Minnesota Twins Daily Clips. Sunday, June 26, 2016

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1 Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Sunday, June 26, 2016 No relief in sight as Twins fall to Yankees again. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 1 Terry Ryan says suspended Twins coach Neil Allen 'making progress'. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 2 Postgame: Santana knew long first inning would shorten start. Star Tribune(Miller) p. 3 Minnesota Twins Tyler Duffey tries not to think about what s at stake. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 4 Eduardo Escobar s latest error proves costly to Minnesota Twins. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 5 Twins disappointment this season recalls 04 Royals. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 6 Sano opens rehab stint at third base. MLB.com (Park) p. 8 Escobar's defensive lapse doesn't worry Twins. MLB.com (Park) p. 9 Dozier's dinger not enough to edge Yanks. MLB.com (Needleman and Park) p. 10 No relief in sight as Twins fall to Yankees again Phil Miller Star Tribune June 26, 2016 NEW YORK The Twins were the victims of a perfect game on Saturday. Well, Friday, too. And it actually began on Wednesday. Andrew Miller struck out Byung Ho Park in the eighth inning Saturday, the 27th consecutive batter retired by the Yankees bullpen over the past three games. The perfect relief game made all the difference, because the Twins, particularly shortstop Eduardo Escobar, were quite a bit less than perfect. An Escobar error enabled the tiebreaking run to score and the Yankees eked out their 10th win in their past 11 games against the Twins, 2-1 at Yankee Stadium. Good players learn from their mistakes, Escobar said after committing his third error in two days here, giving him eight on the season. The sudden glove-slump doesn t make me not a good player, he said. I m just going to learn from it and move on. Just like the Twins will move on from their latest plunge into baseball s dark cellar. Saturday s loss was their third in a row, a dismally common feat: In only 74 games, the Twins have managed a remarkable eleven losing streaks of three games or longer, a couple of them two or three times that long. Escobar booted Starlin Castro s potential inning-ending double-play ball in the eighth inning, and Aaron Hicks scored on the play to lift New York to its fifth consecutive home victory over the Twins. What is there to say? I went to get it, the ball came out of my glove, and what happened, happened, Escobar said through an interpreter. It was hard, hit hard. At that point, there s not much you can do but throw your glove at it. Twins manager Paul Molitor said he has lost no confidence in his starting shortstop. He s got a very accurate throwing arm, his hands are, most of the time, reliable, Molitor said. The numbers are still respectable. He s just had a couple of rough days. The only Twins player who experienced a comparable disappointment was reliever Ryan Pressly, who took his fourth loss thanks to one bad break after another. Called upon to pitch the eighth inning of a 1-1 game, Pressly watched helplessly as Alex Rodriguez led off with a soft roller up the third-base line that nobody could reach in time. Brian McCann followed with a soft looper over Park s head that landed on the right-field line, sending pinch runner Hicks to third. After striking out Mark Teixeira, Pressly appeared out of the inning when he induced Castro to hit the ball directly at Escobar, normally an easy

2 double play. Instead? They got the bounce, Molitor said, and they got the win. Another potential Yankee run was erased when Robbie Grossman threw out McCann at the plate moments later on an inning-ending double play, a call that was upheld after a video review. But it wasn t much of a break, not against this bullpen. New York starter Michael Pineda gave up two hits over six innings, his strongest start of the season, but he was practically an afterthought to those who succeeded him. Dellin Betances needed only nine pitches to retire the Twins in the seventh, Andrew Miller hung around for 12 pitches in a eighth, and Aroldis Chapman wait, he gave up a hit? Yep, Joe Mauer slapped an opposite-field, two-out single off the Yankees closer, ending New York s relief streak at 31 straight outs. Not that it did much good; Chapman simply struck out Brian Dozier on three pitches to end the game. They have one of the best pitching staffs in the whole game, same thing as Kansas City, and their bullpen is even better, Escobar said. You can t take too much from them, and if you get to their bullpen, you re basically done. Terry Ryan says suspended Twins coach Neil Allen 'making progress' Phil Miller Star Tribune June 26, 2016 NEW YORK Sunday is exactly one month since Twins pitching coach Neil Allen was pulled over by police in Minneapolis shortly