Losing streak? What losing streak?
The Twins are quickly making the baseball world forget their horrible start after they knocked off the Milwaukee Brewers in a rain-shortened game on Monday, extending the team’s winning streak to four games.
After wait of 2:06, Twins declared winner, 7-4 over Brewers, after 6 innings due to rain. First rain-shortened game in Target Field history.
— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) April 19, 2016
And just like the series with the Angels, the Twins got plenty of hits and enough pitching to beat the Brewers, 7-4. Perhaps most important: Miguel Sano, who hit 18 home runs in 80 games last year as a rookie, hit his first home run of 2016, a no-doubt-about-it special that rocketed out of the ballpark to tie the game.
Sano sends a laser into the bullpen on 3-2 pitch. That's his first homer of the year. Finally.
1-1 game
— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) April 19, 2016
That’s great news for Sano, who, like the rest of the team, got off to a slow start. Another slow starter and another player who the Twins expect big things from this year — Byung Ho Park — hit his third home run of the season. Eduardo Nunez, Brian Dozier and Oswaldo Arcia also had two hits apiece on Monday.
Starting pitcher Phil Hughes gave up three earned runs over six innings with two uncharacteristic walks and six strikeouts.
Extra innings…
Former manager Ron Gardenhire, who won six division titles with the Twins but was let go after the 2014 season, has found a job again with his old team.
nice to see my guy back whit the twins organization he is a great baseball man good for the game buddy pic.twitter.com/s2dmrgxQfR
— Ozzie Guillen FND (@OzzieGuillen) April 19, 2016
Gardenhire has been hired as a special assistant to General Manager Terry Ryan, the team announced Monday. He also will serve as a roving instructor and evaluator in the minor leagues and also will scout major league teams, according to MLB.com.
Gardenhire won more than 1,000 games with the Twins. He also was the American League manager of the year in 2010 and a five-time runner-up for the same award. His ties to the Twins date to 1987 when he finished his playing career at Triple-A Portland.
Surprisingly, given his success with the Twins, Gardenhire could not find a big league managing job after the 2014 season. He interviewed for jobs with the San Diego Padres and Washington Nationals, but those jobs went to Andy Green and Dusty Baker.
Gardy: "I've been fishing. I've been fishing a lot."
— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) April 18, 2016
Gardy: "Have I figured sabermetrics out? Yeah, score one more run than the other guys."
— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) April 18, 2016