In an otherwise disaster of a game on Tuesday — the Twins bullpen surrendered seven runs in the ninth to lose 10-3 to the Kansas City Royals — second baseman Brian Dozier hit a home run in his fifth straight game to give him 39 on the season.
That ties the American League record for most home runs in a single season by a second baseman. It also was the third time in Twins history that a player has hit home runs in five straight games. The others to do it were Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, who did it three times (how about that?) and Marty Cordova, the 1995 Rookie of the Year. The record for consecutive games with a home run is eight, which was first set by Dale Long of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1956 and later tied by Don Mattingly of the New York Yankees in 1987 and Ken Griffey Jr. of the Seattle Mariners in 1993.
Extra innings…
-With the loss, the Twins fell to 51-88.
-MLB Trade Rumors, citing a report by Jon Morosi of the MLB Network, says that Alex Anthopoulos, the former general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, is a “confirmed candidate” for the Twins’ president of baseball operations. More from MLB Trade Rumors:
The 39-year-old Anthopoulos is best known for his turn as the GM of the Blue Jays from late 2009 through 2015. After putting together a postseason club last year — the organization’s first berth (since) 1993 — he ended up parting ways with the club in a surprising series of events.
Since that time, Anthopoulos has been working for the Dodgers as a Vice President, joining several other prominent former top baseball operations personnel in the Los Angeles front office. At the time of his hiring, Anthopoulos expressed interest in a long-term gig there — while also noting that he’d be intrigued by the idea of running his own shop again.
Possible GM hires for the Twins include Jason McLeod, senior vice president of scouting and player development for the Chicago Cubs, or Ben Cherington, the former Boston Red Sox GM, according to Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe.