The Minnesota Twins enter the All-Star Break having won seven of their last 10 games, including two series wins over the AL-leading Texas Rangers.
Brian Dozier, Kennys Vargas, Max Kepler and Eduardo Escobar all had home runs, Kepler’s was a grand slam, and the Twins were 7-of-15 with runners in scoring position in their 15-5 blowout of the Rangers.
“The young guys have injected some life,” manager Paul Molitor told the Star Tribune. “We always talk about trusting the process, but when you get results, win games, you understand how enjoyable it is. I’d like to think these guys are hungry to win as many games as we can.”
Tommy Milone, pitching as an expectant first-time father, went 5.0 innings and picked up the win.
“I really haven’t felt too nervous or overthought anything, at least right now,” Milone told the Pioneer Press. “Maybe when she comes out and it becomes really real, maybe that’s when it will start happening. As of right now, when I’m here I don’t think about it much. I just think about what I need to do here.”
The Twins enter the All-Star break with a 32-56 record, the second-most first-half losses in franchise history and the fourth-worst winning percentage. The Twins also are baseball’s highest-scoring team over the past three weeks, however, and they closed out the season series with Texas with five wins in seven games, outscoring the Rangers 62-30 during that time.
“It’s good. We just need to think about how things have gone, what we’ve been doing,” Molitor told the Star Tribune. “Regroup over the break and come back and realize we still have a lot of baseball let to play.
“And hopefully, play well.”
[Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, The Associated Press]