after midnight May 26 and arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. The Twins have said little about his status during that time, other than placing him on indefinite suspension later that day. That policy hasn t changed, but General Manager Terry Ryan did confirm one decision Saturday: When Allen completes his treatment and his suspension is lifted, the Twins intend for Allen to return to his post. When the time comes, Ryan said, Neil will be our major league pitching coach again. Ryan offered no timelines for that, and few details about Allen s current program, other than to say, Everything is going fine. He s making progress. Bullpen coach Eddie Guardado, who speaks with Allen regularly, said recently that the 58-year-old coach, whose teenage son Bobby is spending the summer with him in Minneapolis, attends daily meetings as part of a rehabilitation program. Eric Rasmussen, who moved over from his role as minor league pitching coordinator, is serving as Allen s temporary replacement. As much as I d like to be open about it, it s a little sensitive. In time, you will be informed of when he s coming back, Ryan said. I d like to respect his situation. Bouncing back The Twins optimism about Trevor Plouffe has apparently paid off. The third baseman fielded ground balls during batting practice and ran the bases before Saturday s game, showing no ill effects of the groin strain he suffered Thursday. He s now virtually certain to avoid a second stint on the disabled list and could even play Sunday. He s better. That s encouraging, Ryan said. Trevor was pretty excited this morning about how he was feeling, manager Paul Molitor said. Sano getting work in Miguel Sano played his scheduled seven innings at third base Saturday night at Class AAA Rochester, the second game of his rehab stint as he recovers from a strained left hamstring. Batting third in what became a 3-2 loss to Louisville, Sano went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a walk. He went 0-for-1 with a walk in his first game Friday. Sano will serve as the Red Wings designated hitter Sunday, and he probably will take Monday off. At that point, the Twins might have a decision to make about his readiness for returning to the majors. With Plouffe healthy, they will have a decision to make about how to make room, too. Molitor has said he s not ready to reduce the bullpen to seven pitchers, so his choice might come down to reserve outfielder Danny Santana who is out of options and would have to be put on 2

3 waivers, an unlikely prospect or slumping designated hitter Byung Ho Park, who is eligible to be optioned to Class AAA. Park went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts Saturday, continuing a deep midseason slump that has bottomed out with a 2-for-34 stretch (.059) with 18 strikeouts. We talk fairly consistently. He understands it s been a tough road here of late. Every now and then, we ll see some at-bats that look a little better, Molitor said. We re just trying to support him. We still believe he s going to be able to hit more consistently the more he plays. It s like you see with [righthanded reliever Kevin] Jepsen on the pitching side it becomes a confidence issue. Postgame: Santana knew long first inning would shorten start Phil Miller Star Tribune June 26, 2016 NEW YORK A trio of extras from the Twins latest losing streak: While reading Saturday s lineups over the PA system before Saturday s game, the Yankees announced that Danny Santana would be the Twins starting pitching, with the infielder s photo appearing on the scoreboard. So maybe it was never supposed to be Ervin Santana s day anyway. By walking Jacoby Ellsbury and giving up a single to Brett Gardner to open the game, the veteran righthander needed 29 pitches to get out of the first inning. While New York didn t score a run, it all but guaranteed a short start for Santana. It also continued a puzzling trend: Santana can t seem to retire the first batter of the game this season. In his 14 starts, the leadoff hitter has collected seven hits, including two doubles and a home run, and walked twice, including Ellsbury s on Saturday. That s a.583 average, a.642 onbase percentage and slugging. But Ervin seemed to get better in the course of his stint, Twins manager Paul Molitor said. Unfortunately, the pitch count kind of bit him. Santana, using more changeups than normal, held the Yankees scoreless through four inning, and retired the first two batters in the fifth. Then Ellsbury, Gardner and Carlos Beltran struck with consecutive singles, the last one scoring Ellsbury with the tying run. Alex Rodriguez took three straight balls immediately afterward, and Santana was one pitch away from being removed, Molitor said. But ARod swung at the 3-0 pitch I knew he was going to swing, Santana said and lifted a harmless, inning-ending fly ball to center. Molitor sent Santana out for a sixth inning, but