Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Thursday, April 20, 2017

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1 Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Thursday, April 20, 2017 Headaches minimized for players, fans in Twins' rainout Wednesday. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 1 Hartman: Buxton takes slow start in stride. Star Tribune (Hartman) p. 2 Wednesday's Twins-Cleveland game rained out, to be made up June 17. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 4 Twins-Indians game rained out. Pioneer Press (Graff) p. 4 Santana looks to stay sizzling for Twins. MLB (Staff) p. 5 Wednesday's Indians-Twins game postponed. MLB (Bollinger) p. 5 Should the Twins make a roster swap for another position player? ESPN 1500 (Wetmore) p. 5 Wetmore: Stretching to come up with 4 benefits for Twins from Wednesday s rainout. ESPN 1500 (Wetmore) p. 7 Minnesota Twins Week Two Ups and Downs. FOX Sports (Wessels) p. 8 Headaches minimized for players, fans in Twins' rainout Wednesday Phil Miller Star Tribune April 19, 2017 When stormy weather arrives, it s best to find some sunny patches in those clouds. And so it was for the Twins on Wednesday, when the third game of their four-game set with the Indians at Target Field was postponed four hours before first pitch by the approach of steady, soaking rain. For Joe Mauer, calling the game off meant spending his 34th birthday at home. For the rest of the Twins hitters, it meant avoiding a difficult matchup against Indians ace Corey Kluber, whose scheduled Thursday start will be delayed until Friday, when the Indians are in Chicago. For fans who purchased the Twins special $99 ballpark pass for every April and May game, it provides a nice bonus: entry to Target Field on a Saturday night in June, when the game is made up. And even Twins President Dave St. Peter found a reason to smile over a dreary day. For those of us who are hockey fans, it means the Wild have our undivided attention tonight, he said. The postponement is the 16th in Target Field history, and the 10th in April, but isn t particularly disruptive to the Twins schedule. Because of MLB s unbalanced schedule, which this year matched the Twins with AL Central teams in 22 of their first 25 games, the teams had several options to make the game up. They settled upon June 17, adding a 7:10 p.m. game to the regular 1:10 p.m. Saturday game. The opponent definitely factors in. An out-of-division game might have meant trying to wait out delays [Wednesday night] or trying to play a doubleheader [Thursday], when the weather, frankly, is not looking great, St. Peter said. We think there will be a window for the [scheduled] afternoon game, but it will be a chilly game for our fans. Since the Indians come back two more times, it s better to reschedule for what should be much more pleasant conditions. There s an obvious economic advantage, too. The Twins have drawn fewer than 17,000 fans to Target Field (with a record low of 15,171 on April 5) in four of their eight home games this season, a benchmark they had fallen below in only one previous game. Wednesday s game would likely have added to that total, but a weekend night game in June figures to sell more tickets. One thing was lost to the postponement, however: the Twins first appearance on ESPN s nationally televised Wednesday Night Baseball broadcast in several years. It was to be welcome exposure for a team that doesn t get much, but St. Peter said it s not much of a disappointment. I ve always viewed national exposure as something you earn, and we just haven t played good enough baseball in recent years to draw much, he said. I expect we ll have our fill again as we regain our competitive standing.

