Minnesota Twins Daily Clips

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Pregame: Duffey 2.0 starts as Twins face Cleveland. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 1

Saturday's Twins-Cleveland game recap. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 2

The Pohlad family, owners of the Minnesota Twins, is building up around Target Field. Star Tribune (Kaszuba) p. 2

Postgame: Thoughts on May, Berrios, Rosario. Star Tribune (Kaszuba) p. 4

Twins' Rosario throwing out runners regularly. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 4

Hartman: Twins getting little bang for their biggest bucks. Star Tribune (Hartman) p. 5

Duffey makes amends, helps Twins top Cleveland 4-1. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 6

Plouffe getting too familiar with twin killings. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 7

Twins' Tyler Duffey pitches gem, beats Cleveland 4-1. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 9

Twinsights: Breaking down Twins’ 1-hit history after two in two weeks. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 10

Twinsights: Innings could become concern for Jose Berrios, Terry Ryan says. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 10

Postgame Twinsights: Trevor May heads back to the bullpen. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 11

Milone returns from DL for finale vs. Indians. MLB.com (Helfand) p. 12

Eddie Rosario swats pitch near his chin for homer, announces himself as King of the Bad-Ball Hitters. MLB.com (Landers) p. 12

Twins option Tonkin to make room for Milone. MLB.com (Helfand) p. 12

After tough debut, redemption for Duffey in win. MLB.com (Helfand) p. 13

Duffey earns first MLB win as Twins top Tribe. MLB.com (Bastian & Helfand) p. 14

More shuffling: Duffey to start again, May back to ‘pen, Tonkin out. 1500espn.com (Wetmore) p. 15

Duffey allows just 1 hit through 6 innings, Twins top Indians. Associated Press p. 15

Pregame: Duffey 2.0 starts as Twins face Cleveland

La Velle E. Neal III | Star Tribune | August 15, 2015

Two innings is not enough to judge Tyler Duffey on. And he gets a chance to show he's more than what was seen in Toronto on Aug. 5.

Paul Molitor hopes that Duffey can pitch the way he did at Class AAA Rochester, where he posted a 2.53 ERA.

``As much as you try to prepare a guy for that - the game is the same and the distances are the same and the strike zone is still the same - they have a tendency to try to do more that what got them here,'' Molitor said. ``I think he learned from that.''

After basically having a bullpen game on Friday, the Twins could use some innings from Duffey tonight. If not, the Twins could in big trouble as their series in New York against the Yankees is right around the corner.

Brian Dozier is back in the starting lineup after getting Friday off. Dozier is still hitting for power but is slumping, average wise. He batted .206 last month and is batting .184 in August. After destroying pitches and landing in the All-Star Game, Dozier is getting a steady diet of off-speed pitches and said he's trying to adjust. He's not staying on the ball like he knows he can.

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Saturday’s Twins-Cleveland game recap

La Velle E. Neal III | Star Tribune | August 15, 2015

IMPACT PLAYER

Tyler Duffey, Twins

The rookie righthander threw six hitless innings en route to his first major league victory in his second appearance.

BY THE NUMBERS

2: Times this season the Twins have hit back-to-back homers in a game.

8: Groundball outs induced by Duffey,

19: Batters Duffey faced before giving up a hit.

ON DECK

Twins lefthander Tommy Milone will be activated from the disabled list on Sunday to face the Indians, a team he is 1-1 with 1.99 ERA against in four career starts. Carlos Carrasco will start for Cleveland.

The Pohlad family, owners of the Minnesota Twins, is building up around Target Field

Mike Kaszuba | Star Tribune | August 15, 2015

On a cold Wednesday in April of last year, the Minnesota Twins lost an otherwise forgettable game to the Los Angeles Dodgers at Target Field. But elsewhere the Pohlad family, the team’s owners, and their development company were doing much better.

The team and United Properties on that day signed a series of complex agreements for Target Field Station, a project next to Target Field that is part transit station, part parking ramp and part public gathering space. It gave the Pohlads naming rights, access to hundreds of parking spaces and even the ability to erect a large video board — all on public property.

It was another sign that, in the five years since the publicly subsidized Target Field opened, the Pohlads have been doing at least as well outside the stadium as their team has been doing in it.

Though United Properties seemed slow to realize the ballpark’s ability to launch nearby development, the company has since made up for lost time. United Properties has bought the adjoining Ford Center office building, inserted the Pohlad-owned radio station into it and lured the bone-marrow transplant nonprofit Be the Match into a new building going up across the street. It also announced plans for a tall office building next to Target Field Station and has joined in an attempt to build a soccer stadium just down the street.

The team also has an option to develop a 3.2-acre land parcel across from Target Field. Under a series of agreements with the Minnesota Ballpark Authority, the public entity that owns the ballpark and the parcel, the option extends until 2025 but the Twins have not made rent or option payments on the property because of other contributions the team has made.