a leadoff single by Brian McCann changed his mind, and the veteran was done, marking the sixth time in 14 starts that Santana failed to complete more than five innings. Still, he reduced his ERA to 4.64 easily the best on the Twins. XXX That an error cost the Twins the game-winning run on Saturday just continues a trend for the last-place team. They ve had trouble hitting and trouble pitching, but the fielding errors are the ones that get replayed over and over, making the team look even more hapless. I keep tabs on where we re ranking defensively, Molitor said. Errors are going to happen from time to time. A lot of times, a good team can overcome them they pick each other up, someone makes a play, a pitcher makes a pitch. That doesn t happen much for the Twins, though. And it s cost them back-to-back games in New York, where Minnesota gave up three unearned runs on Friday, then failed to turn the double play, when Eduardo Escobar booted a ground ball, that would have prevented the goahead run on Saturday. General manager Terry Ryan isn t particularly pleased with the mental mistakes, either. The fact that three different pitchers have failed to cover first base on a ball hit to the right side in the past week? That is frustrating. That shouldn t happen, he said It s one of the reasons we are where we are. XXX On the other hand, the Twins did have one impressive defensive play on Saturday. The Yankees had the bases loaded with one out shortly after Escobar s error in the eighth inning, and Chase Headley was at the plate. After taking a ball, Headley lifted a fly ball to left that Robbie 3

4 Grossman had to back up by a step or two to catch. Once he did, catcher Brian McCann headed for the plate. Grossman s throw beat McCann to the plate, but it was slightly to the right field side of home, and catcher Kurt Suzuki had to lunge at McCann s ankle to make the tag. Umpire Alfonso Marquez called him out, but the Yankees challenged. Replay confirmed the call, however, and the Twins had their double play. Minnesota Twins Tyler Duffey tries not to think about what s at stake Mike Berardino Pioneer Press June 26, 2016 NEW YORK Heading into Sunday and maybe the most important start of his young career, Tyler Duffey is trying hard to turn his brain off. Saddled with a 9.17 earned-run average over his past seven starts, the Twins right-hander spent the bulk of Friday s bullpen session working to sharpen his fastball command. If he can just get ahead of hitters again, he figures the rest will take care of itself. Simplify everything, Duffey said. I m trying to eliminate the thinking and just go out and do it. I know how to pitch. I know how to get people out. In a span of 13 starts, starting last August and running through May 15, Duffey went 6-2 with a 2.13 ERA. He averaged nearly one strikeout for every one of his 80 1/3 innings, walking 23 and giving up just four homers (0.45 per nine innings). During this alarming downturn, the former fifth-round pick out of Rice University has seen that homer rate explode to 2.3 per nine innings while his nine-inning strikeout rate has slumped to 6.62 and his batting average on balls in play has jumped to.386. That latter number is 100 points higher than what he allowed in his first four starts. He agrees it s possible he lost some fastball command with all the time he spent this spring trying to hone his changeup. He also agrees he has tried to be too perfect at times with his vaunted curveball, which he throws at two different speeds. I ve caught myself in games thinking, OK, throw this one right here. Throw this one here, he said. Last year I was, OK, here, hit it. I m going to throw it over the plate. Whatever. Duffey, 25, has talked with Twins catcher Kurt Suzuki and interim pitching coach Eric Rasmussen as he tries to find a way to get back on track. They have advised him to relax and get back to being himself, which might sound easier than it is with a rotation spot potentially on the line. Notoriously emotive on the mound, Duffey is trying to dial back that intensity just a bit as well. It s a fine line, he said. I m really hard on myself, as you all know. I m just trying to stay there and not get too crazy with anything. Most of all, he wants to stop overanalyzing. Thinking isn t going to help me be here, he said. Running harder or throwing weighted balls, whatever, nothing is going to change that. I just need to get back to the basics. Just get strike one and go from there. MENTAL SLIDE When Tommy Milone failed to cover first on Aaron Hicks grounder on Friday, it didn t just cost Joe Mauer his first error of the season. It also marked the third time in the past week a Twins pitcher failed to cover first in time. It also happened to Michael Tonkin and Ricky Nolasco. That is frustrating, Twins general manager Terry Ryan said. That shouldn t happen. Three times in a week, that s not good. It s one of the reasons we are where we are. Ryan agreed that such mistakes are simply due to gaps in concentration. We spend so much time on that in spring training, he said. It s amazing. It s a reactionary thing. That s just a breakdown in fundamentals. We just haven t executed. It will get you. We re giving them way too many outs. NEIL ALLEN ON TRACK 4