2 Rain s impact on rotation Manger Paul Molitor has chosen to keep Ervin Santana on schedule despite Wednesday s postponement. Adalberto Mejia, his third career start pushed back by the rain, will start Saturday instead, against the Tigers. The Indians will simply move Wednesday s starter, Trevor Bauer, to Thursday s game. Gardenhire has surgery Former Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was recovering Wednesday at Mayo Clinic in Rochester after undergoing surgery Tuesday to treat prostate cancer. The surgery was successful, according to the Arizona Diamondbacks, for whom Gardenhire is in his first season as bench coach. Gardenhire, who revealed his diagnosis Feb. 14 but remained in spring training, is expected to spend the next few weeks in Minnesota. He ll rejoin the staff of Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo sometime in May. Hartman: Buxton takes slow start in stride Sid Hartman Star Tribune April 20, 2017 One of the most interesting aspects of Twins center fielder Byron Buxton's career is that he has been prone to extremely slow starts, whether it be in the minors or the majors. This season has been no different. Buxton has gotten off to an abysmal start, leading the league in strikeouts with 23 and hitting just.085 with four hits in 47 at-bats over 14 games. It's not the kind of start anyone wanted from Buxton, but it does fit a pattern. And if there are any positives to the pattern, it's that Buxton has always found his way out of his slumps to produce fantastic numbers. Going back to 2015, when Buxton started the season in Class AA Chattanooga, he started the year hitting just 13-for-62 (.210 average) in 15 games, striking out 15 times, driving in seven runs and scoring seven times. Last year Buxton also had an extremely slow start at the major league level, as he hit.156 with 24 strikeouts, two RBI and five runs scored in 15 games for the Twins. That year the Twins made the decision to send their star prospect down to the minors. In each of those two seasons Buxton was able to build momentum and put up great numbers. In 2015 with Chattanooga he hit.309 over his next 43 games with four homers, 11 triples, 30 RBI, 37 runs scored, 20 walks and just 36 strikeouts. That led to a promotion to the major league club, where he played just 11 games over more than a month as he got his feet wet in the pros. He would eventually get sent down to Class AAA Rochester, hit. 400, get called back up to the pros and show flashes of what made him such a great prospect. But then came that 2016 start, his first year breaking spring training with the pro club. After that bad 15-game start he went to Rochester and again looked like a star. He hit.336 with six homers, 14 RBI, 26 runs scored, two triples and nine doubles in 29 games. Those numbers were good enough to get him called back up to the bigs, where, again, he struggled for an extended period of time, hitting.204 over 46 games and getting sent back down to Rochester. But it was his third stretch with the major league club last season that led pundits and fans alike to think that this was finally the year for Buxton to prove himself as a major leaguer. He hit.287 over 29 games from September to October last season, hitting nine homers with 22 RBI, 24 runs scored, two triples and six doubles. He still had an extremely high strikeout rate, with 38 in 101 at-bats, but he was pounding the ball when he made contact. Buxton continued to show promise in spring training this season, as he hit.283 with nine doubles, a homer, three RBI and six runs scored in 17 games. The Twins front office and manager Paul Molitor had to think he had found his stride, and Buxton began the season as the Twins No. 3 hitter, a prime spot for success in the lineup. 2

3 So how do they account for his struggles? And how does he find a way out of those struggles now that they've shown up again? Buxton on slow start Buxton said last week that there have been times this season when his at-bats moved too quickly for him. "Some of the at-bats speed up on me a little bit and get a little tough for me to slow down," he said. "I just need to relax and keep the game slow." He said one of the biggest things for him in the early stages of the season has been the support of the locker room. "For the most part my teammates and coaches have been keeping my mind clear and just going out there and having fun and playing the game," he said. "I haven't really had too much time to think about the negative side; I stay positive and keep moving." Is he feeling too much pressure? "Not at all. They tell me people start out like this all the time," Buxton said. "You just have to battle and grind through it." And Buxton did say he's been looking for advice from veterans to get a better understanding of how pitchers are attacking him. "I'm picking up on certain stuff, talking to Doz [Brian Dozier], talking to [Joe] Mauer, the little things that help give me that edge to know what he could possibly throw me here or what he might actually throw me," he said. If you want to look to something positive in Buxton's game it's easy to go to his world-class defense, which has only gotten better this season. He was asked how that part of the game comes so easily to him. "I think my mentality that I don't want nobody to get a base hit helps me out to be aggressive and go after those balls the way I do," he said. "My outfielders in