Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Monday, September 4, 2017

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1 Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Monday, September 4, 2017 Extra swing bites Twins as Royals take series. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 1 Aaron Slegers will start for Twins on Wednesday against Tampa Bay. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 2 Postgame: Gimenez tried to move Escobar over with ninth-inning bunt. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 3 Lorenzo Cain reprieve sinks Twins 5-4 in painful loss to Royals. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 3 Kennys Vargas advice to Twins teammate Miguel Sano: Take time and get right. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 5 Twins fall despite big hits from Escobar, Buxton. MLB (Bollinger & Flanagan) p. 6 Twins look to move on after tough series loss. MLB.com (Bollinger) p. 7 Slegers set to start Wednesday vs. Rays. MLB.com (Bollinger) p. 8 Wetmore s 5 thoughts: Byron Buxton s budding stardom has Twins in the race ESPN (Wetmore) p. 8 Calm, cool and collected? The time Paul Molitor doesn t bite his tongue with umps ESPN (Zulgad) p. 10 Twins come up short in back-and-forth against Royals. Associated Press p. 11 Extra swing bites Twins as Royals take series Phil Miller Star Tribune September 3, 2017 It might seem like overkill for a manager to argue so vociferously over something as seemingly minor as a checked swing, but things change in the heat of a playoff race, and Paul Molitor knew what he was doing. One more chance, one extra swing in the hands of Lorenzo Cain, and well, just look what happened. Barely 60 seconds after the Twins manager stalked to his office, having been ejected by plate umpire Marty Foster, Cain crushed a 97-mile-perhour fastball off the outfield wall, scoring the tying and go-ahead runs for the Royals. It was the final, decisive momentum switch in a back-andforth game won by Kansas City 5-4 Sunday at Target Field. Obviously I thought he went too far. It s pretty simple, Molitor said after the Twins lost the rubber game of a three-game series. Marty must not have got a good look at it, and so he turned it over. And we didn t get the call. The Twins wrestled with their pique over believing they were victimized, and their instincts to put it behind them, to not let it affect their charge toward a playoff berth. Molitor said he doesn t want to watch a replay of Cain s bat flick at the curveball from rookie reliever Alan Busenitz, and catcher Chris Gimenez, though he thought it was strike three, added that that wasn t the game right there. Sure, it swings the momentum a little bit, but we had opportunities to come back and tie it or win it. They did, and after the way the Twins rallied from 1-0 and 3-2 deficits to take the lead, they seemed a bit surprised that they couldn t pull off a third comeback. Eduardo Escobar smashed his third home run in two days, a two-run shot to right, to rally the Twins in the fifth inning, and Byron Buxton looped a two-run single into right field to do the same in the sixth. Yet each time, the Royals answered, the first time on Melky Cabrera s two-run homer off Ervin Santana. The second time, the Twins felt Kansas City got a little help. In the seventh inning, Santana surrendered a two-out single to Alcides Escobar on his 110th pitch, then left to a huge ovation from the announced crowd of 32,234. But those cheers turned to a rain of boos over what Foster, first-base ump Mike Muchlinski and Cain did next. Batting with two on after Busenitz walked Whit Merrifield, Cain fouled off three fastballs. After taking a ball, Cain seemed to commit to a curveball in the dirt but pulled his bat back.

2 Did he swing? You want my opinion? second baseman Brian Dozier said. 100 percent. Foster wasn t sure, though, and asked for help. Muchlinski ruled Cain had stopped in time, and the Twins bench erupted. The feeling in the dugout was not good, Santana said. But they re in charge of the game. We can say anything we want, and they re not going to change it. Molitor said plenty, until Foster turned and handed him his second ejection of the season. Given a second chance, Cain didn t miss. He fouled off another fastball, then drove the next one, high in the strike zone, off the wall just below the scoreboard in right-center. When the ball ricocheted past Buxton, both runners scored and Cain decided to try it, too, though he was thrown out at home by a nice relay from Dozier. All I care about was the pitch that he hit, Busenitz said. If I execute that pitch, [the checked swing] doesn t matter. The Twins weren t finished, but they didn t collect another hit, either. A pair of two-out walks in the eighth inning went for naught when Cain made a running catch of Mitch Garver s fly ball on the warning track in center. And after left fielder Alex Gordon dropped Eduardo Escobar s leadoff warning-track fly in the ninth for a two-base error, Brandon Maurer registered his first save for Kansas City by retiring the next three Twins in order. This is perfect practice for the type of games we have coming our way, Gimenez said. You can t dwell on a game like this. We ve got to move on. Aaron Slegers will start for Twins on Wednesday against Tampa Bay Phil Miller Star Tribune September 3, 2017 Aaron Slegers, the first Class AAA pitcher to win 15 games as a Twins prospect since 2004, won't be able to make his start in the International League playoffs next week. He's got a different pennant race to pitch in. The 6-10 righthander, who gave up two hits over 6⅓ innings vs. Cleveland in his major league debut