5 Twins pitching coach Neil Allen, still on indefinite suspension following a May 26 arrest for suspected driving while impaired, will return to his former role at some point. That s safe to say, Ryan said. When the time is right. It s a little sensitive, but everything is going fine. Rasmussen will return to his former role as minor league pitching coordinator when Allen returns, Ryan said. BRIEFLY Third baseman Trevor Plouffe (strained right groin) passed his running tests Saturday morning and was cleared to take swings in the cage as well as take ground balls on the field. Ryan said he was encouraged that Plouffe might be able to avoid a second trip to the disabled list in the first half of Reliever Trevor May (back) will make his first rehab outing on Sunday at Triple-A Rochester. Ryan said May should have about four outings or so before he s activated. That likely includes back-to-back outings at midweek. Former Twins reliever J.R. Graham, traded on May 14 to the Yankees for a player to be named, has reeled off seven straight scoreless outings at Double-A Trenton. Graham had converted half of his four save chances and posted a 1.56 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings. Eduardo Escobar s latest error proves costly to Minnesota Twins Mike Berardino Pioneer Press June 26, 2016 NEW YORK After the ball squirted out of his glove, after the game was lost, Eduardo Escobar insisted his confidence is unshaken. Good players learn from their mistakes, the Twins shortstop said through an interpreter after Saturday s 2-1 loss at Yankee Stadium. If you re a ballplayer and you ve never made an error, then maybe you re not a good player. I m just going to learn from it, and we re going to move on. Escobar entered this weekend with five errors all season, four of them within the first nine games of this lost Twins season. Then, in a span of roughly 19 hours, he piled up three more, including Saturday s game-deciding miscue. With the infield playing in and the score tied, Escobar couldn t glove Starlin Castro s one-out, one-hop smash in the eighth inning. The botched double-play ball allowed ex-twin Aaron Hicks to score the go-ahead run from third. We had a ball potentially to get out of the inning, kind of an-between hop for Esco off the dirt, Twins manager Paul Molitor said. They got the bounce and they got a win. The Twins (23-51) have dropped 10 of their past 11 to the Yankees, dating to last August. They are a combined 1-5 against them the past two weekends with the finale of the season series set for Sunday afternoon. Escobar was the Opening Day shortstop for the first time in his career but gradually lost ground to hot-hitting Eduardo Nunez after suffering a groin strain in early May. Since coming off the disabled list, playing time has been more sparse for Escobar, but he was thrust back into a starting role with third baseman Trevor Plouffe s groin strain on Thursday. Nunez, the ex-yankees backup whose shaky defense allowed the Twins to acquire him in 2014, knows what Escobar is going through. He s had a tough series on defense, Nunez said. That s tough. Tough for him. Tough for us. We lost. (Sunday) maybe he ll win the game. Alex Rodriguez started the winning rally with an infield single to third off reliever Ryan Pressly (2-4). Nunez was playing deep in a no-doubles alignment, so he had no chance to get the 40-year-old slugger. Brian McCann s soft liner then landed on the chalk behind first, moving Hicks to third. After Pressly struck out Mark Teixeira to end a 10-pitch confrontation, Castro ripped the next pitch a step to Escobar s left. You saw it. What is there to say? Escobar said. I went to get it. The ball came out of my glove, and what happened happened. Perhaps Castro s speed caused Escobar to rush the play a bit? 5

6 It was hit hard, he said. At that point there s not much you can do than throw your glove at it. That s not an excuse, but it was hit pretty hard. Escobar sat back on Teixeira s double-play grounder in the sixth and was charged with an error, but rookie left-hander Taylor Rogers managed to pitch out of trouble. On Friday night, Escobar made one of three Twins errors, booting Austin Romine s leadoff grounder in a two-run third inning. Saturday marked his second multi-error game of the year, joining the one on April 9 in a 7-0 loss at Kansas City. This time, with the Twins held to three hits by Yankees right-hander Michael Pineda and the Done-BMC bullpen of Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman, Escobar s mistake was magnified. I ve always liked that he s