“They were not active in this area — not at all,” said Kit Richardson, a principal at Schafer Richardson, another commercial development company that has been active near Target Field. “I’m guessing it was the ballpark” that changed things.

Schafer Richardson originally owned the 11-story Ford Center, and Richardson said the Twins initially wanted to lease offices in the building as Target Field was being built. “At some point, they just said, ‘No, we’d like to just buy the building,’ ” said Richardson. The market value of the Ford Center has risen to $28 million since construction started on the baseball stadium.

United Properties was largely a suburban developer when Target Field was being built, and United Properties President Frank Dutke said it was Jim Pohlad — the Twins’ chief executive and United Properties’ board chairman — who instructed the company to buy the Ford Center.

“I thought it was a cool building,” said Pohlad.

But Pohlad said he never pushed for United Properties to more aggressively develop near Target Field, and left that decision to others. “I’m not that savvy,” he said. “There’s never a point where I start doing that, just like I don’t sit around and [say] it’s time to bring [Twins rookie] Miguel Sano up to the major leagues.”

But soon, said Dutke, United Properties did become more active near Target Field. David St. Peter, the Twins president, said Hennepin County even asked the team to send Jerry Bell, the team’s stadium negotiator, to the Legislature to help obtain state money for the Target Field Station

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project.

The interests of the Twins and United Properties at times have seemed joined. St. Peter, who is in charge of operating the baseball team, took a lead in negotiations with Hennepin County regarding Target Field Station. The project, said St. Peter, “brought me [in] a little deeper than normally I would be.”

“We obviously have a sister company. [It’s] only natural that we work together,” said St. Peter, who said the arrangement did not give United Properties a competitive advantage in developing Target Field Station.

The team and United Properties have increasingly blended their varying interests, including the Pohlads’ attempt to help bring a Major League Soccer team to Minnesota. When the U.S. won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in early July, the final game was shown on the Twins’ jumbo screen at Target Field Station. The Pohlads’ radio station, 96.3 KTWN-FM, featured a picture of the event on its website, saying “hundreds of soccer fans” attended and “the plaza [was] packed with devotees.”

More than $81 million in public money went into the Target Field Station project, with more than $30 million coming from Hennepin County, which had already spent $350 million to help build Target Field.

Debra Brisk, an assistant county administrator, said the Pohlads were not given anything out of the ordinary. “I don’t think this is anything abnormal,” Brisk said of the county’s relationship with the Pohlads. “They enjoy sitting with us and knowing where we’re heading, just as much as we enjoy hearing where they’re heading.”

That view is shared by Dan Kenney, a former county official and now executive director of the Minnesota Ballpark Authority. Kenney said that, with the right amount of public infrastructure improvements at Target Field, he was optimistic development would follow and “confident that United Properties would be involved.”

While Target Field Station was widely praised as a forward-thinking mass transit hub for the public, it was also good for the Twins and United Properties.

Though the county owns a 289-vehicle underground parking ramp at the site, the team and United Properties have a “stall rights” option to lease most of them and get a “slight discount” if they enter into a long-term lease. United Properties, at one point, paid an additional $240,000 to have the county make the parking ramp bigger.

County officials said United Properties also paid for permission to have a large “Target Field Station” sign anchored to the county’s Hennepin Energy Recovery Center, a large county-owned waste-to-energy plant next to the transit project.

The project in addition gave United Properties the development rights to a small adjacent parcel, with the company paying the county $1.5 million upfront plus $15 per square foot if a new building exceeded 100,000 square feet. In November, the company announced plans for a 10-story building on the site.

Though others submitted proposals for Target Field Station, United Properties and the county seemed destined to work together on the project.

Don Keefe of Keefe Co. Parking, a Twin Cities parking ramp management company, said he expressed interest in the project but quickly realized it was too complex for him. “I’m not surprised United went in,” he said. “I’m a small-business guy.”

While Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson complained that the project became bloated, Peter McLaughlin, the longtime county commissioner who specializes in transit issues, said it was a success because it lured other developers to build tax-generating projects nearby.

But McLaughlin said he was surprised that only United Properties submitted a bid that shared the county’s more elaborate vision for Target Field Station. “I think that the Pohlad family had made a significant investment in this corner” of the city, and wanted to do more, he said.

Target Field Station is helping United Properties indirectly in other ways. When Be the Match, the organ transplant nonprofit, wanted a more visible location, it chose United Properties as its developer and a site a half-block from Target Field. The company wanted a location “that young people would find attractive,” Michael Boo, the nonprofit’s chief strategy officer, said of the 1,000 employees who will move into the building in November.

Be the Match had its own ties to the team. Twins Hall of Famer Rod Carew became an early spokesman for the nonprofit, and Boo said he hoped Be the Match would work with the baseball team “into the future.”

Grady Hamilton of Trammell Crow, another large developer that just finished a project near Target Field, said his company never felt that United Properties had a competitive advantage in the area. He said Trammell Crow did not compete to develop Target Field Station because “it felt to us [that] was very likely a better fit for” United Properties.

