Eventually one of these guys is going to hit for the cycle.
On Friday night it was Brian Dozier, who fell a double short. On Saturday it was Eddie Rosario, who needed a triple in the Minnesota Twins 8-4 win over the Chicago White Sox.
“Everybody tells me,” said Rosario. “But a triple is the most difficult hit in baseball. You have to hit in the good spot and run good. I didn’t think too much for that. I just tried to have a good at-bat.”
Rosario hit a single in his final at-bat. He also had an RBI single in the first inning, a homer in the third, an RBI double in the fourth and then the single in the ninth. His only out was a fielder’s choice grounder to the second baseman.
“I feel great,” he said. “When I got back home to Minnesota, I worked on my approach and my hitting to left field. I tried come back and play like I did last year. Play hard and swing at strikes.”
It wasn’t just Rosario that had it going in Chicago. Joe Mauer, hitting leadoff for the second day in a row, was 2-for-3 with two walks. Max Kepler drew three, and everyone but Kepler and Logan Morrison had a hit.
“The at-bats in the first inning were good,” said manager Paul Molitor. “We had a chance to actually get more than three, but it was nice to score first.”
The Twins were up 3-1 after the first inning, added another three on in the third and two more in the fourth.
“When you keep adding on,” added Molitor, “and you separate yourselves, as much as we’ve been having trouble holding on to leads, you can’t score enough.”
Lance Lynn gave up eight hits and two runs while striking seven out in six innings. After a rocky first inning in which he gave up a double and three singles, but only one run, he was able to get back on track and produce a start he can build off of.
“I was just pissed off because I had a real shitty month of April, which is part of it in this game,” he said after someone mentioned that he looked upset after the first inning. “I came in here, made sure I didn’t burn the place down and went back out in the second.”
Asked what his mindset was heading into the second inning, a 1-2-3 frame where he settled in and started to keep the Chicago offense at bay, he held his tongue.
“If I told you exactly what my mindset is I’d probably get fined,” he said “I just said, ‘That’s it. It’s done. Now we’ve just got to keep going.’ The offense was hot right out of the gate so I just had to keep attacking and get them in the dugout so they could do their job.”
He produced a 1-2-3 inning in the second and third, and only gave up one more run after the first.
“It feels like a monkey off my back, truthfully,” he said. “There’s work to do but the offense was great, defense was great. It was a good win. Happy to be out of the zero column with wins, that’s for sure.”
Slowly but surely it looks like the Twins are starting to dig themselves out of the hole they created for themselves at the end of April. Beating up on divisional opponents like the White Sox, Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers will be key to their success this season.