last month, will start at Tampa Bay on Wednesday. "He's done what he's needed to do," Twins manager Paul Molitor said of Slegers' past two starts for the Rochester Red Wings: 14⅔ innings, six runs (3.68 ERA), 20 strikeouts and only one walk. "I like how he matches up against the [Tampa Bay] lineups a little bit, too." Slegers, who turns 25 Monday, has pitched 154⅔ innings this year, roughly as many as in the previous two seasons, so a series of starts in September (or beyond) might be a big jump in his usage. But Molitor said it's too early to worry much about that. "We don't feel it will be an issue at this time," and the team hasn't set an upper limit, Molitor said. "We'll have to monitor it as he gets to areas he hasn't gotten before." The 2013 fifth-round pick will take the spot of Dillon Gee, the veteran righthander who, like Slegers, gave up only two hits in his first start for the Twins. Gee's past two starts amounted to nine runs in 6⅔ innings, though, and Molitor wants to return him to a long-relief role. Castro activated Jason Castro said he is completely healthy again. And his paperwork is in order, too. The catcher passed the medical tests necessary to satisfy MLB's concussion rules Saturday, and by late Sunday morning, both MLB and the player's association had given their OK, too. The Twins took Castro off the disabled list, clearing him to play in Sunday's 5-4 loss to the Royals, though he never did. Castro suffered a concussion when he was hit in the mask by a Jose Abreu foul ball in Chicago on Aug. 22. Sano will stay home 2

3 Miguel Sano will not accompany the Twins to Tampa Bay and Kansas City this week, though Molitor said he is optimistic again that the third baseman is making progress from a stress reaction in his shin. But for now, Sano has not been cleared to resume swinging a bat. "He's got more energy, more excitement about the fact that he's feeling better," Molitor said before Sunday's game. "I just saw him in the weight room, he's smiling. He's put some work in to try to keep himself as ready as he can when he gets clearance to swing a bat. [But] I still don't have a timetable when that's going to be." Shooting for 20 homers Eduardo Escobar followed up his second career two-homer game Saturday with another blast Sunday, giving him 15 home runs on the season. With four weeks remaining, it's possible that the infielder could reach 20 for the season, a level that three of his teammates Sano (28), Brian Dozier (27) and Eddie Rosario (20) already have reached, and a fourth, Max Kepler (17), is approaching, too. Should Kepler and Escobar both make it, it would mark the first time since 1986 that the Twins have had five 20-homer players in a season. That year, Tom Brunansky, Gary Gaetti, Kent Hrbek, Kirby Puckett and Roy Smalley hit the milestone. Escobar's three-homer binge comes after he hit only two during August, and the veteran switch hitter said he understands what's changed. "I was being too anxious, trying to do too much," he said. "I had to calm down and [realize] I don't have to play hero every day." Postgame: Gimenez tried to move Escobar over with ninth-inning bunt Phil Miller Star Tribune September 2, 2017 Chris Gimenez tried to move Eduardo Escobar up a base in the ninth inning, but it didn t work. After Alex Gordon dropped Escobar s deep fly ball on the warning track to lead off the inning, Gimenez watched a 99-mph fastball from Brandon Maurer go by, then had an idea: Bunt. I did it on my own, Gimenez said of squaring around, something he s done successfully twice this year and four times in each of the past two seasons. [Maurer] is a tough guy to get on top of, to hit a ball to the right side, so he figured a bunt was a better play to try to move Escobar to third with only one out. But Gimenez popped the bunt foul, on a 98-mph fastball, and we decided it wasn t the right play. Joe [Vavra, managing the team after Paul Molitor was ejected] said, no more. It didn t go much better for the catcher when he swung away. He fouled off a 99-mph fastball, but chased a 90-mph slider that he couldn t reach. That was a really good pitch, Gimenez said. He made a great pitch in that situation. He made more against Ehire Adrianza, who flew out to center, and Brian Dozier, who popped to second, ending the game and earning Maurer his first save as a Royal. Asked whether Sunday s back-and-forth game in front of a big crowd had a postseason feel to it, Twins manager Paul Molitor, a veteran of 29 postseason games, put the brakes on that kind of talk. I don t think it s a postseason feel yet, the manager said. These games are meaningful, but compared to Sept. 3, it can grow somewhat exponentially as you get near the end, and October. Lorenzo Cain reprieve sinks Twins 5-4 in painful loss to Royals Mike Berardino Pioneer Press September 3, 2017 Lorenzo Cain giveth and Lorenzo Cain taketh away. Same goes for umpires. The Twins were reminded of both eternal truths Sunday afternoon in a 5-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals. Two innings after Cain dropped a Joe Mauer line drive that led to Byron Buxton s go-ahead single, Cain made the most of a check-swing reprieve 3