When the Twins hosted baseball’s All-Star Game last summer, Trammell Crow was finishing Junction Flats, a 182-unit apartment complex near the ballpark. Hamilton, a principal with the company, confirmed that Trammell Crow recently sold Junction Flats for $49 million — just five years after the site had a market value of $835,000.

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Hamilton said he was always “enthusiastic” about Trammell Crow’s ability to develop near Target Field. “We never felt shut [out],” he said.

Postgame: Thoughts on May, Berrios, Rosario

La Velle E. Neal III | Star Tribune | August 15, 2015

Here are three thoughts following the Twins' 4-1 victory over Cleveland:

MAY BACK TO BULLPEN: After the game, Twins manager Paul Molitor said that Tyler Duffey had earned another start and will face the Orioles on Thursday in Baltimore. As for Trevor May, he's headed back to the bullpen. That will cause some of you to grumble. I can see where the Twins are coming from with this. If their bullpen was performing better, then May might have been allowed to remain in the rotation until Phil Hughes returns from the disabled list. But May has done a good job in relief. Molitor needs arms he can rely on out there. "He really has (become valuable in the pen),'' Molitor said. "Between his stuff and how he handles himself out there, it looks like he's supposed to be out there in tha t time of the game. That's the best thing you can say.''

ABOUT BERRIOS: I wasn't at the park on Friday, and I know his final line was shaky, but I would have started Jose Berrios against Cleveland. I know the Twins have to worry about burning options and things like that, but every game counts at this point of the season, and Berrios was the best thing going at Class AAA Rochester. For six innings, it looked like a bad move as Berrios had a no-hitter. But he fell apart in the seventh. As it turned out, the Twins weren't hitting Corey Kluber anyway, so they could have had Johan Santana step out of a time machine and still would have lost. I guess we'll have to wait until September to see him -- but then he'll be on an innings watch.

ROSARIO CAN HIT ANY PITCH: Molitor said this before the game: "He can hit some bad balls, that's one thing to his advantage. Guys expand their strike zones but he still finds a way to do that.'' He was talking about Eddie Rosario, who went out on Saturday and promptly hit a eye-level pitch into the seats for a home run. ESPN tweeted a photo of a batter in the batter's box and the location of the pitch that Rosario hit. The dot was in off the plate, even with the top of his head. It was a ridiculous home run, but Rosario can do that.

Twins’ Rosario throwing out runners regularly

La Velle E. Neal III | Star Tribune | August 15, 2015

Eddie Rosario is making opponents pay for attempting to advance bases on his watch.

In only 81 games with the Twins, Rosario has amassed 10 outfield assists. That ties him for sixth-most in baseball. He had four assists in three games this past week. One of his best came on Friday when he threw out Cleveland’s Lonnie Chisenhall as he tried to tag and score. Rosario was nearly flat-footed as he launched a throw from the left field foul line.

“[That] play, I thought I was not going to get the out,” Rosario said. “I was too far. I was surprised.”

Twins manager Paul Molitor said opponents will continue to take extra bases to put pressure on a defense to execute throws. But they will have to factor in Rosario’s capabilities.

“People are learning that you have to be a little careful,” Molitor said. “You have to consider the fact that this guy is showing strength and accuracy and release.”

How long will it take before word spreads about Sherriff Rosario? General Manager Terry Ryan pointed out that teams don’t take infield practice before games like they used to, which makes it hard for scouts to watch players as they work on their throwing.

“So we will keep it a secret,” Ryan said.

Rosario also has held his own at the plate. His eight triples lead all big-league rookies. His .449 slugging percentage is third-best on the team, and his 29 extra-base hits, including a homer in Saturday’a 4-1 victory over Cleveland, are only two fewer than Joe Mauer despite having played in 33 fewer games.

Dozier tries to adjust

A power spree inevitably leads to opponents making adjustments, and Brian Dozier has seen a decrease in the number of fastballs thrown to him.

So now it’s time for Dozier, who belted 19 home runs before the All-Star break, to adjust.

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He entered Saturday batting .206 with five home runs and nine RBI since the break. He posted an .841 on base-plus-slugging percentage before the break, but it had been .686 since.

Back in the lineup Saturday after sitting out Friday, Dozier hit a two-run homer in the ninth.

Dozier has been pulling off some pitches and has been working to stay mechanically sound.

“I’m seeing more offspeed stuff and I’m trying to stay on it,” he said. “I should be simplifying everything, staying square and getting the foot down. That’s kind of where I’m at right now.”

Another challenge

The Twins are supporting the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge again.

The activity became a sensation last year as supporters of the fight to end ALS dumped buckets of ice on their heads and filmed it to raise awareness about the disease as well as funds.

The Twins got involved last season and did it again on Saturday as they accepted a challenge by the San Francisco Giants. The entire team, Ryan and other club officials stood in the right field corner as buckets of ice water were dropped on them by club employees.

