May 24, 2019

Did I say trade Miguel Sano? On second thought…

A fan’s frustrations will sometimes get the best of him. That was me, earlier in the year, after I learned that slugger Miguel Sano was injured and would miss the first part of the season. That led me to suggest that the Twins trade Sano because he’s likely to get hurt again and be slow to recover from those injuries.

Well, there’s nothing slow about the 2019 Minnesota Twins.

Since rejoining the team, Sano, like Byron Buxton, appears to have turned a corner and is now hitting home runs like the rest of the lineup is. Sano hit two of the Twins’ eight home runs on Thursday — the second time this season that the Twins have mashed eight dingers in a game — and clobbered the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 16-7, to complete the three-game sweep.

Eight home runs in a game ties a Twins record set in August 1963.

Other Twins hitting home runs on Thursday: Jonathan Schoop, who also went deep twice, C.J. Cron, Jorge Polanco, Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario, who now leads the team with 14. Kepler had three hits, Cron had five hits and Rosie also had three hits. If you play the Twins, here’s what you have to contend with, according to MLB.com.

The Twins have hit a Major League-best 98 homers through their first 49 games, putting them on pace for 324 in the season, which would shatter the single-season record of 266 dingers set by the Yankees last year.

Handed a huge lead, Martin Perez, who didn’t have his best outing, improved to 7-1 with a 2.95 ERA. The Twins now fly home to face the Chicago White Sox. Jose Berrios gets the ball.

Extra innings…

-The Twins scored 16 runs on 17 hits.

-Thursday’s game was more of a blowout than the final score would suggest. Going into the bottom of the ninth inning, the Twins were leading 16-2, but reliever, Austin Adams, ran into trouble and served up two home runs, including a grand slam.

-The Twins have the best record in baseball at 33-16. They are 15-8 at home, 18-8 on the road and 8-2 in their last 10 games.

-The Twins last swept the Angels in Anaheim in 1996.

COMMENTS

Hi, I’m Rolf Boone, Twins fan.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.