4 that got Twins manager Paul Molitor ejected for just the second time all season. Obviously I thought he went too far, Molitor said. It s pretty simple. Game on the line, I thought he went plenty far enough to get the call, but we didn t get it. Cain knocked a 2-2 fastball from rookie reliever Alan Busenitz off the center-field wall for a two-run triple that put the Royals ahead to stay. It was the fourth lead change in as many half innings, all marked by two-run bursts, as the Royals took the rubber game of a weekend series between wild-card hopefuls. A strong relay throw from Brian Dozier in short center field kept Cain from circling the bases with an inside-the-park homer. Cain s hit came two pitches after he was ruled to have checked his swing on a 1-2 curveball in the dirt. I was hoping he went, Busenitz said. I executed the pitch I wanted. I was hoping he d swing over the top of it. It was close, but I guess he didn t go, so what can you do? Plate umpire Marty Foster checked with first-base umpire Mike Muchlinski, who spread his arms in a safe signal. Molitor, among those barking from the first-base dugout, was immediately tossed. Marty must not have got a good look at it, so he turned it over and we didn t get the call, Molitor said. I m not going to talk about it too much. Those guys are out there. They have a tough job. They re working at it. I m not always going to agree with everything they do. Four-time Gold Glove award winner Alex Gordon, a defensive replacement in the eighth, dropped Eduardo Escobar s long drive to the gap for a two-base error to start the ninth. However, fill-in closer Brandon Maurer recovered to retire the next three batters, including Dozier on a gameending pop to second, for his 21st save in 25 chances. Catcher Chris Gimenez struck out after fouling off a sacrifice bunt attempt that would have moved the tying run to third with one out. That s a playoff-type atmosphere, Gimenez said. That was a essentially a playoff game for a lot of these young guys that haven t experienced it yet. This is perfect practice for what hopefully we have coming away. These are the types of games you have to keep your cool in pressure situations. The Twins, who fell nine games out of first plus but maintained their 1 1/2-game lead for the second wild card, were trying to even their home record after being in mid-june. They fell to 9-6 against the Royals this year with four games left in Kansas City, starting Thursday. Escobar blasted his third homer in a span of four plate appearances, a two-run shot in the fifth that put the Twins ahead in the fifth. That gave Escobar eight runs batted in over his past six at-bats, including a triple to start the run on Saturday. Melky Cabrera answered with a two-run homer of his own in the sixth, the 28th this year off Twins ace Ervin Santana. Pulled at 110 pitches in the seventh after giving up a two-out single to Alcides Escobar, Santana left to a standing ovation from the home crowd, doffing his cap in acknowledgement. Busenitz, who hadn t allowed a run in his past 12 2/3 innings or a walk since Aug. 15, issued a full-count walk to Whit Merrifield. That forced Buxton to move in a few steps in hopes of cutting down the tying run at the plate. Instead, Cain s drive carried just beyond his reach. It just caught a little too much of the plate, Busenitz said. If it would have caught a little less, Buck s running that one down. Eric Hosmer ended a string of 20 unanswered runs for the Twins with a fourth-inning single that scored Cain from second. Hosmer s hit was just the second off Santana on a 3-0 count this season. The Twins head to Tampa Bay 9-23 (.281) with a minus-100 run differential against current division leaders. They are (.596) with a plus- 100 run differential against everybody else. We ll just continue to fight, Eduardo Escobar said through a translator. We know once we get to the playoffs, we can beat anybody. Kennys Vargas advice to Twins teammate Miguel Sano: Take time and get right 4

5 Mike Berardino Pioneer Press September 3, 2017 Better than most, Kennys Vargas knows what Miguel Sano is dealing with as he tries to make it back from a lower-leg injury suffered on a foul ball. Vargas blasted a foul ball off his left foot upon his return from the World Baseball Classic in late March. X-rays were negative, but he opened the year at Triple-A Rochester and has been shuttled back and forth a handful of times. I m still sore, said Vargas, who has 18 combined homers. It s bad because we are big guys with strong swings. When you hit your foot or shin, it s tough. I ve felt that foot all season. Out since Aug. 19, Sano has been working overtime to rehab the area around his left shin. He remains limited to non-impact conditioning but was in a noticeably better mood on Sunday after a recent round of therapy. I think he s got little more energy, a little more excitement about the fact he s feeling a little bit better, Twins manager Paul Molitor said. I just saw him in the weight room, and he was smiling. He s put some work in to try to keep himself as ready as he can when he s given clearance to start swinging the bat. When that will be remains anybody s guess. Sano will not fly to Florida with the Twins for the start of a seven-game road trip. A rehab assignment for one of the many Twins affiliates headed to the postseason remains a possibility. He could also be sent to Fort Myers, Fla., to see pitching during instructional league, which starts in earnest on Sept. 14. Molitor mentioned Twins medical staff making contact with people that have tried to give us better avenues to quicker success for Sano s rehab. It s all being implemented the best that we know how, Molitor said. I think they ve turned up as many rocks and stones as they can to see if there s something they re missing, but I think they feel like they re doing all they can. While Sano, who leads the Twins with 28 homers, figures to return as a designated hitter, Vargas noted even running the bases can leave two of the majors biggest bodies in jeopardy of a setback. It s different for us because we can be strong in the top part but maybe not that strong down there, Vargas said. It