After accepting the challenge, the Twins challenged the Texas Rangers, the participants in the upcoming RBI World Series (an international tournament for inner city teams) and team owner Jim Pohlad.

Etc.

• After the game, the Twins activated lefthander Tommy Milone off the 15-day disabled list and sent righthander Michael Tonkin back to Class AAA Rochester. Tonkin had just been recalled by the Twins on Friday.

• Ryan said it’s still too early to determine if the epidural righthander Phil Hughes received for his sore back has helped. Ryan remains hopeful Hughes will be ready to pitch when he is eligible to come off the DL Aug. 25.

Hartman: Twins getting little bang for their biggest bucks

Sid Hartman | Star Tribune | August 15, 2015

It’s amazing to think that the Twins are just one game under .500 and 3½ games out of the American League wild card heading into Saturday’s game when four of their five highest-paid players — Joe Mauer, Phil Hughes, Ervin Santana and Ricky Nolasco — have underperformed so greatly.

Imagine if Santana and Nolasco, who over the term of their contracts are being paid a total of $104 million, were pitching like they were with their previous clubs, the Twins would not only lead the wild card but also have a chance at the division title.

Also, considering Mauer, Hughes, Santana and Nolasco are being paid a combined $57.7 million this season, which is around 55 percent of the team’s total payroll, you have to believe the Twins front office was expecting a lot more production from their highest-paid players.

Hughes, who went on the disabled list this past week, has given up more hits and home runs than any pitcher in the American League and his 4.49 ERA is a far cry from last season’s tremendous 16-10 record and 3.52 ERA. The worrying part for the Twins is that this season looks more like the Hughes who pitched for the Yankees and posted a 4.53 ERA and gave up more than 20 homers in a season three times from 2007 to ’13.

Nolasco, though, is an even worse situation — and he might be the worst contract the Twins have ever signed. His four-year, $49 million deal doesn’t expire until 2017 and in the two years he has been here he has pitched only 191⅔ innings and has a 5.40 ERA after giving up only 247 hits and 48 walks over that time.

Nolasco’s track record before coming to the Twins wasn’t stellar; he had a career 4.37 ERA in eight years in the National League, but his 2013 season, when he posted a combined 3.70 ERA over 199⅓ innings with 165 strikeouts between stints with the Marlins and the Dodgers, encouraged the Twins enough to make him their highest-paid free agent ever.

Of course, Nolasco’s record contract was broken when the Twins signed Santana to his four-year, $55 million deal this past offseason. Santana’s performance issues began before the season even started when he was suspended for 82 games after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs, and since he has come back the performance hasn’t been great.

Through his first eight starts, Santana has posted just 28 strikeouts over 47⅔ innings and has a 5.66 ERA, which would rank as the second-worst mark of his career if it continues.

Now that both Hughes and Nolasco are on the disabled list, and Nolasco’s season appears to be over, there’s no doubt that Santana is going to

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have to become at least the pitcher he was over the past two seasons if the Twins are going to have any chance to stay in contention.

Mauer’s struggles continue

Mauer’s season has had tremendous ups and downs, but he entered Saturday at the worst batting average of his career at .269, though his eight home runs and 51 RBI totals make it look like he will improve drastically over last season in that department, when he hit .277 with just 55 RBI and four homers all year.

Mauer’s eight-year, $184 million deal makes him the 11th-highest paid player in baseball. But over the past two seasons at first base, Mauer simply hasn’t been himself, hitting .273 over that time with 102 walks and 171 strikeouts.

Who knows if he can ever become the player he was before he suffered some bad concussion injuries that set him back, but it’s possible to imagine that his days of hitting No. 3 in the order won’t last very much longer if he can’t turn it around.

But maybe a miracle can still happen and Santana and Nolasco can regain their top form before the end of the season and still be of some help to the club.

Hicks’ drastic turnaround

While there have been some difficulties with the highest-paid Twins, one great story has been the strong play of former first-round pick Aaron Hicks, who for a while looked like he might be a bust.

The Twins had enough faith in Hicks that they traded away Denard Spanand Ben Revere after the 2012 season and handed him the center field position. But Hicks struggled mightily and hit only .201 over the past two years.

He played in 28 games this season before getting hurt and sent to Class AAA Rochester, and in that time he hit .247 with one homer, two RBI and nine runs scored.

But since being recalled in July, Hicks has been amazing. Over 36 games he hit .311 with six homers, 22 RBI, 23 runs scored and 12 walks compared to 21 strikeouts. He also had five doubles and two triples in that time and has seemed to put his more difficult seasons behind him.

Hicks was a career .275 hitter with a .379 on-base percentage in the minor leagues, and the Twins always hoped he would find a way to translate that to the major leagues. After eight seasons of waiting, it has finally happened. And talking about salaries, at $408,060 Hicks is the Twins lowest-paid outfielder.

Duffey makes amends, helps Twins top Cleveland 4-1

La Velle E. Neal III | Star Tribune | August 16, 2015

Maybe it was first-game jitters. Maybe it was the lineup he was facing. Or the country he was in.