been fairly steady, Molitor said. He s got a very accurate throwing arm, and his hands are most of the time reliable. He s made a couple plays here that have cost us recently, but the numbers are still respectable as far as percentage and all those types of things. It s just he s had a couple rough days. Brian Dozier got the Twins on the board with a leadoff homer to left in the second inning. Turning on a 3-1 fastball, Dozier delivered his first Yankee Stadium homer in 46 career at-bats. That gave Dozier home runs in 18 stadiums. The only American League parks he s missing are Angel Stadium (39 at-bats) and Camden Yards (56 at-bats). Pineda, who struggled last Saturday at Target Field, was pretty much untouchable otherwise in his six innings. Kurt Suzuki s leadoff single in the third was the only other hit off Pineda, who struck out eight. Joe Mauer added the third and final Twins hit, a two-out single off a 99-mph fastball from Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman in the ninth. Dozier struck out on a 100-mph heater to end the game. Twins starter Ervin Santana needed 29 pitches to escape the first, and that eventually led to him being pulled at 102 pitches after McCann s leadoff single in the sixth. Both of Santana s strikeouts came on sliders to Rodriguez. Twins disappointment this season recalls 04 Royals Mike Berardino Pioneer Press June 26, 2016 NEW YORK The Twins aren t the first team to take a big step forward only to have those high hopes dashed with a miserable follow-up campaign. They re merely the latest. A dozen years ago in the American League Central, for instance, the Kansas City Royals staged an epic flop just when they thought they were ready to take off. That s why Tony Pena winces at the mere mention of The former all-star catcher was then in his second full season managing the Kansas City Royals. Coming off an 83-win season in 2003, a 21-win improvement over the prior year, a proud franchise was convinced it hadn t just put a halt to a run of eight straight losing seasons but that it was ready to take that next step forward. We thought we were going to be better, says Pena, now first-base coach for the New York Yankees. I m sure the Twins were thinking about the same thing. Pena s Royals didn t start 0-9, but they did struggle early amid a series of key injuries. They went 7-14 in April, followed that up with a May, and by the time June rolled around, trade rumors were already flying in regards to star center fielder Carlos Beltran. By June 24, Beltran was traded to the Houston Astros in a three-way blockbuster with the Oakland A s, and that s when the bottom fell out for the 2004 Royals. An eight-game losing streak quickly followed. By season s end, they had sagged all the way to , making them the worst team in franchise history to that point. 6

7 It would take the Royals eight more losing seasons and three more managers after Pena, who resigned after an 8-25 start to a 2005 season marked by 106 losses, to finally make the jump into annual contention. PATIENCE IS A MUST The Twins, of course, hope this season is merely an aberration under second-year manager Paul Molitor. After improving by 13 wins in his debut, they entered a weekend series at Yankee Stadium on pace to finish The Twins have had their share of injuries, just as Pena s 2004 Royals did. They also have seen key young players such as Byron Buxton, Jose Berrios and Eddie Rosario struggle just as those Royals did with rookie right-hander Zack Greinke (3.97 earned-run average) and shortstop Angel Berroa, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year. This is a tough place for development, Pena says. It s tough when you have a lot of younger players. Sometimes it takes time to develop them. You need to be patient. Even the Royals veterans struggled that year. First baseman Mike Sweeney, in his age-30 season, saw a four-year run of all-star appearances end amid the start of his rapid decline. We had some injuries, too, Pena recalls. Juan Gonzalez got hurt. Benito Santiago got hurt. Whenever you lose that many players key players it s tough to play baseball. These Twins have experienced similar injury setbacks with the likes of Phil Hughes, Ervin Santana, Trevor Plouffe, Kyle Gibson and Miguel Sano. That was a different core than the Twins have, Pena said. We had more veterans at that time than this Twins team has. And yet the sense of disappointment was similarly unavoidable in the clubhouse, on the field, among the fan base. After seeing home attendance at Kauffman Stadium jump by 36 percent in 2003, when the Royals finished third and were just seven games out of first, their 2004 gate slumped by 6.7 percent. The Royals posted the second-lowest average home attendance in the AL. The Beltran deal was merely the latest kick in the teeth for Royals fans, coming on the heels of deals that sent away fellow young outfielders Johnny Damon and