s like if you do any kind of move or you hit it again during practice, it s sore again. I just tape my foot up to give it some support. What advice would Vargas give Sano? He just has to take time and get right with that shin, Vargas said. It s not easy to play with that pain every day. SLEGERS TO RETURN Rookie right-hander Aaron Slegers, who shined in a one-start cameo against the Cleveland Indians last month, will be recalled to start Wednesday at the Tampa Bay Rays. Slegers, who turns 25 on Monday, replaces veteran swingman Dillon Gee in the rotation. Gee, who worked a total of 6 2/3 innings in his past two starts, will return to the long-relief role he filled so ably since his early August promotion. Gee, who threw 64 pitches on Friday, should be available out of the bullpen by Tuesday, if not sooner. After a shaky outing in his return to Triple-A Rochester, Slegers has struck out 20 against just one walk over his past 14 2/3 innings. Now 15-4 with a 3.40 earned run average in 24 starts for the Red Wings, the 2013 fifth-round pick out of Indiana University is tied with Jose Berrios for most combined wins in the Twins system. With 154 2/3 innings, fourth-most in the organization, Slegers is close to his career-high of 156 in A workout warrior who prides himself on his durability, Slegers set a spring goal of 180 innings this season but the Twins are taking it start-by-start. Our conversation about that potentially being an issue, we don t feel it will be at this time, Molitor said. We ll have to monitor a guy who s 5

6 getting to areas he hasn t gotten to before. I don t know if there s a magic formula on percentage (innings) increase and all those type of things. It depends on the person a lot too. Slegers allowed just two hits and two earned runs over 6 1/3 innings on Aug. 17, leaving with a lead over the Indians in the nightcap of a doubleheader. That outing ended a drought of six games without a quality start for the Twins and started the current string of 12 quality starts in their past 17 games. BRIEFLY Jason Castro passed his final concussion test after Saturday s full workout and was activated from the seven-day concussion disabled list before Sunday s game. Right-hander Kohl Stewart returned from his second DL stint related to his left knee to start Friday night for Double-A Chattanooga. The No. 4 overall pick in 2013 worked three innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits and three walks and no strikeouts. First-time call-up Niko Goodrum was given his first career start on Sunday at DH. He went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts. Twins fall despite big hits from Escobar, Buxton Rhett Bollinger and Jeffrey Flanagan MLB September 3, 2017 Four hits into Saturday night s 17-0 romp over the Kansas City Royals, Twins first baseman Joe Mauer had a quick conversation with manager Paul Molitor. We talked about leaving him in the game to try to get a fifth hit, which doesn t happen but every now and then, Molitor said. His response was, I appreciate it, but I ve done it. If you re going to take me out, that d be great, because he wants to play first again (Sunday). Removed after six innings, the 34-year-old Mauer had to settle for his first four-hit game since June 2. His career-high for a single game remains five hits, last accomplished Aug. 14, 2013, five days before suffering a career-altering concussion. A day after Mauer attended Joe Nathan s retirement news conference and later caught a ceremonial first pitch from the Twins career saves leader, the ex-catcher went out and played his usual low-key role. What I like that Joe brings is he s the same guy every day, Molitor said. He doesn t get caught up in the big game, the big moment. He s the same, and I think that s something that s resonated with a lot of our young guys to be able to model themselves in that type of mind-set of how you go about being successful in this game. Mauer drove in single runs in his first two at-bats to tie close friend Justin Morneau for fifth on the Twins career RBI list with 860. Two more hits in the next two innings, both ringing singles up the middle, moved Mauer within 43 hits of 2,000 for his career. With 27 games left in this regular season, that would seem to be a tall order, but don t put it past him. Pushing his batting average up to.303 for the first time this season the highest it s been this late in any season since August 2013 Mauer finds himself in a postseason race for the second time in three years. Joe s been playing fantastic baseball, Molitor said. It s really fun to watch him be a leader out there. Stretching his hitting streak to 11 games and hitting.438 over the past 22 games, Mauer now has 28 career games of four-plus hits. I don t know that he s really changed much, Twins starter Kyle Gibson said after winning his third straight start. He s still hitting the ball hard and sticking with his approach. That s what makes him Joe Mauer. He never gets out of himself. He never allows the situation to be too big. He just tries to put the barrel on the ball. Winning for the eighth time in their past nine home games, the Twins wiped out a minus-16 season run differential and maintained their 1 1/2- game lead over the Los Angeles Angels for the second American League wild card. Until Saturday, their largest margin of victory in a shutout had been 16-0 over the Boston Red Sox on May 25, For the second time in two weeks, the Twins chased an opposing starting pitcher after he recorded just one out. In Saturday s four-run first it 6

