Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Thursday, September 15, 2016 Brian Dozier hits 41st home run but late rally gives Detroit 9-6 victory over Twins. Star Tribune (Neal lll) p. 1 Reusse: Twins' new boss will need authority to clean house. Star Tribune (Reusse) p. 2 Joe Mauer sits again, but works out with hopes to return soon. Star Tribune (Neal lll) p. 3 Brian Dozier hits 41st homer, but Twins lose 9-6. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 4 Twins give September coaching call-up to Doug Mientkiewicz. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 5 Twins’ 2017 schedule features 13 of first 19 games at Target Field. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 6 Dozier belts 41st jack as Twins fall to Tigers. MLB.com (Beck and Bollinger) p. 7 Suzuki gets stitches to close chin laceration. MLB.com (Bollinger) p. 9 Twins will open 2017 season against Royals. MLB.com (Bollinger) p. 9 Hall of Fame Tour arriving in Minnesota. MLB.com (Sparacio) p. 9 Pelfrey returns to rotation as Tigers push for playoffs. MLB.com (Beery) p. 10 Wetmore: It’s a bad look for franchise if top execs don’t want Twins’ job. 1500 ESPN (Wetmore) p. 11 Suzuki hits 3 run homer, but Tigers rally for win over Twins. Associated Press p. 12 Multiple Candidates Have Declined To Interview With Twins. MLBTradeRumors (Todd and Adams) p. 13 Brian Dozier hits 41st home run but late rally gives Detroit 9-6 victory over Twins La Velle E. Neal III | Star Tribune | September 15, 2016 While the Twins inched closer toward 100 losses Wednesday, Brian Dozier continued his power surge. Not only does he have a chance to hit more home runs in a season than any second baseman in MLB history, but he has chased down Mark Trumbo of the Orioles in the race for the MLB home run lead. Dozier popped his 41st home run of the season during the Twins’ 9-6 loss to the Tigers, keeping him one homer behind Trumbo for the MLB lead. Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays isn’t far behind with 39. Chris Davis of the Orioles, Khris Davis of the Athletics, Nolan Arenado of the Rockies and Kris Bryant of the Cubs all sit at 37. Of course, the only Twin to win a home run title is Harmon Killebrew, who took five AL titles during his prolific power-hitting career. That doesn’t include one while with the Senators before the franchise’s move to Minnesota. Dozier has hit nine home runs in 13 games this month, an amazing run. The Elias Sports Bureau recognizes home runs hit while playing that position. In that case, Dozier has hit 39 home runs, with two coming as a designated hitter on July 31. The MLB record is 42 hit by Davey Johnson in 1973 — with one home run hit during a pinch-hit appearance. The Twins trailed 2-0 in the third inning and didn’t have a hit when they erupted for five fourth-inning runs off Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez. Dozier launched a first-pitch curveball into the seats in left. Kennys Vargas added an RBI single and Kurt Suzuki followed with a three-run homer to give the Twins a 5-2 lead. “My routine is when I face a pitcher, I watch what he did to me last time and then watch what he did to me his previous start,” Dozier said. “In my second at-bat, he did the same thing to me. In my first at-bat, he threw me a couple heaters, but then second at-bat, he threw me the get- me-over [fastball]. So I kind of sat on it. If he threw me a fastball, I was going to sit on it.” Twins starter Tyler Duffey had a good curveball, but couldn’t take advantage of it. Detroit scored four runs in the fourth inning to take a 6-5 lead, the final run coming with Duffey on the bench watching J.T. Chargois giving up an RBI single to Miguel Cabrera. In 3⅔ innings, Duffey was charged with six earned runs on eight hits and one walk with four strikeouts. He got two strikes on many Tigers batters, but they extended at-bats and Duffey couldn’t put them away. “From the first inning on, they were fouling off pitches,” Duffey said. Dozier’s RBI double in the fifth allowed Byron Buxton to score from first and tie the score at 6-6. Chargois and Pat Light held the score there, but Ryan Pressly hung a 1-2 slider in the seventh that Cabrera rocketed out to center for his 33rd homer of the season and a 7-6 lead for the Tigers. Detroit added two runs in the