Rosie [Eddie Rosario] and Kep [Max Kepler] and Danny [Santana], they're more aggressive this year, and so I mean we're just out there having fun and doing what we're supposed to do." Yes while it may be a slow start for Buxton, Twins fans have to imagine that things can only get better from here. Jottings Former Twins outfielder Aaron Hicks has been having some early success with the Yankees after losing his right field job to Aaron Judge. Hicks has hit three homers while posting a.269 batting average with eight RBI and six runs scored in nine games. Hicks hit just.217 last season with eight home runs in 123 games. Jake Guentzel, the former Hill-Murray standout having an amazing playoffs for the Pittsburgh Penguins, had an equally impressive regular season as he finished with 33 points on 16 goals and 17 assists in 40 games as a 22-year-old rookie. Guentzel has five goals and an assist in four playoff games games. While it remains unclear where former Vikings running back Adrian Peterson will end up next season, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston told ESPN.com that he got a chance to train with Peterson this offseason and was blown away by the 2012 MVP. "Being able to be in the presence of whom many consider to be one of the greatest backs, especially of this generation, my generation to be able to learn [from] and see his work ethic, to see the way he works, man, you really know why he's great," Winston said.... Meanwhile Peter King of Sports Illustrated reported on Monday that word around the league is that Peterson is willing to play for $5 million less than his $18 million contract if the situation is right. 3

4 Wednesday's Twins-Cleveland game rained out, to be made up June 17 Phil Miller Star Tribune April 19, 2017 The Twins-Cleveland game scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Wednesday at Target Field has been postponed because of rain. The game will be made up as part of a day-night doubleheader on June 17, the team announced. Leftthander Adalberto Mejia was slated to start for the Twins. His start will be pushed back, and ace righthander Ervin Santana will pitch Thursday afternoon's series finale against Cleveland's Trevor Bauer. Since opening Target Field in 2010, the Twins have experienced 33 delayed games and 16 postponements at home. Last season was the most foul of them all. There were 11 rain delays at Target Field in 2016, with three games called off. There have been at least three rain delays each season at Target Field except the first, when there was only one. Twins-Indians game rained out Chad Graff Pioneer Press April 19, 2017 The Twins postponed game Wednesday means they will pitch their ace Thursday afternoon in the series finale against Cleveland while missing the Indians best starting pitcher. Adalberto Mejia was scheduled to start for the Twins in Wednesday s game was postponed by rain. The Twins decided to skip Mejia s start and put Ervin Santana on the mound for Thursday s 12:10 p.m. start. The Indians went a different route. Corey Kluber, who won 18 games for the Indians last season, was scheduled to pitch Thursday, but will have his start bumped back a day because manager Terry Francona chose instead to not skip Trevor Bauer s spot in the rotation. Bauer (0-2, 8.44 ERA this season) was scheduled to pitch Wednesday but instead will face the Santana on Thursday. Wednesday s game will be rescheduled as part of a day/night doubleheader on June 17, a Saturday on which the teams already were set to play at 1:10 p.m. The second game of the doubleheader is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Rain at Target Field began before 3 p.m. and was scheduled to continue into the early-morning hours Thursday. According to the National Weather Service, there is a 40 percent chance of rain on Thursday. The Indians have won the first two games of what was scheduled to be a four-game series. On Thursday, the Twins (7-7) will be at risk of falling below.500 for the first time all season. But they ll lean on Santana, the team s Opening Day starter who threw a one-hit, complete-game shutout against the White Sox last Saturday. In three starts, Santana has a 0.41 ERA, third best in the majors, to go with 15 strikeouts in 22 innings pitched. BRIEFLY Wednesday was Joe Mauer s 34th birthday. Through 13 games, the St. Paul native is hitting.216 with 11 hits, all singles, in 54 at-bats. 4

5 Santana looks to stay sizzling for Twins Staff MLB April 20, 2017 A day after rain postponed Wednesday's scheduled game, the Indians and Twins will wrap up their series at Target Field with a matchup between right-handers Trevor Bauer and Ervin Santana. Bauer (0-2, 8.44 ERA) is looking for his first win of the season. He gave up six runs in five innings in his last start against Detroit. Santana, remaining on normal rest, gets the call for the Twins. The 34-year-old is off to one of the best starts in his 13-year career, dominating in the early going in '17 with a 3-0 record and 0.41 ERA. He's coming off a one-hit shutout of the White Sox in his last start, in which he fanned eight and walked one. Things to know about the game: While Santana won't sustain his.074 batting average on balls in play all season -- his career mark is he has done a good job of creating weak contact during his hot start. Opponents have averaged only an 82.7 mph exit velocity against him, the lowest mark among pitchers with at