7 was Cuban lefty Onelki Garcia, who lasted just 23 pitches in his first big-league start. On Aug. 20 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, it was lefty T.J. McFarland they pounded in a nine-run first, their first game after all-star third baseman Miguel Sano went down with a stress reaction in his left shin. Sano remains out, but the Twins have gone 9-5 during his latest absence. This is due to the step-up mentality Molitor has noticed. A lot of teams deal with adversity, things you have to just kind of find your way through, Molitor said. I think these guys are looking forward to being the one who gets called upon. Byron Buxton went 3 for 5, including an RBI triple in the first, in his return to the lineup after missing two starts with a bone bruise in his left hand. Brian Dozier added a three-run homer, his 27th, and Eduardo Escobar tripled, homered twice and tied a career high with six RBIs. Gibson (9-10) gave up five hits with five strikeouts in six scoreless innings, slashing his season earned-run average to Over his past three starts, Gibson has posted a 1.37 ERA with 20 strikeouts and just two walks in 19 2/3 innings. Minus-75 in run differential at the start of play on Aug. 4, the Twins are 20-9 since Bartolo Colon s complete-game victory that night. Now that we re a positive run differential, I guess we can make the playoffs, Gibson joked. Twins look to move on after tough series loss Rhett Bollinger MLB.com September 3, 2017 MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins have continued to show their resilience throughout the season. That will once again be put to the test following a 5-4 loss to the Royals on Sunday at Target Field. Minnesota dropped the series, including a pair of one-run games, despite outscoring the opposition by 15 runs over the weekend. Crucial plays went the other way for the Twins during a playoff-like atmosphere over the weekend. They still own the the second American League Wild Card spot, but they're up just 1 1/2 games over the Angels and Orioles. "This is a perfect practice of hopefully what we have coming our way," catcher Chris Gimenez said. "That was essentially a playoff game for a lot of these guys that haven't experienced it yet. Unfortunately, we didn't come out on the right side of two of the three. That's a good learning experience." The latest defeat boiled down to a controversial sequence in the top of the seventh. With Minnesota leading, 4-3, reliever Alan Busenitz was tasked with getting the final out of the frame when he relieved starter Ervin Santana. Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain fouled off the first four offerings from Busenitz to begin the at-bat. After missing with the fastball, Busenitz went back to the breaking ball, which landed in the dirt. Cain appeared to attempt a swing on the pitch, but home-plate umpire Marty Foster deferred to first-base umpire Mike Muchlinski, who ruled that Cain had checked his swing to even the count. "I was hoping he went. I don't know," Busenitz said. "I executed the pitch I wanted and wanted him to swing over the top of it. It was close, but I guess he didn't go, so what can you do?" Twins manager Paul Molitor expressed his frustration to Foster in the ensuing moments after the call and was subsequently ejected, marking his second ejection of the season and the sixth of his managerial career. "Obviously, I thought he went too far," Molitor said. "It's pretty simple. Marty didn't get a good look at it, so he turned it over and we didn't get the call. With the game on the line, I thought he went plenty far to get the call." The play proved to be pivotal, as moments later Cain laced a go-ahead triple to center. Minnesota mounted comeback attempts in the eighth and ninth, but fell short. It was the Twins' first series loss since Aug against Cleveland. 7

8 Now the Twins, who posted a record in August after becoming sellers at the non-waiver Trade Deadline, will once again have to show their resiliency during the upcoming seven-game road trip against a pair of AL Wild Card-contending teams in Tampa Bay and Kansas City. "We really have to flush it, honestly," Gimenez said. "We look forward to tomorrow. You can't dwell too much on a game like that, because it will drive you nuts." Slegers set to start Wednesday vs. Rays Rhett Bollinger MLB.com September 3, 2017 MINNEAPOLIS -- Right-hander Aaron Slegers will be called up from Triple-A Rochester to start on Wednesday against the Rays, replacing righthander Dillon Gee as the Twins' fifth starter. Gee will move back to long relief after struggling his past two starts, allowing four runs in four innings in Toronto and five runs over 2 2/3 innings against the Royals on Friday. Slegers has been pitching well at Rochester, striking out 10 batters in each of his past two starts while improving to 15-4 with a 3.40 ERA in 24 starts with the Red Wings. "He's done what he's needed to do these last couple starts to have him be a consideration for us here, at least for this particular start," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "I like how he matches up against that lineup, so we are going to go that direction. I talked to Dillon yesterday, just to make sure he understood the gratitude of him taking the ball for us when we took him out of a role he was very successful in." Slegers also pitched well in his lone Major League start against the Indians on Aug. 17, allowing two runs on two hits over 6 1/3 innings. The 6- foot-10 right-hander has thrown a combined 154 2/3 innings between Triple-A and the Majors this year after throwing 145 1/3 innings at Double-A Chattanooga last year. So the Twins will be cautious with him going forward, although Slegers has said his goal is to reach 180 innings this season. "I haven't talked to him about