Tyler Duffey’s major league debut Aug. 5 in Toronto was an abomination that lasted two innings. He was sent back to the minors after the six-run outing, uncertain when he would get another chance.

Injuries have put the Twins rotation in flux, and Duffey was needed again Saturday. And he promptly showed that he was not the pitcher who was mashed in Canada.

Duffey held Cleveland hitless his first trip through the order. And his second time, too. In fact, Francisco Lindor’s double with one out in the sixth — right about the point where one starts to wonder about a no-no — was the Indians’ first and only hit off Duffey in the Twins’ 4-1 victory.

“Anyone who says they aren’t aware [of a no-hitter] isn’t paying attention to the game or they don’t want to see it,” said Duffey, who received polite applause from the announced crowd of 30,601 at Target Field after Lindor’s hit.

“You end up playing games in your head to see how long you can keep it going. You are not trying to go out there and throw a no-hitter. If it happens, it happens.”

Duffey gave up that one hit and five walks over six innings while striking out seven. He induced nine groundball outs and two pop-ups to Trevor Plouffe. For his efforts, Duffey got to remain in the majors; the Twins named him the starter for Thursday’s game in Baltimore.

After facing a powerful Toronto lineup in his debut, Duffey, 24, faced an Indians team that began the night 12th in runs scored in the American League and was without injured All-Star second baseman Jason Kipnis.

It seemed like a step down in class, but Duffey still had to execute. His curveball clicked all night. He was able to throw it for strikes then get hitters to chase the pitch as it tumbled toward the dirt.

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“That completely changes the game,” said Duffey, who threw 94 pitches, 28 of them curveballs. “They can’t just look for fastball. They have to look for that too. I gave us a chance to win, that’s all I can do.”

After Lindor doubled in the sixth, Duffey issued a two-out walk to Carlos Santana but got Giovanny Urshela to ground out to short to end the inning.

The Twins backed Duffey with three home runs. Eddie Rosario showed he can be a bad-ball hitter in the fifth when he belted an eye-high fastball from Josh Tomlin to right for a 401-foot home run and the first run of the game.

“I’m not sure how he hit that ball,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “He swings at enough of them. I guess the odds were that he was going to run into one.”

Chris Herrmann followed with his own shot to right to give the Twins a 2-0 lead. It was only the second time this season the Twins have hit back-to-back home runs. Brian Dozier made it 4-0 with a two-run homer in the eighth.

The bullpen protected the lead. Casey Fien pitched the seventh, Kevin Jepsen the eighth. Glen Perkins gave up a pair of doubles in the ninth as Cleveland finally scored.

And Duffey had the ball from his first major league victory in his stall as he spoke with reporters after the game.

“To respond after a really tough first outing — we all know what happened in Toronto — he came back and he settled in early,” Molitor said. “And to put up the zeros to give us a chance was really huge for us.”

Plouffe getting too familiar with twin killings

Mike Berardino | Pioneer Press | August 15, 2015

Trevor Plouffe had gone 11 games without grounding into a double play before it happened again Friday night.

That it wiped out the Twins' only baserunner of the night -- other than Joe Mauer's solo homer -- only made Plouffe's majors-leading 22nd double play of the year that much more painful.

While Plouffe leads Oakland's slow-footed Billy Butler by three for the majors' lead in this dubious category, he's also 10 ahead of his career high and just six shy of Harmon Killebrew's Twins franchise record, set in 1970.

Mauer, tied for fourth in the American League with 17 double-play grounders, has a shot at his personal high of 24, set in 2006.

"They can be rally killers, we all know that," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "You get 27 outs and you're giving up two at a time. It's not good, but it's part of the game."

The Twins entered Saturday's game eighth in the majors with 97 double-play grounders as an offense, matching their total for the entire 2014 season, when they had the fourth-fewest.

The Detroit Tigers lead the way with 115, but five of the six clubs in front of the Twins in that negative category are in postseason contention. That includes both the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, vying for the lead in the National League West.

In 2013, the Twins grounded into just 104 double plays, second-fewest in the game, but they were top three in both 2012 (149) and 2010 (159). In the latter year, they tied for first with the Giants, who won the World Series.

"(Plouffe) is a guy I might have tried to hit and run with a couple times this year, when I thought situations with groundballs were a high percentage," Molitor said. "But he's also a guy that can hit a double or a home run if you let him get a good pitch to hit. So you're always going back and forth with that debate."

Plouffe has grounded into double plays on a team-high 26 percent of his 84 chances. Opponents have turned two on Mauer in 20 percent of his team-high 87 chances.

Rookie slugger Miguel Sano, conversely, has grounded into a double play just once in 25 chances (4 percent). Brian Dozier (4 for 70), Eddie Rosario (3 for 50) and Eduardo Nunez (1 for 18) are next best at 6 percent.

"Trevor and Joe, they're going to hit the ball hard on the ground from time to time," Molitor said. "It's going to happen. You're aware of that. There are times you've got first and third with one out where you might start the runner to try to stay out of the double play to get a run."

