano. 9

10 "It was a little too aggressive for me as a slower runner," Davidson said. "Kind of saw the ball going, then put my head down and went instead of checking again, which I should have done. "Just trying to be aggressive. That guy throws really well. He had like 16 assists last year and made some good throws tonight, but you know, if that ball is off the money a little, a little closer play and we're there. But it was a little too aggressive." QUOTABLE "For some reason that kind of looked good to me and I got my barrel to it. I don't know if I ever got the barrel up that high, but I'll take it." -- Davidson, on hitting Tyler Duffey's a 0-2 fastball, which was up in the zone, for a home run SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS With Escobar's homer in the first, the Twins extended their streak to 12 straight games with a homer, which is their longest such streak since also homering in 12 consecutive games from July 14-26, White Sox reliever Anthony Swarzak remains close to unhittable. The right-hander threw two scoreless innings Thursday, raising his scoreless streak to 16 2/3 innings over 13 appearances. His stretch of consecutive hitters retired ended at 18, though, when he walked Robbie Grossman to lead off the seventh, but of the last 40 hitters faced by Swarzak, only one has a hit and just two have reached base. UPON FURTHER REVIEW Byron Buxton was ruled safe on a slow roller to Abreu leading off the second inning, with his head-first slide barely beating the throw to Holland covering the base. White Sox manager Rick Renteria challenged the call, and video replay overturned the original decision for an out. WHAT'S NEXT Twins: The Twins head to Cleveland for a three-game series that begins on Friday at 6:10 p.m. CT. Right-hander Ervin Santana (5-1, 1.72 ERA) starts for the Twins and is coming off his first subpar outing of the year, allowing six runs, including four homers, in a loss to the Red Sox. White Sox: Miguel Gonzalez (3-2, 3.18) gets the call for the series opener against the Padres on Friday night at 7:10 p.m. CT. Gonzalez is 0-2 with a 5.68 ERA over his last two starts. Kintzler's new changeup grip pays off quickly Rhett Bollinger MLB May 12, 2017 CHICAGO -- As Twins closer Brandon Kintzler played catch with lefty Taylor Rogers before Wednesday's rainout, he tinkered with a new changeup grip that gave the pitch more of a split-finger feel. It's not often a pitcher changes a pitch during the regular season, and it's even more rare to use it right away in a big situation. But Kintzler, who was called on for a five-out save against the White Sox on Thursday, used the changeup for a huge strikeout with two runners in scoring position and the Twins clinging to a one-run lead with one out in the eighth to help secure a 7-6 win at Guaranteed Rate Field. Kintzler came on in the eighth after Matt Belisle issued back-to-back walks with one out, as Twins manager Paul Molitor wanted the sinkerballer to try to induce a double play. But a wild pitch changed that plan, moving the runners up to second and third. Kintzler said he had to go for the strikeout on a 3-2 pitch to Omar Narvaez and decided to catch him off guard with his new changeup. "In that situation, if I walked a guy, I wasn't worried about it, because I was still a ground ball away," Kintzler said. "On the wild pitch, I slipped on the landing. But the changeup, I started working on it yesterday and basically made it up. So I thought it was a good situation to try it. I had thrown so many fastballs, I just had to sell it." Kintzler went to the pitch again after falling behind Leury Garcia, 1-0, evening the count by getting Garcia to look at the changeup. Two pitches later, Kintzler was out of the jam, getting Garcia looking on a 94.4-mph sinker. "Now it was just time to make pitches," Kintzler said. "I didn't have to be too careful and could be in attack mode right there. Ball one, I still had good movement, and I went changeup after that, and he flinched for a strike and was really late on a sinker down and away, which tells me that after he flinched on a changeup, I could throw a front-door sinker and he had no chance." Kintzler, who hadn't pitched since Friday, said the most difficult part about multi-innings saves -- this was the fifth in his career, but the first that required him to get five outs -- is sitting back in the dugout and going back out for the ninth. But Kintzler retired the side in order in the ninth 10