his goal," Molitor said. "Our conversations about that potentially being an issue, we don't feel it will be an issue at this time. We will have to monitor a guy who is getting to the area he hasn't gotten to before. I don't think there is a magic formula. It depends on the person a lot, too." Worth noting The Twins activated catcher Jason Castro from the 7-day concussion list Sunday, but he was held out of the starting lineup. He took his ImPACT test on Saturday and was cleared by Major League Baseball to return before Sunday's game. Third baseman Miguel Sano's left shin is beginning to feel better after a slow recovery, Molitor said. But there's still no timetable for his return. "I think he's got a bit more energy, a little more excitement about the fact that he's feeling a bit better," Molitor said. "I just saw him a couple minutes ago in the weight room, and he's smiling. He's put some work in to try and keep himself as ready as he can be when he's given the clearance to start swinging the bat. I still don't have a timetable of when that will be." Wetmore s 5 thoughts: Byron Buxton s budding stardom has Twins in the race Derek Wetmore 1500 ESPN September 3, 2017 MINNEAPOLIS Byron Buxton put on a show in the final month of the season for a non-competitive Twins team last year. That team was probably looking for any glimmer of hope to cling to, and the sudden arrival on the scene for the team s best prospect in more than a decade counted among the reasons to be optimistic. Buxton closed an otherwise disappointing season by hitting.287/.357/.653 in September and October, with 9 home runs in 113 plate appearances. They were great numbers, and added to his already elite-level defense in center field, the Twins appeared to have a budding superstar on their hands. There were some lingering questions swing-and-misses, perhaps some good fortune on balls put in play but Buxton s uber-prospect pedigree, in the eyes of a lot of people, washed away those concerns. Then he struggled to start the year and we were left to wonder if September was just a mirage. After two great months at the plate this year, it s pretty safe to say that it wasn t just an aberration. And while it s still not certain where Buxton will settle, it sure seems that in status he s closer to being a superstar than a bust. With Buxton back in the Twins lineup over the weekend and right in the middle of a run-scoring outburst this column presents 5 thoughts 8

9 on Buxton s re-emergence. 1. Depending on who you ask, Buxton is either the Twins best player right now, or he s on his way to earning that title. Now, Brian Dozier, Miguel Sano, and recently, Joe Mauer, would have something to say about that. But let s just look at Wins Above Replacement for a quick moment. According to the version of WAR used on Baseball Reference bwar Buxton is already the Twins best player for this season, leading the pack with 4.4 WAR when you combine his top-shelf defense, base running and offensive value. Dozier s second at 3.3 WAR. On FanGraphs, it s a slightly different story. A primary reason for the disagreement both sites calculate a player s defensive contributions in a different way. FanGraphs gives Dozier the edge 3.4 fwar to Buxton s 2.8. I should note, though, that it wasn t that long ago that FanGraphs had Buxton hovering around 0.0 WAR, with his stellar defense at an important position more or less washing away his dreadful offensive output. Now, however you calculate the stat that attempts to summarize a player s on-field value with one number, Buxton is surging. He s hitting.249/.310/.401 for the season, but that includes.338/.378/.596 across the past two calendar months. Obviously, I don t know if Buxton will keep up this pace at the plate. If he does it s hard to imagine anybody in a Twins uniform matching his value. 2. The offense is nice but to me any conversation about Buxton s value to the Twins should start with his speed and defense. These are good offensive numbers. They d look nice coming from any spot on the diamond, even a place like first base or designated hitter, where the bar for offensive production is set higher than it is at a position like catcher or center field. But throw those numbers up at a premium defensive position, especially one that you play exceptionally well, and you re in the running for Most Valuable Player awards. Buxton is currently second among outfielders with 24 Defensive Runs Saved, according to FanGraphs. He s the fourth-best outfielder as measured by Ultimate Zone Rating. Neither metric should be taken with blind trust, I don t think, but you watch Buxton play for a week and it s plain to see he contributes value by the way he plays centerfield. He tracks down balls you wouldn t expect an outfielder to get his glove on. His arm is also an asset, but the speed is what catches your eye. 3. Buxton s getting better on the bases. His top-of-the charts speed isn t exclusive to his fielding. Buxton has continued to refine his base running approach. I ve heard that behind the scenes, Buxton studies and tries to learn where he can gain an edge running the bases. Whereas I used to view Buxton as a guy who would steal some bases by virtue of being extremely fast, I ve now come to view him as an improved runner who s adding weapons like good reads and anticipation to his tool belt. That s a potent combination for a guy clocked with the fastest sprint speed on the bases this year. Buxton s 24 steals currently rank 10th in the Majors, and he s only been thrown out once. That exceptional efficiency swiping bags (96% success rate) is better than anybody with at least 10 stolen bases on the year. Any value that Buxton adds with a bat, just remember, builds on top of what he already adds with his speed, arm and glove. 