least 40 batted balls. Bauer has induced grounders on only 15.2 percent of the batted balls against him through his first two starts -- dead last out of 146 MLB pitchers who have induced at least 25 batted ball events thus far. Last year, Bauer's ground-ball rate was up at 52.8 percent of his batted ball events allowed, which tied for 24th out of 105 pitchers who induced at least 400 BBE. Minnesota's Joe Mauer (10-for-28) and Eddie Rosario (8-for-18) have found success against Bauer in the past, while teammates Brian Dozier (3-for-26) and Miguel Sano (1-for-17) have struggled against the Cleveland righty. Wednesday's Indians-Twins game postponed Rhett Bollinger MLB April 19, 2017 MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins' scheduled game against the Indians on Wednesday night at Target Field has been postponed due to rain. It will be made up as part of a split doubleheader on Saturday, June 17. Rookie left-hander Adalberto Mejia (0-1, 4.05 ERA) was slated to face right-hander Trevor Bauer (0-2, 8.44) on Wednesday, but Mejia will be pushed back with right-hander Ervin Santana (3-0, 0.41) remaining on normal rest to start on Thursday in the series finale. The Indians announced Bauer will start on Thursday instead of scheduled starter Corey Kluber. It's the first postponed game of the season for the Twins, who had three games postponed at home last year. Fans holding tickets to Wednesday's postponed game have two options. They can use their tickets for admission to the rescheduled game on JUne 17 or exchange their ticket for any future Twins regular-season game in 2017, subject to availability. Should the Twins make a roster swap for another position player? Derek Wetmore ESPN 1500 April 19, 2017 A better headline to this column might be something like, Do the Twins really need 13 pitchers right now? Minnesota s brain trust surprised some people this spring when they chose to start the season with 13 pitchers and just a 3-man bench. It s not a totally crazy roster decision, but it s fairly unconventional to begin the season. And there s an argument to be made that the Twins don t really need all 8 relievers they currently have crowding into their bullpen. Wednesday s rainout could actually benefit the team in several ways. One of those ways is by alleviating the need for an extra reliever. Here s a look at the recent workload for the team s relief corps. Saturday: Ervin Santana pitched 9 innings in his one-hit gem. No relievers necessary. Sunday: Matt Belisle (21 pitches), Ryan Pressly (14 pitches), Brandon Kintzler (9 pitches). 5

6 Monday: Tyler Duffey (32 pitches), Taylor Rogers (7 pitches) Tuesday: Justin Haley (59 pitches), Michael Tonkin (15 pitches), Craig Breslow (13 pitches). Wednesday: Postponed for rain So, yeah, all 8 relievers were used in the past four games, but the Twins have a very fresh bullpen headed into Thursday s series finale with the Indians, which Santana is scheduled to start. Haley might be the only one unavailable for that game, although that s just speculation on my part. Now, I m not trying to oversimplify things here. There is more to track than the number of pitches thrown per outing. Some people feel the relative stress of the 9th or 10th inning mean those pitches take a greater toll than the mop-up bullets fired in the 4th inning of a blowout. And isn t it fair to say that a reliever who warms up at full intensity to prepare to enter a game even if he doesn t enter did some real work that day? His arm and body wouldn t feel like he had a day off, even if his name never made it to the box score. So with those things in mind, I still think the Twins are in great shape in terms of bullpen need. On average, the Twins have gotten just more than 5 1/3 innings out of their starters this season. On average, they ve needed just more than 10 outs per game from the bullpen. Here s the important math in their slate of upcoming games. Minnesota plays 10 games in the next 12 days. If you suspect they can get an average of 6 innings a night from the starting staff and that has to be the hope then they ll need roughly 30 relief innings in the next 12 days. That averages out to fewer than 4 innings per reliever spread across 12 days. I know it s never that simple in practice, but I think there s a decent chance that 7 relievers could handle that workload without the added crutch of an extra bullpen arm. And don t forget the off day Wednesday gave everybody in that bullpen an extra day of rest. Could the Twins, instead of carrying a pitcher that may not be necessary, look to add a position player? Paul Molitor currently has three position players at his disposal each night, and one of them is a backup catcher. That doesn t leave a lot of flexibility to leverage matchups late in games, or to cover positions in case of substation or injury. Here are a couple of thoughts on players they could add if they wanted to: Utility infielder Ehire Adrianza is working his way back from an oblique injury suffered in spring training. He s playing in games again in the minors, but could be a little ways off from returning from the disabled list. If the Twins wanted a center fielder to replace Byron Buxton, the speedy Zack Granite would have made sense, but he s on the disabled list in Triple-A Rochester with an oblique injury. First baseman Matt Hague and catcher Mitch Garver have been the Red Wings best hitters so far this