The Minnesota Twins not only avoided a hangover from Thursday night’s walk-off loss to the Chicago White Sox, but they powered past the Mighty Whities — as former manager Ron Gardenhire used to call them — with former Sox manager Ozzie Gillen in the building, 6-4.
“He’s my father,” said Eduardo Escobar, a former White Sox player who is not biologically related to Guillen. “I’ve known Ozzie for a long time. Coming here, I didn’t play every day but Ozzie said I should play every day. But I’ve known Ozzie for a long time.”
Escobar is making a case for himself to be an everyday player. Once thought of as strictly a utility player, he is hitting .316/.367/.643 with 14 doubles and six home runs, including two on Friday night.
“You know, it’s a lot of fun,” he said, beaming. “I’m not a home run hitter, you know. When I come to home plate, I’m looking for a quality at-bat. Swing hard at the ball. But I don’t come to home plate thinking about home runs.
“I’m surprised with two homers today. But I did it last year, too. I’m so happy. If you hit two home runs, it’s a good day.”
Brian Dozier has already established himself as an everyday player, but after going 3-for-5 with a homer, a triple and a single — but absent a double.
“When he was at home plate, I told [Ehire] Adrianza, if Dozier singles up the middle, he’s going to run hard to second base,” said Escobar in jest. “Whatever it takes.”
“I really wasn’t thinking too much about it, but [Eddie] Rosario came up to me as I’m going on deck and says, ‘Hey are you going to hit a double?’,” said Dozier, who flew out to center. “It wasn’t carrying to right, that last one. So yeah, I choked.”
Manager Paul Molitor didn’t commit to hitting Dozier second going forward, but it could be a possibility if Byron Buxton hits well once he returns from injury. Otherwise, there isn’t a prototypical leadoff man on the roster. Joe Mauer was 1-for-5 and is more of a No. 2 or 3 hitter.
“He had a good night,” said Molitor. “Just can’t say if it has anything to do with the switch. Sometimes it might take pressure off but he a good night. The triple, the homer and got another hit. Just trying to get the offense flowing a little bit. We’ll see how we go moving forward.”
“He said he wanted to experiment with something, flip-flop me and Joe,” said Dozier. “It could be completely different tomorrow, but it worked out, we won. I’ll hit anywhere.”
With all the run support, Jose Berrios fought through a rocky start and finished strong with a 1-2-3 sixth inning.
“In the sixth inning, that 1-2-3 felt very good,” said Berrios. “I feel like I gave my team the chance to keep fighting and win big games, so that’s what happened.”
“I thought he was throwing well enough,” said Molitor when asked about sending Berrios out for the sixth to face Daniel Palka, Leury Garcia and Tim Anderson, the No. 6 through 8 hitters.
“Just kind of how it was set up pitch-wise. He was fresh after the short start, and we were at a good place in the lineup. I talked to him going out there, they were three big outs if he could get them for us — to go out and be aggressive. And it was one of his best innings.”
The Twins have proven they can bounce back after a tough loss. Now they have to show that they can string some wins together and make up lost ground.