4. There was a chance Buxton could have been demoted to the minor leagues earlier this season. June 30 was Buxton s 212th game in his MLB career. He had 250 plate appearances on the season. He was hitting a meager.195/.269/.283 with a high 31.9% strikeout rate this season. He was nearing the 700-plate-appearance threshold in his career, and there were very serious questions about his ability at 23 years old to deliver on the great potential that had been forecast for years. Outside of that excellent month of September 2016, it had been mostly bad news at the plate, although it s fair to point out that Buxton was still very young for an everyday MLB regular. My understanding is that there was discussion within the front office about demoting Buxton to the minor leagues when he was struggling earlier this season. That never happened for a couple of reasons, and they boil down to the fact that Buxton was a professional about not losing all his self-confidence and not quitting on the work it took to climb his way out of the deep hole he d dug for himself. The run that he s on right now is impressive any way you slice it, but it s even more improbable against the backdrop that he was almost sent down before breaking out. 5. We re still only talking about roughly 150 plate appearances, so there s still a ways to go that this hot streak is the real Buxton. He s striking out a lot less often these days, though, which is one of the most encouraging signs amid his offensive breakout. 9

10 In the final month of last season, Buxton put up good numbers, including 9 home runs. But he also struck out in 33.6% of his plate appearances. On its own that may not be that big of a problem, although Buxton isn t exactly the type of all-or-nothing slugger who can happily sacrifice all those strikeouts in exchange for 40 home runs. And if he was still having problems diagnosing a pitcher s plan of attack and then also struggling to make contact with enough pitches it wouldn t exactly suggest inevitable success. In his current stretch dating back to July 1, Buxton has fanned in 35 of his 151 trips to the plate (23.2%). That s a big improvement from his earlier months. And even from his big September last season. Month Plate Appearances K% BB% Soft-hit% woba April % 11.5% 35.9%.211 May % 8.8% 20.8%.306 June % 6.5% 19.7%.231 July % 11.4% 8.7%.421 August % 4.3% 10.8%.400 Source: FanGraphs.com. I think the fact that he s not striking out as often coupled with the fact that his numbers have taken off and he s making a lot less soft contact is an encouraging trend for the talented center fielder. Establishing whether Buxton s current numbers are sustainable, though, would require some more work. To make an educated guess about that, we d want to try to figure out if his surge on the stats sheet is based on skill and not because of some good luck. For that, we d want to dig down on factors like his exit velocity month by month, and I d also want to know if his plate discipline has improved over the course of the year. (Is he chasing fewer pitches outside the strike zone? Is he swinging and making hard contact when he gets a pitch to his liking inside the strike zone?) Anecdotally, it seems like he has made those improvements, but I don t have the specific data to back up that claim. Calm, cool and collected? The time Paul Molitor doesn t bite his tongue with umps Judd Zulgad ESPN 1500 September 3, 2017 MINNEAPOLIS Paul Molitor wasn t in the mood to talk much after the Twins 5-4 loss to Kansas City on Sunday at Target Field. That wasn t a surprise given what happened in the seventh inning helped to lead to Minnesota dropping two of three games in the series. The Twins still held 1.5-game lead over the Angels and Orioles for the second wild card spot in the American League after Sunday but it could have been more. The Twins were up by a run in the top of the seventh when Lorenzo Cain stepped in to face righthanded reliever Alan Busenitz with runners on first and second and two outs. Ervin Santana had retired Paulo Orlando and Brandon Moss to begin the inning before an Alcides Escobar single to center drove the Twins starter from the game. Busenitz walked Whit Merrifield but had a 1-and-2 count on Cain. Busentiz threw an 82-mile-per-hour curveball that Cain appeared to chase as it dived toward the dirt. I was hoping he went, Busenitz said. I threw it right where I wanted it. I was hoping he d swing over the top of it. That s exactly what Molitor thought Cain had done. Plate umpire Marty Foster appealed to first base ump Mike Muchlinski to see if Cain had gone too far. Muchlinski gave the safe sign, making the count 2-and-2. Molitor, ordinarily as cal, cool and collected of manager as you will find, let it be known he did not agree. He did it loudly enough that Molitor was tossed for the sixth time in his career and second time this season. (His first ejection of 2017 came in April.) Molitor came out to voice his displeasure to Foster the manager had plenty of support from the announced crowd of 32,234 before departing for the clubhouse. Seeing Molitor get ejected is impressive considering how even-tempered he normally is with umpires. Obviously, I though he went too far, it s pretty simple, a still upset Molitor said afterward. Marty must not have got a good look at it and so he turned it over and we didn t get the call. I thought (with the) game on the line he went plenty far enough to get the call. But we didn t get it. Said Twins catcher Chris Gimenez: It s the umpire s discretion, he said he didn t go. Of course, we would have loved for them to have said, yes, but he didn t. That s the game. Sometimes you ve got to deal with being put in tough spots. 10