Jermaine Dye, both in All of those financially driven deals were orchestrated by then general manager Allard Baird, who eventually gave way to Dayton Moore in Baird, as a special assistant in the front office, went on to help the Boston Red Sox win their two latest World Series titles in 2007 and At that time the Royals didn t keep anyone, actually, says Beltran, now playing right field for the Yankees. In 2004, we didn t start the season well, and I knew at one point I was going to be traded. Things deteriorated quickly after Beltran was dealt. Every year, when you show up to spring training, you feel you re going to be able to compete, he said. At that time, the Royals had a different mentality than what they have now. Now they re keeping guys together, which is great. It allows the guys to get to know each other and be around each other for so many years, from the minor leagues all the way to the big leagues. GIVE THEM TIME While the Royals were able to avoid 90 losses just once in the eight seasons that followed their 2004 collapse, neither Pena nor Beltran believe the same wilderness period awaits the Twins. After taking three of four games at Target Field in a competitive series last weekend, the Yankees saw firsthand what the Twins are experiencing. You just need to be patient with young players, Pena says. Sometimes young players are going to learn how to play the game in the big leagues, and they ll see it s a little bit different. You re going to see a lot of mistakes. You see a lot of base-running mistakes. You see a lot of swing and miss. You see a lot of throws to different bases, and you need to continue to teach at the big-league level. 7

8 The key, Pena says, is that the Twins have managed to accumulate impressive young talent. The Twins have some good young players, Pena says. Give them time. They know how to do it. They ve been doing it for a long time, and they have great people around the organization and great baseball people. The Twins have been building ballclubs around young players forever. Beltran, 39 and seemingly headed for Cooperstown with 69.2 career Wins Above Replacement, sees better days ahead for the Twins, as well. I think the Twins are an organization that s going in the right direction, Beltran says. They have great talent. They just have to be able to try to keep this talent together and try to make it the way it was when Torii (Hunter) was there and they were able to keep that team together for a long time and compete. Beltran, the AL Rookie of the Year in 1999, remembers those teams well. They had (Joe) Mauer and (Justin) Morneau and a good core of players that knew how to play the game the right way, Beltran says. They could impact players in the clubhouse in different ways. He sees the same sort of promising core being assembled now. They way I see the team, they re not far away, Beltran says. They have (Brian) Dozier, who s a good player. They have Sano. They have the center fielder (Buxton) who s very talented. Right now maybe he s struggling a little bit, but you re going to learn by playing every day. And Beltran, who plans to represent Puerto Rico at the World Baseball Classic again next spring, remains a big fan of two of his former WBC teammates currently playing at Triple-A Rochester: Rosario and Berrios. Eddie is a player; he grinds, Beltran says. I know he struggled this year, but it happened to me, it happens to a lot of guys. The league adjusts to you; all of a sudden you have to make your adjustments. Rosario, hitting.354 through 32 games for the Red Wings, appears to be doing that now. Berrios is talented, man, Beltran says. I love Berrios. I love the kid. He works so hard and he has a lot of passion and a lot of tools. He s a kid that needs a little guidance, but when that guy figures it out, he s going to be a good pitcher for this organization for a long time. Beltran shakes his head and smiles at the thought of one of the most promising young arms to come out of Puerto Rico in many years. I would try to develop that kid as much as I can, he says, because I know that kid will be successful. Sano opens rehab stint at third base Do-Hyoung Park MLB.com June 26, 2016 NEW YORK -- Miguel Sano's rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester began on Friday night without any issues, as the slugger played five innings at third base and went 0-for-1 with a walk. Sano, whom the Twins moved to right field at the start of the season, will start at third base again Saturday before serving as the designated hitter on Sunday, barring any setbacks to a left hamstring strain incurred May 31. The Twins will remain flexible with Sano's rehabilitation without any set timeline for his defensive usage and will aim to bring him up when they feel his hitting is ready or if pressed to do so by injury. "There's no sense in any commitment beyond [Sunday]," said Twins general manager Terry Ryan. "We could use his bat in the middle of this lineup. We're having trouble scoring runs. He can be an impact on the offensive side for sure. Over at third, especially with [Trevor Plouffe] being down, we have a lot less flexibility right now." The team has stated its desire to split Sano's time between the infield, outfield and designated hitter at the Minor and Major League levels, particularly in light of Minnesota's crowded outfield situation with Max Kepler continuing to hit well and benefiting from increased usage. 8

