Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Sunday, July 24, 2016 Five
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Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Sunday, July 24, 2016 Five-run seventh sends Twins to wild victory over Red Sox. Star Tribune (Neal lll) p. 1 Twins interim GM Antony working the phones. Star Tribune (Neal III) p. 2 Reusse: Carew bringing lots of heart to Hall of Fame this weekend. Star Tribune (Reusse) p. 3 Souhan: Being a hometown guy not an asset for interim GM Antony. Star Tribune (Souhan) p. 4 Minnesota Twins: Miguel Sano promises to fix pop-up problem. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 5 Twins’ Brandon Kintzler, right where he wants to be, saves win over Red Sox. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 7 Brandon Kintzler, Minnesota Twins hold off Boston Red Sox 2-1. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 8 Five-run 7th sparks Twins past Sox in wild one. MLB.com (Browne & Bollinger) p. 9 Suzuki has chin stitched up after foul tip. MLB.com (Bollinger) p. 11 This time, Twins' offense picks up pitchers. MLB.com (Bollinger) p. 11 Kintzler suddenly garnering plenty of interest. MLB.com (Bollinger) p. 12 Five-run seventh sends Twins to wild victory over Red Sox La Velle E. Neal lll | Star Tribune | July 24, 2016 BOSTON – As Twins manager Paul Molitor spoke in his office Saturday night, his players continued to yell excitedly in the clubhouse. The Twins’ 11-9 victory over the Red Sox took a little bit of everything. They blew a lead and botched some plays, but they had short memories. They got some breaks and made some breaks. They used clutching hitting, added on runs and outlasted a Boston team playing in one of the most intimidating venues in sports. So, yeah, they were fired up. “We stayed in there and fought until we were able to win the game,” said third baseman Miguel Sano, who gave up on a pop-up in the fourth that fell for a hit and committed a throwing error in the sixth but also crushed a homer in the eighth for the final run of the evening. It took a while, but sometimes good things take time. The Twins led 4-1, fell behind 6-4 and were down 8-5 when they hit Boston with a five-run seventh that put them in the lead for good. It took 4 hours, 11 minutes for this one to play out, a club record for a nine-inning game. “It felt like a record,” Molitor said. “One of those games where there’s a lot of trading punches and you just try to find a way to sustain. It’s easy to preach about trying to play nine innings, but sometimes you’re challenged to dig a little bit deeper.” For a while, Ricky Nolasco’s inability to pitch in Fenway Park — he was removed after two innings and has given up 15 earned runs in his last 5⅓ innings there — and Sano’s inability to play third base seemed destined to send the Twins crashing to their latest defeat. That changed in the seventh with the Twins down three. Max Kepler tripled in Sano when his drive was misplayed by Boston right fielder Michael Martinez. Vargas followed with a run-scoring double that left fielder Brock Holt missed while trying to make a sliding catch. The Twins took off from there. Eddie Rosario singled to center off reliever Tommy Layne. Vargas was waved home and appeared to be tagged out by catcher Sandy Leon for the final out. The Twins challenged, and replays showed Vargas twisted his body around the tag attempt and touched the plate safely with his right hand. The score was tied 8-8, and the inning continued. “I was thinking that [Leon] was going to look for the inside corner of the plate,” Vargas said. “And I just try to fake him and hit the top of the plate with my right hand.” Juan Centeno singled, and Byron Buxton walked to load the bases. Then Eduardo Nunez, facing Heath Hembree, stroked a 3-2 pitch to center for a two-run single and a 10-8 Twins lead. All five Twins runs in the inning came with two outs. David Ortiz’s RBI double in the bottom of the inning got Boston within 10-9, but Sano’s homer in the eighth restored the two-run lead. The Twins’ 19 hits were a season high, led by Rosario’s 4-for-4 performance. Sano finished 3-for-5. One night after wiggling out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam, Brandon Kintzler pitched a perfect ninth to earn his eighth save, capping a game that Molitor called “A Fenway Special.” “One of those crazy nights in Boston,” Molitor said. “You see a lot of