Molitor himself never grounded into more than 13 double plays in a season until his age-39 year, so bat control can help avoid a twin killing.

"When a guy has production and extra-base potential, you don't want to force him to swing, especially when he's getting counts in his favor,"

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Molitor said. "(Friday) Trevor is probably looking for a pitch there and got fooled a little, and it's off the end of the bat. He's not going to beat that out. It's just kind of how the games work. Pitchers are trying to induce it. That's what you do with a guy at first base."

While Kyle Gibson and Mike Pelfrey rank among the majors' best at inducing double plays, the Twins have experienced the flip side all too often.

"It's a good weapon to have as a pitcher, and it hurts you offensively when you've got guys that will do that," Molitor said. "It's like strikeouts. If you're getting enough on the return side, you know you've got to put up with some of that stuff."

ONE-HIT WONDERS

Before being one-hit twice in the past two weeks by Seattle's Taijuan Walker and Cleveland's Corey Kluber, both on Friday nights at home, the Twins had been held to one hit 28 times in their 55-year history.

Just 22 of those were complete games.

The most recent one was May 24, 2013 at Detroit (Anibal Sanchez), when Joe Mauer broke up the right-hander's no-hit bid with one out in the ninth inning.

A one-hitter had happened to the Twins at home just twice since 1980, when current club TV analyst Jack Morris gave up a first-inning single to Rob Wilfong and then nothing else on Aug. 21 that year.

Bruce Kison, then of the California Angels, also threw a complete-game one-hitter at Metropolitan Stadium in 1980. Ken Landreaux's one-out double in the ninth spoiled Kison's no-hit bid on April 23.

Rookie right-hander Zach Stewart of the Chicago White Sox might have had the unlikeliest one-hitter against the Twins. He dominated them on Sept. 5, 2011, when Danny Valencia led off the eighth with a double at Target Field.

Stewart walked none and struck out nine but hasn't started in the big leagues since 2012.

The only other one-hitter against the Twins at home since 1980 had been by Freddy Garcia, another White Sox right-hander, on Aug. 23, 2005. Jacque Jones led off the eighth inning with a home run for the only run of the game at the Metrodome; Garcia walked two and struck out just three on 95 pitches in his eight innings.

Walker, who beat the Twins on July 31, struck out 11, walked one and gave up a solo homer to Miguel Sano, also with two outs in the fourth. The walk was to Joe Mauer in the first.

Kluber, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, mowed down the Twins on 98 pitches. He gave up a two-out homer to Mauer in the fourth, walked one (Sano) in the second and struck out seven despite failing to record his first strikeout until Torii Hunter in the fifth.

"He doesn't waste any pitches," said Twins shortstop Eduardo Nunez, who struck out twice against Kluber. "When he gets you down 0-2, he goes right after you. He's all business. And you know what else? He never smiles."

The Twins have been no-hit just five times in their history, all on the road. The last one was by Jered Weaver on May 2, 2012 at Anaheim, Calif.

BRIEFLY

Twins left-hander Tommy Milone, set to come off the disabled list to start Sunday's series finale against the Indians, expects to be limited to about 75 pitches. He had a 7.98 ERA in his final three starts, including six home runs allowed, before heading to the DL with a mild elbow strain. Milone threw 20-30 pitches in the bullpen on Thursday and said the ball was coming out "nice and easy." He was pleased with his ability to hit spots. ... Saturday was the 65th birthday of Tom Kelly, Twins special assistant and two-time World Series-winning manager. Kelly, fully recovered from a stroke last fall, visited the Twins clubhouse before Friday's game. ... Twins general manager Terry Ryan had praise for Eddie Rosario after the rookie left fielder pushed his team-high total of outfield assists to 10 with two more on Friday. "He has always been able to throw," Ryan said. "There's no fear in that young man. He's not braggadocios. He just has confidence." ... Triple-A right-hander Jose Berrios has allowed four homers in his past three starts after seeing a no-hitter through six innings go up in flames in a five-run seventh on Friday. The Twins' top pitching staff came out of the start healthy. "Everything's fine," Ryan said. "Hope he's learned some lessons. You've got to finish them off." ... Ryan also suggested Berrios' career-high innings count (141 1/3) could become an issue with four starts left in his Rochester season. "We're certainly monitoring that," Ryan said. "You're always concerned about large increments from one year to the next." Berrios threw 140 innings last season, 35 percent more than he threw in 2013. A similar bump would allow Berrios to reach 190 innings this year.

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Twins’ Tyler Duffey pitches gem, beats Cleveland 4-1

Mike Berardino | Pioneer Press | August 15, 2015

As it turns out, Tyler Duffey is pretty good when he doesn't need to worry about showing his passport.

After getting shelled 10 days earlier in Toronto, the rookie right-hander took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and picked up his first big-league victory in Saturday's 4-1 win over the Cleveland Indians.