season, statistically. Byung Ho Park is on the disabled list after he had 6 hits and 3 doubles in his first 4 games with the Red Wings. And power prospect Daniel Palka is off to a strong start at the plate, where the right fielder is mashing.375/.370/.619 with 4 homers among his 13 hits against Triple-A pitching. Kennys Vargas is batting.263/.364/.500 with 10 hits (2 home runs and a near-miss that turned into a triple) and 10 RBIs. He could make sense as a complement to Joe Mauer at first base, occasional DH, or a switch-hitting bench bat for Molitor to call on late in games. Garver, Palka and Vargas all are on the Twins 40-man roster, which makes the transaction easier than, say, calling up Paulsen. He would needed to be added to the roster, which requires some juggling on the Twins end. I m not sure the Twins are looking to break up their chosen catching tandem after just two weeks, so maybe Garver needs to wait. Palka doesn t have big league experience yet but he certainly has the early numbers at the plate to get a look. Vargas seemed like the favorite to be the DH early in spring training, but then he mostly sat on the bench for Puerto Rico in the WBC and fouled a ball off his foot late in camp. You know who else would make sense to see in a Twins uniform soon? Starting pitcher J.O. Berrios. He s off to a great start to the season. But I would imagine his addition would be at the expense of another starting pitcher currently on the roster, either by trading places and sending the other guy to Rochester, or transitioning to the bullpen like Tyler Duffey has done. I think Berrios is way too young and way too promising to consider making him a reliever at this stage. 6

7 Wetmore: Stretching to come up with 4 benefits for Twins from Wednesday s rainout Derek Wetmore ESPN 1500 April 19, 2017 The Twins and Indians had a game scheduled for Wednesday night at open-air Target Field, but the weather made them change their plans. With steady rain forecasted, the game was postponed, and will instead be played as part of a day-night doubleheader on Saturday, June 17. I found a few positives for the Twins with the postponement. And yes, once again I m almost definitely looking too much into this. The first, and most advantageous one: the Twins will not have to face Cleveland ace Corey Kluber this series. Originally scheduled to face a quartet of Cleveland starters Danny Salazar, Josh Tomlin, Trevor Bauer, Kluber Minnesota will now check Kluber from that list. At least for now. Who knows what the June series will present, but in the present moment as the Twins look to right the ship and keep their strong start rolling, dodging Kluber is a good thing. Minnesota s ace Ervin Santana will still make his scheduled start Thursday, meaning the Indians will miss Twins rookie Adalberto Mejia. Molitor was asked Monday if someone like Byron Buxton might have a tough time ended his slump against a team with some quality righthanded pitching. They all can pose problems, Molitor said of Indians pitching. These right-handers can be tough on everybody, I think Tomlin s the only one that might have a little reverse splits for the right-handers. [Salazar] can throw hard, this guy s got the great changeup, Kluber s got the great slider, Bauer s got the big curve ball, Tomlin s more of a cutter guy. So, yeah, he said, pausing. It can be tough. The dramatic pause drew a chuckle from the assembled group in the manager s office before the game Monday. Perhaps the Twins can breathe a sigh of relief to miss Cleveland s ace. The second favorable thing is that the Twins played their first real ugly game of the season Tuesday night with Phil Hughes on the mound, and now they have an extra day to flush that from their system. Depending on who you talk to, some people in the game would rather have another game immediately after a clunker, so they can wash the proverbial bad taste out of their mouth with a cleaner ballgame. I don t know which theory has more subscribers in the Twins clubhouse. I do know that I ve talked to a handful of Twins players this spring young and older who believe this team is mentally resilient, and probably more so than last year s bunch. I asked Molitor about that after Tuesday night s ugly loss, Minnesota s third in a row. How good is this club at turning the page? It s maybe a little early to tell, Molitor said. My gut would say that we re probably better. We have some people that I think know how to handle that fairly well. We ve been through it enough that we should have some experience in that regard, he said with a wry smile. So we still have some chances [Cleveland and Detroit upcoming]. We re going to see some good pitching, they re lined up so it ll be a good challenge for us. We ll get a little feel on the bounce-back of this club here in the short term. The final positive that should be taken from this is it gives a free off day in the middle of a stretch in which the Twins had 16 games planned in 16 games. I imagine that schedule is one reason the Twins chose to go with 13 pitchers to start the season an unconventional decision. The way they ve played, and the way Justin Haley and Tyler Duffey have pitched out of the bullpen, the Twins aren t hurting for arms right now. So maybe they could swap a pitcher and go to a four-man bench, instead of playing shorthanded on the position player side. Had tickets? According to MLB.com s Rhett Bollinger, if you had tickets to the game youv e got a couple choices: -You can get in free to the makeup game June 17. -You can trade in your ticket for any future Twins regular-season game in 2017, subject to availability. 7