eighth, an inning that began with James McCann reaching on a passed ball while striking out and eventually scoring. Jose Igelsias scored the final run when he raced home from third on a wild pitch. That’s the way things are going for the Twins. They need to go 9-7 over their final 16 games to avoid losing 100 for the first time since 1982 (60- 102). Dozier’s home-run binge is the only thing worth watching right now. “We got back to even,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “Doz with another big hit. And you just have to fight your way through the last third. A couple guys did a nice job. Pressly threw OK, but he made a mistake with the breaking ball.” Reusse: Twins' new boss will need authority to clean house Patrick Reusse | Star Tribune | September 15, 2016 Fox Sports North was hosting its monthly Twins viewing party on Tuesday night at Station 280, a sports-heavy bar on Como Avenue in St. Paul. The sign out front made no mention of FSN’s presence, sticking with “Pull Tabs Here” and “Happy Hour 3-to-6 PM” as the extra incentives for customers to make a stop. Miguel Cabrera’s single in the bottom of the first inning drove in a run for the Tigers, cutting the Twins’ lead to 2-1. There was no groan of disappointment — no reaction at all — from the 80 or so people at tables, in booths or at Station 280’s long bar. A woman named Caroline, maybe 40, was sitting in a booth with a friend. “Are you here for the Twins viewing party?” she was asked. Caroline smiled and said: “I must be. I’m here.” So why aren’t you watching the game? “I have a sore neck; I can’t turn my head to look at a TV,” said Caroline, laughing at the spontaneity of the excuse she came up with for not monitoring the Twins’ action. Many of the TVs in the bar were turned to the Twins and Tigers; the others were showing an exhibition game between the United States and Finland in advance of hockey’s World Cup. There was an equal lack of attention being given to both. What there were among the customers were more hats and garments devoted to the Wild than the Twins, by a margin of several to zero. There was no surprise in this, not with Paul Molitor’s second Twins club having been buried at 0-9 by the end of its first home series on April 14. This turned into 25-54, before the appearance of a faint pulse in early July. The Twins were 21-13 from July 2 through Aug. 9. I was talking with Twins President Dave St. Peter the next night, when Brian Dozier led off with a home run against Houston’s Dallas Keuchel. Steady rain came with the Twins leading 5-0 in the third inning and wiped out everything. 2 Earlier, St. Peter offered this slight optimism: “When talking about selling [season] tickets for next season, I will say that the person we hire to lead our baseball operation isn’t going to [be what moves] the needle,” he said. “I think how we play the last two months, if we can continue to provide some hope for 2017 … that’s far more important for ticket renewals.” The Twins are 8-24 since then, including a hope--stifling, 13-game losing streak. The Twins appeal for season-ticket renewals is now twofold: One, we’ll let you wait until the end of October to make a payment, perchance you will be inspired by our choice as the leader of baseball operations. Two, please watch the video included in the appeal where our one star, Dozier, and Molitor are asking you not to believe your lying eyes from this season. The mystery is CEO Jim Pohlad’s commitment to Molitor, as if he carries a cache of loyalty with the Twins’ ever-diminishing audience. Molitor has tremendous credibility as a player, but as a manager? Forget the bad pitching, the yoke around this club’s neck for six years. The fact the Twins have spent the entire season featuring lousy fielding, asinine base running and stagnation with a hitter such as Miguel Sano (the most important player in the organization) is a troubling reflection on Molitor and his coaches. The endless blunders the manager has overseen far outweigh any positives of 2015. I don’t know how a new baseball boss could take an objective look at the way the Twins have been managed and coached in 2016 without saying to Pohlad: “I have to fire the whole bunch.” Still, I don’t buy being stuck with a manager as the reason former Red Sox GM Ben Cherington declined an interview.