11 despite facing the top of the White Sox lineup. "I think it's different when you go in the dugout," Kintzler said. "The adrenaline comes down. I realized last year I have to move around a lot. I sat down for a second, but then realized I needed to move around more. They had the big boys coming up. I needed my legs." It was Kintzler's eighth save of the year, and his 1 2/3 scoreless innings lowered his ERA to Molitor now has confidence to use him for multi-inning saves going forward. "We were just taking a chance, trying to get a ground ball, but he ended up getting a couple strikeouts that were huge after the wild pitch," Molitor said. "He had a clean ninth. So that's a big league save, for sure." Berrios gets call to start Saturday vs. Indians Rhett Bollinger MLB May 12, 2017 CHICAGO -- After putting up dominant numbers at Triple-A Rochester, right-hander Jose Berrios will get the call to start against the Indians on Saturday. The Twins had been considering right-hander Nick Tepesch for the start, but he's only pitched once since April 20, struggling against the Red Sox on Saturday, lasting 1 2/3 innings. Berrios, 22, is 3-0 with a 1.13 ERA and 39 strikeouts compared to eight walks in 39 2/3 innings at Rochester. Minnesota will have to make a corresponding roster move before Saturday's game. "It just seems like his time," Twins manager Paul Molitor said of Berrios. "Tep was an option, but I was concerned about the lack of work. It's probably not the best situation. But [Berrios] has stretched together some starts. He's made progress in areas that we need. We'll throw him out there against Cleveland on the road, which is a tough first assignment, so we'll see how it goes." Berrios, who was the No. 19 overall prospect by MLBPipeline.com entering last season, struggled in his first taste of the Majors, posting an 8.02 ERA in 14 starts in He struck out 49, walked 35 and gave up 12 homers in 58 1/3 innings. The Twins had him focus on improving his command at Rochester this year, and they've been pleased enough with the results to call him up. "He's responded," Molitor said. "It was just time to bring him up." Wilk ends hectic week as member of Twins Rhett Bollinger MLB May 12, 2017 CHICAGO -- It's been quite the hectic week for left-hander Adam Wilk, who officially joined the Twins on Thursday after being claimed off waivers from the Mets. Wilk had to take a redeye flight across the country on Sunday to make an emergency start for the Mets after Matt Harvey was suspended, and after allowing five runs and three homers in 3 2/3 innings, he was designated for assignment. But just three days later, he was claimed by Minnesota, and he had to fly from Las Vegas to Chicago to join his new club. "It was pretty crazy," Wilk said. "We had traveled earlier that day already from Vegas to Albuquerque [before I was called up]. So it was pretty insane. From Vegas, to Denver, to Albuquerque, and then for me from Albuquerque to L.A. to New York all in 24 hours. It was pretty chaotic." But Wilk, 29, said he was happy to land a spot with the Twins, and gives the club depth as a reliever, despite pitching almost exclusively as a starter in the Minors. He found out about the waiver claim late Wednesday morning and had to cancel his plans to golf with friends before packing up his place in Las Vegas to head to Chicago. Wilk said he's cherishing his time in the Majors, especially because he had season-ending surgery on his right hip labrum last June and wasn't sure how he'd feel physically this year. But he's been healthy and excited about joining his sixth organization. "I was pretty happy," Wilk said. "Getting DFA'd by New York, you always want to be claimed by somebody. Just being able to get back into this and have a team like the Mets giving me an opportunity and now the Twins giving me an opportunity, it's just fun to be back playing again. I'm just trying to enjoy it more now. I've been with a lot of different teams." 11

12 Wilk, who had a 5.91 ERA with 29 strikeouts, five walks and five homers allowed in 32 innings at Triple-A Las Vegas, said he worked closely with former Twins ace Frank Viola, who is the Mets' Triple-A pitching coach. His numbers weren't great, but the southpaw noted Las Vegas is not an easy place to pitch. "He was big on working with me on my strengths," Wilk said. "Vegas is a tough place to pitch. Wind blows out, small field, ball carries pretty well. He told me I had to throw strikes and get ahead in the zone, and hits are going to happen. There are going some balls that carry out 20 feet because of the wind." Worth noting Right-hander Jose Berrios will start on Saturday against the Indians. Berrios has dominant numbers at Triple-A with a 1.13 ERA in six starts. Second baseman Brian Dozier, who missed three games with a sprained left ankle suffered on Friday, returned to the lineup on Thursday. He finished 1-for-4 with his fifth home run of the season. Santana set for series opener against Tribe Rhett Bollinger MLB May 11, 2017 Ervin Santana will forever hold a place in the Indians record book, though not for a feat Cleveland remembers fondly. Six years ago, the righthander no-hit the Tribe at Progressive Field, where he will take the mound again on Friday for the Twins. That was a long time ago, and these are not the same Indians. Santana was with the Angels for that historic outing on July 27, 2011, and there are only four hitters from that game who remain a part of Cleveland's lineup. Santana was un-hittable that afternoon, and he has been one of baseball's toughest pitchers to hit this year for Minnesota. Heading into the three-game weekend series with the Indians, Santana boasts a 5-1 record, a 1.72 ERA and 21 hits yielded in 47 innings. The bulk of his runs allowed came in Santana's last start, which included six