8 Minnesota Twins Week Two Ups and Downs Scott Wessels FOX Sports April 19, 2017 Minnesota Twins starters continue to trend in the right direction. The offense still has yet to find its way. Week two is in the books, and the bubble has yet to burst in Minnesota. Some promising signs from both the starting rotation and the bullpen, and a few warning signs at the plate. The Minnesota Twins dropped two series last week, winning just a single game against the Detroit Tigers on the road, and winning one of three to kick off a 10-game homestand to finish the week 2-4. Even so, there was plenty to be excited about. They lost two nail-biters against the Tigers before boat racing them in the getaway game Ervin Santana pitched a gem in the middle game of the White Sox series, and Hector Santiago followed that up with another only to see Minnesota drop the finale in extra innings. In the standing, the Twins sit at 7-5, far ahead of last year s pace, with promising signs that they could have won even more with just a little more offense. They aren t stealing games right now, they are earning every win they get. Good pitching and solid defense will keep a team from giving away cheap losses. They now need to win more 50/50 games Twins are only 2-5 in games decided by two runs or less. They lead the league in run differential, thanks to a league-leading team ERA and being the beneficiary of three blowout wins. UP: Ervin Santana. Hopefully, I can bookmark this place in Twins Trends for much of the season, for it doesn t look like Santana is getting by on smoke and mirrors he s downright dominating. In three games, Santana has allowed just five hits total in his three wins. His latest outing proved to be his best, a one-hit, complete game shutout. The last Twin to accomplish that feat was Scott Baker in the Metrodome against Kansas City on 8/31/2007, the day he almost threw a perfect game. Santana was nearly as perfect. He allowed a hit to Omar Narvaez in the third, and a lead-off walk to start the fourth. After falling behind Jose Abreu 0-2, and wild-pitching the runner to second base, Santana walked behind the mound in disgust, trying to shake off his wildness. It worked, and then some. He came back to get Abreu, and then set down the next 17 batters as well. His one-walk, one-hit complete game was efficient (107 pitches 72 strikes) and he also struck out eight White Sox batters. His ERA is now a minuscule 0.41, good for third in the league. DOWN: Another repeat, while this time I hope it doesn t become a fixture in this space. Byron Buxton continues to look lost at the plate, striking out in an astounding 51 percent of his at-bats. He has only collected four hits one a bunt hit and sits at.091. He hasn t let it affect him in center field. He continues to produce highlight-worthy plays nearly every night. The runs he isn t producing at the plate, he does save in the field, and that has kept him in the lineup every day, though he has fallen to the bottom of the order after starting the season batting third. He was scheduled to sit out Monday s series opener against the Cleveland Indians, and he has been at the ballpark early every day working with hitting coach James Rowson on his approach. It has so far not yielded any positive results. DOWN: Again, this one falls on new hitting coach Rowson. A year after showing promise at the plate, the Twins cannot put consecutive at-bats together to generate any consistent offense. They are definitely more patient under Rowson, with hitters like Jason Castro, Miguel Sano, and Robbie Grossman among the A.L. leaders. But situational hitting continues to doom the Twins in crunch time. After Sunday s loss in extra innings, the team is hitting only.186 with runners in scoring position again with only Sano, Grossman, and Castro producing at average or above. UP: Miguel Sano. Consistently a more patient approach, and showing off the ability to hit the other way, while also punishing pitchers if they dare to challenge him inside. While he has piled up some strikeouts (17), he has muted those with a better K/BB ratio, collecting an impressive 12 walks. 8

9 DOWN: Joe Mauer. Yet to collect his first extra base hit two weeks into the season, Mauer is consistently facing a shifted outfield. No, not like David Ortiz did. This one favors him not to pull the ball, but to hit it to the opposite field. Teams have the right fielder 100 feet off the right field line, bunching the outfielders so much toward left that it resembles a slow pitch softball game where there are four outfielders. Yet Mauer has proven incapable of beating the shift, even on off-speed pitches inside. Manager Paul Molitor keeps Mauer in the middle of the lineup, but he is no longer producing like a middle-of-the-lineup hitter. No longer even collecting walks (3), Mauer s OBP is mired at.260, third worst among regulars. STRANGE, BUT TRUE, STAT OF THE WEEK: Justin Haley picked up his first save in relief of Phil Hughes in the Twins 11-5 win over the Tigers. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was only the 21st time a player collected six strikeouts in their first save. Danny Duffy (2015) was the last reliever to do so his only career save. 9