games [like it] throughout the year. I don’t know how they do it 81 times a year Twins interim GM Antony working the phones La Velle E. Neal III | Star Tribune | July 24, 2016 BOSTON – Rob Antony has worked the phones all week as he attempts to make his first trade as Twins interim general manager. He has already made one as an assistant GM. When Terry Ryan was away from the team in 2014 while being treated for cancer, the Twins realized they needed a shortstop right when the Yankees designated Eduardo Nunez for assignment. Antony handled the negotiations and dealt minor league pitcher Miguel Sulbaran for Nunez, who earlier this month played in his first All-Star Game. “He was designated for assignment, so we had a time frame we were working under,” Antony said. “It took three to four days. “It’s kind of like the trade deadline. When we get down to the middle of next week, you’ll start having a time frame to work with and people will have to make decisions.” Antony is looking to make his mark before the Aug. 1 nonwaiver trade deadline hits. This time, it’s more urgent, as the Twins want to set themselves up to rebound from this clunker of a season. “We have had some good dialogue with teams,” Antony said. “I hope it comes to fruition.” Nunez, righthander Ervin Santana and relievers Fernando Abad, Brandon Kintzler and Ryan Pressly are among Twins players who could be coveted by contending teams. But because the Twins don’t have any top-tier trade targets, they aren’t viewed as a first-choice destination for deals. So they might have to wait for clubs to get back with them. Since Ryan was fired Monday, Antony heard from many teams the Twins might match up with. But he joked that many calls started out as congratulatory before moving on to the main reason for the •conversation. “They say, ‘Hey, I wish you good luck,’ ” Antony said. “Then they go, ‘While I have you on the phone, what are you looking to do?’ That’s a good thing, and I have made a lot of calls myself.” Outlook not good 2 There was a chance that the Twins would be able to unveil hard-throwing righthander Nick Burdi sometime in 2016, but it looks doubtful they will be able to get him back on any mound the rest of the season. Burdi has battled a bone bruise near his elbow since the end of spring training. He recovered and tried to pitch at Class AA Chattanooga, but managed only three innings before having more problems. After a period of rest, a magnetic resonance imaging exam and rehab, Burdi is not close to being able to pitch in a game. Burdi is currently doing rehabilitation work in Fort Myers, Fla., and the Twins hope he can begin a throwing program soon. But with just over a month left in the minor league season, the 2014 second-round draft pick might not be ready to pitch in games. “I think we will probably run out of time,” said Brad Steil, the Twins director of minor league operations. Etc. • Catcher Kurt Suzuki was knocked out of Saturday night’s game in the second inning when a foul ball by Dustin Pedroia hit Suzuki right on the chin area of his mask, drawing blood. Suzuki needed stitched to close the wound. • Byung Ho Park homered for the third consecutive game for Class AAA Rochester on Saturday in an 11-0 victory at Syracuse. Over his past nine games, Park has hit .375 with five homers and 10 RBI. Reusse: Carew bringing lots of heart to Hall of Fame this weekend Patrick Reusse | Star Tribune | July 24, 2016 The Twins and White Sox were playing on a night in the 1970s, and from a broadcast booth at Comiskey Park, Harry Caray noted an opponent’s arrival in the lefthanded batter’s box by bellowing: “With a name like Rod Carew, you have to be able to hit.” Thanks to action taken by Major League Baseball earlier this month, generations of baseball fans not yet born will be hearing a reference to the American League’s Rod Carew Batting Champion, and asking their home information robot what it knows about this man. “Rodney Cline Carew, born on a train in the Panama Canal Zone on October 1, 1945,” the robot will respond. “And he could hit.” The Silver Bat that goes to a major league batting champion offers a cleanness of grandeur that might make it the most impressive trophy in sport. It is a 34-inch bat that is sterling plated and weighs 56 ounces. It is embossed with the player’s autograph and his winning average for the year. Rod Carew has seven of these, all from his 12 seasons (1967-78) with the Twins.