runs allowed on Sunday against the Red Sox. "I just don't think [he was] where he wanted to be location-wise," Twins catcher Chris Gimenez told reporters after that game. "Stuff-wise was great, and he made some good pitches, but he mislocated pitches, and that's what it comes down to." Santana will be opposed by Indians righty Josh Tomlin, whose 7.12 ERA on the season is a bit misleading. The righty endured a pair of rough outings to open the year, but has gone 2-1 with a 4.13 in his last four turns for the Tribe. On Saturday in Kansas City, Tomlin was on top of his game, allowing only one run over seven innings with no walks and three strikeouts. Three things to know: Indians left fielder Michael Brantley (sprained right ankle) and center fielder Lonnie Chisenhall (sore left index finger) were both out of the lineup on Wednesday in Toronto. Combined with the off-day on Thursday, manager Terry Francona was optimistic that both outfielders could return to the field on Friday. Twins second baseman Brian Dozier has been sidelined with a sprained left ankle since May 5, but is expected to be back in the lineup for Friday's opener in Cleveland. Dozier has hit 17 career homers against the Indians, marking his second-highest total against a team. Eleven of those have come at Progressive Field. Twins first baseman Joe Mauer has hit.400 with an.884 OPS in 27 career plate appearances against Tomlin. On the other side, Indians designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion has hit.308 with three homers and a OPS in 34 career plate appearances against Santana. Reports: Twins to call up top pitching prospect J.O. Berrios to start Saturday Derek Wetmore ESPN 1500 May 11, 2017 The Twins intend to give the ball to their best pitching prospect, J.O. Berrios, for a start Saturday. The hope within the organization is that this time he s here to stay. To maximize they re roster flexibility, the Twins will likely wait until Saturday to recall Berrios, at which point they ll need to clear a space on the 25-man roster. Berrios, who s posted excellent minor league numbers, struggled in his rookie season last year. He had a shot to make the team out of spring 12

13 training, but after pitching very seldomly for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic, was basically eliminated from that competition. Now, he ll get a chance to showcase his stuff in the big leagues with the Twins. The Twins were believed to be considering several options for Saturday s start, and apparently landed on Berrios after Thursday s tense win against the White Sox. Berrios will be pitching on 5 days of rest, following his latest strong start for Triple-A Rochester, in which he pitched 6 2/3 innings and allowed just 1 run, with 4 strikeouts and no walks. For the season, he s 3-0 in his 6 starts, with a 1.13 ERA in 39 2/3 innings, and a 39:8 strikeout to walk ratio. Striking out one batter per inning, on average, is an indication of the pitching arsenal that s allowed Berrios to thrive. In his case, he runs his fastball into the mid-90s, has a 2-seam fastball with great movement, and he also uses his great changeup to get out of jams. Oh, and he throws a curveball. It would seem he s got the repertoire (and the minor league stats) to succeed at the highest level. The one snag for Berrios is that last year he really struggled to translate his outstanding minor league success to the Majors. In 14 starts with the Twins last year, things didn t go so well for the young righty. He pitched 58 1/3 innings with an 8.02 ERA, and a much less impressive 49:35 strikeout-to-walk ratio. A lack of fastball command was his primary undoing. And it makes you wonder if he simply has such great pitches that he can throw them wherever he wants to against minor league hitters, but when he pulls the same tricks against established big leaguers, it doesn t fly. Wetmore s 5 thoughts: Dozier s back, Sano s birthday bash, Escobar s moves Derek Wetmore ESPN 1500 May 11, 2017 The Twins built a big league early and then almost gave it away, just narrowly managing to hang on for a 7-6 win against the White Sox on Thursday. After a win, I won t spend a lot of time in this column pointing out a couple careless mistakes, like the fly ball that Byron Buxton dropped getting set to throw to the plate on a would-be sacrifice fly. A win is a win and the Twins are off to a good start this season. Why dwell on the negatives? This column presents 5 thoughts from Thursday s game: 1. Brandon Kintzler converted a 5-out save, which you don t see too often from the Twins or across baseball in general during the regular season. Kintzler s been good this year. Thursday was no different. The one blemish on his resume is a game in which a few grounders found their way through the infield, then one hard-hit ball led to a blown save and later, a win for Kintzler. He entered with runners on first and second base and one out in the 8th inning, and the way the White Sox were lined up, a double-play grounder would have meant avoiding pitching to Jose Abreu in the 9th. Instead, Kintzler got some swings and misses and punched out Omar Narvaez and then left-handed-hitting Leury Garcia on an impressive front-door sinker. Then Kintzler powered through the 9th Melky Cabrera, Tyler Saladino and Abreu to wrap up his 8th save. On the down side, Kintzler s not getting as many ground balls or swings and misses this year, and his walk rate is way up from a year ago. He seems to me to have a good mentality about closing games and the results have been there for the Twins closer so far this season, so I ll be curious to see how things unfold for Kintzler going forward. 