9 Plouffe remains confident that he will avoid a trip to the disabled list as the third baseman recovers from a right groin strain suffered Thursday. He was held out of activities on Friday but took ground balls before Saturday's game and planned to take swings in the cage. "Trevor was pretty excited this morning early about how he was feeling and how he was moving around, so hopefully that's a good sign," said Twins manager Paul Molitor. Eduardo Nunez started at third base for the second straight game against the Yankees on Saturday. Extra bases Closer Glen Perkins' surgery on his throwing shoulder Thursday revealed that his torn labrum had detached from the bone, which was more damage than Perkins and the team had anticipated, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Perkins and the Twins had not known the extent of the damage due to the difficulty in diagnosing such injuries before surgery. He had been targeting a return to the team by the start of Spring Training, but a recovery time of around eight months is now expected, which would mean a return around the start of the regular season. Reliever Trevor May threw a successful bullpen session in Minneapolis on Friday and traveled to Triple-A Rochester that night to begin his rehab assignment. He was scheduled to pitch an inning in relief Sunday, and Ryan said the club wants him to make around four appearances before bringing him back up. Escobar's defensive lapse doesn't worry Twins Do-Hyoung Park MLB.com June 26, 2016 NEW YORK -- Mistakes happen. But unfortunately for the Twins' defense, those mistakes are magnified in close games. Shortstop Eduardo Escobar has had a particularly rough stretch over the last two games. He has committed three fielding errors this series, including a decisive boot on a ground ball in the eighth inning of Minnesota's 2-1 loss to the Yankees on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium that allowed the go-ahead run to score. With runners on first and third and nobody out in a tie game, reliever Ryan Pressly struck out Mark Teixeira in a 10-pitch at-bat and induced what appeared to be an inning-ending double-play grounder to short. However, Escobar couldn't field the ball cleanly on a short hop, allowing Starlin Castro to reach and bringing home Aaron Hicks from third, giving the Yankees the lead for good. "It was hit hard," Escobar said through an interpreter. "At that point, there's not much you can do other than throw your glove at it. That's not an excuse, but it was hit pretty hard." He had already misplayed a grounder off the bat of Teixeira in the sixth inning, giving Escobar his second two-error game of the season, following a similar performance on April 9 in Kansas City. After having committed only five errors all season, including a 36-game stretch with only one error, he has added three in two days. Escobar maintained that the recent string of errors wouldn't affect his confidence and that he would rather use the disappointment as an opportunity to learn from his mistakes moving forward. The Twins still remain firm in their vote of confidence for their Opening Day shortstop, even in light of Eduardo Nunez's hot hitting and their willingness to move Miguel Sano back to the infield. "I've always liked that he's been fairly steady," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "He's got a very accurate throwing arm and his hands are, most of the time, reliable. He's made a couple of plays that have cost us recently, but the numbers are still respectable as far as percentage and those types of things. Just had a couple of rough days." Baseball is a game of averages -- deviations from the mean such as this recent error-prone stretch are to be expected, and in the long run, Escobar, a career.977 fielder across six seasons, should be fine. (For reference, Derek Jeter's career fielding percentage was.976.) 9