11 Molitor s frustration only increased when Cain, after fouling off a four-seam fastball, drove another four-seamer from Busenitz out of the reach of center fielder Byron Buxton and off the wall to score Escobar and Merrifield and give the Royals a 5-4 lead that held up. Busenitz said the pitch to Cain got too much of the plate. Gimenez said it should have been a bit higher. (Cain s) a good high ball hitter, but we also felt like the (velocity) played well right there, Gimenez said. We just didn t get it up quite, quite high enough. I noticed Superman (Buxton) in center field was playing shallow, too, so had he been playing normal depth he definitely would have caught that. It s a tough break but (it s) baseball. Molitor declined to criticize the umpires saying, We just are not always going to agree with everything that they do. That was certainly the case Sunday. Molitor was so certain that Cain had ended the top of the seventh by swinging at strike three that he didn t even watch the replay. I hadn t seen it, I didn t want to see it, he said. I just saw it now as you guys walked in the room. And? I didn t look at it closely enough, he said. It was just kind of peripheral. Twins come up short in back-and-forth against Royals Associated Press September 3, 2017 MINNEAPOLIS Given a second chance after a check swing call went his way on a two-strike pitch, Lorenzo Cain gave the Kansas City Royals playoff hopes a lift. Cain hit a go-ahead, two-run triple in the seventh inning Sunday in a 5-4 win over the Minnesota Twins. Kansas City trailed 4-3 and had two on with two outs when Cain fouled off his first four pitches from rookie reliever Alan Busenitz (1-1). Cain took a fastball up, then checked his swing on an outside curveball in the dirt. First base umpire Mike Muchlinski ruled no swing. Every time when I check swing, I kind of drop my whole body into it, Cain said. I think it was the right call, and I appreciate him doing that because I needed that. Plate umpire Marty Foster ejected Minnesota manager Paul Molitor, who was still in the dugout. Molitor then came out to argue. Obviously I thought he went too far, Molitor said. Game on the line, I thought he went plenty far enough to get that call, but we didn t get it. But we didn t make pitches after that. Cain fouled off another pitch, then drove a fastball over Byron Buxton and off the center-field wall. Cain ran through third base coach Mike Jirschele s hold sign and tried for an inside-the-park home run, but was thrown out at the plate, with right fielder Max Kepler tossing to second baseman Brian Dozier for the relay to catcher Chris Gimenez. With Kansas City leading 3-2, Cain dropped Joe Mauer s one-out fly to short center. Buxton hit a two-run single with two outs. I wanted to come through for the guys, especially after dropping that ball in the outfield, Cain said. to come through with a big hit right there was much needed, not only for me but for this team, as well. Scott Alexander (4-3) pitched a scoreless inning in relief of Ian Kennedy. Alex Gordon, a four-time Gold Glove winner, allowed Eduardo Escobar s leadoff fly to the left-field warning track to deflect off his glove for an error that allowed Escobar to reach second. Brandon Maurer struck out Gimenez, then retired Ehire Adrianza on a flyout and Dozier on a popup for his 21st save in 25 chances. Minnesota, which leads Baltimore and the Los Angeles Angels by 1 game for the second AL wild card, lost for the second time in seven games. The Royals closed within 3 games of the Twins and are a half-game behind Seattle and Texas. 11

12 We had to get this one today, Royals manager Ned Yost said. It was a game that we absolutely had to have. It just shows the character of our team, flushing that game yesterday. Melky Cabrera hit a two-run homer for Kansas City, which rebounded from a 17-0 loss Saturday. Escobar hit his third homer in two days. Buxton had a scare last week after a bone bruise in his hand, but the speedy outfielder only missed one game and the layoff hasn t stopped his strong second-half run. Buxton had two hits, including his fifth triple, driving in two runs with a bloop in the sixth to give Minnesota a lead. He s 5 for 7 the last two games and is hitting.348 since Aug. 1. SECURING A STARTER After another disappointing outing by Dillon Gee on Friday, Minnesota start rookie right-hander Aaron Slegers on Wednesday at Tampa Bay. Slegers will be recalled from Triple-A Rochester to make his second major league appearance. He allowed two runs in 6 1/3 innings in doubleheader start as the 26th player against the Cleveland Indians on Aug. 17. TRAINER S ROOM Royals: Yost said LHP Danny Duffy (left elbow impingement) threw from 60 feet on Saturday. There s still no timetable on Duffy s return, and Yost said it s possible RHP Sam Gaviglio would start on Thursday in Duffy s turn. Twins: C Jason Castro was activated from the concussion DL. He had been out since Aug. 24 after taking multiple foul tips off his mask.... Molitor said 3B Miguel Sano (stress reaction in his left shin) is feeling better but won t make the upcoming trip. UP NEXT Royals: RHP Jakob Junis (6-2, 4.41 ERA) starts the opening game Monday in Detroit. Junis beat Tampa Bay in his last outing, allowing one run in 5 2/3 innings while striking out eight. The Tigers will start RHP Artie Lewicki, who will be making his major league debut. Twins: RHP Jose Berrios (12-6, 3.80) starts Monday at Tampa Bay. He pitched seven scoreless innings against the Chicago White Sox in his last outing. 12