2. The Twins piled on in the 1st inning by taking advantage of a few gifts. Robbie Grossman drew a walk against Derek Holland, and then Miguel Sano took a close pitch on 3-2 and drew a walk. Jorge Polanco grounded into what absolutely should have been a double play, but first baseman Jose Abreu didn t catch the ball, and Polanco was safe to extend the inning. You know what happens next. Joe Mauer delivered a solid RBI single the very next hitter. The man behind him, Eduardo Escobar, hit a 3-run homer to make it 4-0 Twins early. 13

14 3. Escobar drove in 4 runs Thursday with a homer, a double and a walk as the DH. It s unusual to see Escobar in the DH role on a team that has two guys more fit for the role Robbie Grossman and Kennys Vargas but with a lefty on the mound, manager Paul Molitor decided to turn to Escobar, and it paid off. Escobar is a switch-hitter, and with the lefty Holland on the hill, outfielder Max Kepler was on the bench. That bumped Grossman to outfield duty. And despite Vargas strong numbers against lefties last season, he was on the bench Thursday as well. Escobar came back with a good game Thursday. Now, I m going to show you something that you can t un-see. If you don t want to see Escobar dancing in the Twins dugout looking like Carlton Banks from Fresh Prince, then I suggest you do not look at the following tweet from the Twins. 4. Brian Dozier was back in the lineup after spraining his ankle in the middle of the last Twins homestand. Sources had suggested the team and Dozier were targeting a Tuesday return, but he wasn t quite ready to go, and then the two teams were rained out Wednesday. So Thursday was his return to the lineup, and he celebrated it with a home run (although he also had three strikeouts). Derek Holland either didn t get the scouting report or he thought he could challenge Dozier with a high fastball after Dozier s long layoff from his sprained ankle. The ankle must be doing better, since he ripped a 1-1 fastball at the top of the strike zone out of the park for a no-doubter to left field. Fortunately for the Twins and for Dozier s ankle on the mend, you don t need to run full speed around the bases when you hit it over the fence, and Dozier s home run trot looked just fine. Speaking of celebrating 5. Miguel Sano turned 24 on Thursday, and he gave himself the gift of another home run on his ledger. Sano smacked a Derek Holland pitch out to right field, and I suspect that for a lot of players, the same amount of contact would not amount to a home run. I watch a fair amount of batting practice at Target Field when the Twins are at home, and it s still almost unbelievable to me how much power Sano has hitting to right field. He likes to put on a show pulling the ball into the second or third deck in left field, but if he wanted to he can also turn a round of BP into a laser show to right and right-center. It sure didn t look to me like he got all of that curveball, but he got enough for it to clear the wall going the other way. Twins have hired a baseball ops assistant, as front office continues to grow Derek Wetmore ESPN 1500 May 11, 2017 The Twins quietly have built out their front office personnel, and it s quite possible they re not done growing just yet. The team added another person to their baseball research department, hiring Keenan Szulik as a baseball operations assistant. Szulik, a former pitcher at Amherst College, is the latest example that the Twins under Derek Falvey and Thad Levine are beefing up their front office. Like Falvey, Szulik has a background in economics. He started working with the team in Fort Myers during spring training, and is the latest example of a new hire in the baseball operations department. This season the Twins also hired former big leaguer pitcher Jeremy Hefner, who works as an advance scout to give information on upcoming opponents to Twins decision makers. Of course, it s not all about number crunching and on-paper analytics. Both Falvey and Levine have been complimentary of the team s scouting staff since taking over the front office. Levine characterized scouting once as the lifeblood of any organization s information gathering and analyzing process. Still, there s so much data available these days to digest, that is more or less requires front offices expand to keep pace. Some teams have really started to emphasize larger front offices, as roles expand and more bodies are needed to handle the growing list of responsibilities. The Twins under former GM Terry Ryan were not considered a large front office, nor were they seen as a large analytics department within the front 14