Francisco Lindor's one-out double ended any thoughts of a dream night, but Duffey candidly admitted afterward he was well aware of what was going on as his dad, Tim, and a longtime family friend watched from the stands at Target Field.

"Oh, yeah," Duffey said. "Anyone who says they aren't, either they aren't paying attention to the game or they just don't want to see it. You end up playing games with yourself in your head to see how long you can keep it going."

After the game, Duffey learned he would get to stick around for at least one more start. Despite issuing five walks he will start Thursday at Baltimore, with Trevor May moving back to the bullpen after a three-inning spot start on Friday.

To make room for left-hander Tommy Milone, coming off the disabled list to start Sunday's series finale, reliever Michael Tonkin was optioned back to Triple-A Rochester.

With just their fourth win in their past 13 games, the Twins (58-58) managed to avoid falling two games under .500 for the first time since April 30.

"That was the same curveball I saw down in Triple-A," said Twins catcher Chris Herrmann, who also contributed his second homer of the year.

"We got a lot of swings and misses with his curveball, especially in the dirt. We were just mixing up offspeed (pitches) on a lot of different counts, keeping those guys off balance."

Duffey's strike percentage with his two fastballs remained spotty, just under 50 percent, but he leaned heavily on his sweeping curveball, throwing it 30 times and getting strikes with it nearly three quarters of the time.

Four of his five changeups on a 94-pitch night went for strikes as well, according to BrooksBaseball.net, but it was the curveball that induced six of his eight swing-and-miss strikes.

All but one of Duffey's seven strikeouts came on the curveball, and five of those came on whiffs. Yan Gomes, the dangerous No. 3 hitter who came up after Lindor's hit, slammed his bat into the ground after swinging over Duffey's putaway curve for strike three for the second time.

Lindor's gapper was the only ball hit to the outfield off Duffey, who got nine outs on the ground.

"My curveball has been my go-to since I've been pitching," said Duffey, 24. "I threw that over the plate for strikes, and I threw that for chase when I needed to. That just completely changes the game. They can't just look for a fastball. They have to look for that, too."

Fellow rookie Eddie Rosario and Herrmann broke up a scoreless duel with back-to-back homers off Indians starter Josh Tomlin (0-1) to start the fifth. The only other time the Twins hit consecutive homers (Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer) was July 8 in a 5-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

Dozier connected as well, hammering a Bryan Shaw cutter for a two-run homer in the eighth. It was Dozier's 25th homer and sixth since the all-star break.

That proved to be sufficient offense for the Twins, who were coming off their second one-hit defeat in as many home Fridays. It was their fifth game of three homers or more since the all-star break.

Three Twins relievers covered the final nine outs, but Robert Perez's two-out single off Glen Perkins derailed a bid for the Twins' 10th shutout.

A 2012 fifth-round pick out of Rice, Duffey did a much better job of controlling his nerves than he did in his debut. Recalled in the wake of Phil Hughes landing on the disabled list with a lower back issue, Duffey was working on three days' rest for the second straight time.

After getting bounced in just two innings by the streaking Blue Jays, giving up two homers and six runs, Duffey registered his highest strikeout total since June 17 at Triple-A, when he fanned nine. His season high for strikeouts is 12.

"It was a really solid performance," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "I just thought he looked a lot more poised and comfortable."

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Twinsights: Breaking down Twins’ 1-hit history after two in two weeks

Mike Berardino | Pioneer Press | August 15, 2015

Before being one-hit twice in the past two weeks by Seattle’s Taijuan Walker and Cleveland’s Corey Kluber, both on Friday nights at home, the Twins had been held to one hit 28 times in their 55-year history.

Just 22 of those were complete games.

The most recent one was May 24, 2013 at Detroit (Anibal Sanchez), when Joe Mauer broke up the right-hander’s no-hit bid with one out in the ninth inning.

A one-hitter had happened to the Twins at home just twice since 1980, when current club TV analyst Jack Morris gave up a first-inning single to Rob Wilfong and then nothing else on Aug. 21 that year.

Bruce Kison, then of the California Angels, also threw a complete-game one-hitter at Metropolitan Stadium in 1980. Ken Landreaux’s one-out double in the ninth spoiled Kison’s no-hit bid on April 23.

Rookie right-hander Zach Stewart of the Chicago White Sox might have had the unlikeliest one-hitter against the Twins. He dominated them on Sept. 5, 2011, when Danny Valencia led off the eighth with a double at Target Field.

Stewart walked none and struck out nine but hasn’t started in the big leagues since 2012.

The only other one-hitter against the Twins at home since 1980 had been by Freddy Garcia, another White Sox right-hander, on Aug. 23, 2005. Jacque Jones led off the eighth inning with a home run for the only run of the game at the Metrodome; Garcia walked two and struck out just three on 95 pitches in his eight innings.

Walker, who beat the Twins on July 31, struck out 11, walked one and gave up a solo homer to Miguel Sano, also with two outs in the fourth. The walk was to Joe Mauer in the first.