10 As emphasized by Molitor and Twins general manager Terry Ryan, the Twins are much more worried about their inconsistent offense at the moment -- if Minnesota could have mustered more than three hits Saturday, then maybe Escobar's errors wouldn't have been as pivotal. Unfortunately for the Twins shortstop, he was caught in the wrong situation. Luckily, his teammates already seem ready to move on. "Errors are going to happen," said pitcher Ervin Santana, who took a no-decision Saturday after five-plus innings of one-run ball. "He's fine." Dozier's dinger not enough to edge Yanks Joshua Needleman and Do-Hyoung Park MLB.com June 26, 2016 NEW YORK -- Though the Yankees struggled to cobble together offense against the Twins on Saturday afternoon, they came away with a 2-1 win at Yankee Stadium after Eduardo Escobar booted a grounder off the bat of Starlin Castro in the eighth inning, allowing Aaron Hicks to score the go-ahead run. "It was hit hard," Escobar said through an interpreter. "At that point, there's not much you can do other than throw your glove at it. That's not an excuse, but it was hit pretty hard." For as inconsistent as the Yankees' offense was, their pitching was terrific. Right-hander Michael Pineda allowed just two hits through six innings of one-run ball before handing the ball to the bullpen. Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman took care of the rest, mowing down nine of the final 10 Twins batters. Chapman allowed a two-out single to Joe Mauer, which ended the trio's perfect streak over the last three games. "I want to pitch longer in the game and try to pitch longer to give [the bullpen] a little rest because those guys are working hard," Pineda said. "It feels good when you have three guys down in the bullpen so good." With the loss, the Twins dropped their third in a row. The main culprit was their offense, which managed just three hits with 12 strikeouts, and Brian Dozier accounting for the only run on a second-inning homer. MOMENTS THAT MATTERED They'll take it: The Yankees hit 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position but were able to capture the victory thanks to a bit of a luck. After Alex Rodriguez led off the bottom of the eighth with an infield single on a slow dribbler to right field, Aaron Hicks pinch-ran for him and reached third on Brian McCann's single. Hicks came around to score when Escobar committed his second error of the game. "It was big, especially with the back end of our bullpen," McCann said. "We know if we get one, we like our chances." Eduar-no: It's been a rough series for Escobar. He committed two more fielding errors at shortstop, including the critical boot of a potential inning-ending double-play ball in the eighth. He had a fielding error in Friday's loss as well. "He's got a very accurate throwing arm and his hands are, most of the time, reliable," said Twins manager Paul Molitor. "He's made a couple of plays that have cost us recently, but the numbers are still respectable as far as percentage and those types of things. Just had a couple of rough days." Like Mike? Pineda has been inconsistent in 2016, alternating flashes of brilliance with bouts of ineffectiveness. Aside from surrendering the solo shot to Dozier, Pineda was dominant. He struck out eight and retired the final seven batters he faced before ceding the game to the bullpen after 94 pitches. "He got a homer, so I was walking behind the mound, and I said 'OK,'" Pineda said. "I want to throw my best pitches right now and give the opportunity to my teammates." "I thought his changeup was good today," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "I thought he located his fastball for the most part. But it can mean a lot. He's got really good stuff. The mistakes he's made have really cost him." Dozier starts with a bang: On a day where Minnesota's offense could only muster three hits against Pineda and the Yankees' bullpen machine, Dozier had one of the lone bright spots with a homer projected by Statcast at 395 feet. In doing so, he extended his on-base streak to 18 games, third-longest in the American League. 10

11 "We just didn't square up a lot of balls," Molitor said. "Dozier got us on the board and Kurt [Suzuki] had a single there along the way, but not a lot of opportunities." REPLAY REVIEW After the Yankees scored the go-ahead run in the eighth, they had an opportunity to add to the lead when Chase Headley stepped into the batter's box with the bases loaded and one out. He lofted a fly ball to left field, prompting McCann to tag up from third base. He was ruled out after a good throw from Robbie Grossman, a call that was confirmed on a manager's challenge. QUOTABLE "I've got huge speed." -- McCann, talking about his mad dash home in the eighth inning when he was ruled out on a close play WHAT'S NEXT Twins: A struggling Tyler Duffey (2-6, 6.18 ERA) will get what could be his last chance to prove he belongs in Minnesota's starting rotation when he takes the mound for the 12:05 p.m. CT series finale on Sunday. He allowed a season-high six runs in a season-low three innings to Philadelphia's struggling offense in his last outing Tuesday. Yankees: Nathan Eovaldi (6-4, 5.02 ERA) takes the ball in the series finale Sunday at 1:05 p.m. ET. The hard-throwing right-hander looks to get back on track after taking the loss against the Twins last Sunday, when he allowed four earned runs on six hits. 11