Kluber, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, mowed down the Twins on 98 pitches. He gave up a two-out homer to Mauer in the fourth, walked one (Sano) in the second and struck out seven despite failing to record his first strikeout until Torii Hunter in the fifth.

“He doesn’t waste any pitches,” said Twins shortstop Eduardo Nunez, who struck out twice against Kluber. “When he gets you down 0-2, he goes right after you. He’s all business. And you know what else? He never smiles.”

The Twins have been no-hit just five times in their history, all on the road. The last one was by Jered Weaver on May 2, 2012 at Anaheim, Calif.

Twinsights: Innings could become concern for Jose Berrios, Terry Ryan says

Mike Berardino | Pioneer Press | August 15, 2015

For the first time this year, Twins general manager Terry Ryan suggested Jose Berrios’ career-high innings count (141 1/3) could become an issue with four starts left in his Triple-A Rochester season.

“We’re certainly monitoring that,” Ryan said Saturday. “You’re always concerned about large increments from one year to the next.”

Berrios threw 140 innings last season, 35 percent more than he threw in 2013. A similar bump would allow Berrios to reach 190 innings this year, which could include his first September call-up.

Then again, Berrios doesn’t have to be added to the 40-man roster until November 2016, so the Twins might choose to shut down their top pitching prospect before bringing him to the majors.

Berrios, 21, has allowed four homers in his past three starts after seeing a no-hitter through six innings go up in flames in a five-run seventh on Friday. Rob Refsnyder and Aaron Judge, two of the New York Yankees’ top prospects, took him deep as Berrios failed to retire any of the seven batters he faced that inning.

In his previous 40 innings (six starts) before the seventh, Berrios had a 1.35 earned run average.”

The main thing was that Berrios came out of the start healthy.

“Everything’s fine,” Ryan said. “Hope he’s learned some lessons. You’ve got to finish them off.”

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Briefly

–Twins left-hander Tommy Milone, set to come off the disabled list to start Sunday’s series finale against the Indians, expects to be limited to about 75 pitches. He had a 7.98 ERA in his final three starts, including six home runs allowed, before heading to the DL with a mild elbow strain. Milone threw 20-30 pitches in the bullpen on Thursday and said the ball was coming out “nice and easy.” He was pleased with his ability to hit spots.

–Saturday was the 65th birthday of Tom Kelly, Twins special assistant and former two-time World Series-winning manager. Kelly, fully recovered from a stroke last fall, visited the Twins clubhouse before Friday’s game.

–Ryan had praise for Eddie Rosario after the rookie left fielder pushed his team-high total of outfield assists to 10 with two more on Friday. “He’s always been able to throw,” Ryan said. “There’s no fear in that young man. He’s not braggadocios. He just has confidence.”

Postgame Twinsights: Trevor May heads back to the bullpen

Mike Berardino | Pioneer Press | August 15, 2015

Rather than give Trevor May a second straight start in hopes of stretching him out for the season’s final seven weeks, the Twins changed their mind.

“We’re going to shake things up a little bit,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said after Saturday’s 4-1 win over Cleveland.

Rookie right-hander Tyler Duffey will now make the first start of a four-game series in Baltimore on Thursday. May, who worked three innings on 49 pitches in a spot start on Friday, will return to his late-inning relief role.

In 16 starts this year, May is 4-8 with a 4.43 earned run average and eight homers allowed in 83 1/3 innings. He has a nine-inning strikeout rate of 7.9.

In 13 relief appearances over the past month and a half, he has vultured four wins to go with a 2.51 ERA and just one homer allowed in 14 1/3 innings. His K/9 rate has jumped to 8.8 and his fastball has regularly been clocked at 95 mph and above.

“It’s not a demotion,” May said. “I’ve had success out there. We were just trying to add some stability to both roles. Even the base value of having a guy that’s already stretched out instead of having to use a couple starts to get me back out there, it just makes more sense.”

May figured he would have had 75 pitches to work with in Baltimore. Had he been given another start after that, he would have returned to the 90-100 range.

Duffey threw 94 pitches on short rest in beating the Indians. This means he should have the usual 100-plus pitches at his disposal when he makes his Camden Yards debut.

“We’re still in this thing,” May said. “Had two or three more games gone the other way, I think it would be a little different story and we wouldn’t have to do things like this as much. But we’re trying to win, and these decisions are made trying to get these wins and stay in this thing.”

Molitor said there has been much internal discussion about “the Trevor May situation,” adding the back injury to Phil Hughes “kind of forced our hand.”

Added Molitor: “I was hoping from everything I’ve heard about Duff that he’d have a chance to come up here and prompt us to consider giving him another start. I’m kind of happy about that, for him obviously, but me putting Trevor back out there is a good thing for our team.”

Kevin Jepsen seems to be rounding into form, but May gives Molitor another bat-missing option in the eighth. Before the spot start, May had essentially seized the primary setup role.

“Between his stuff and the way he handles himself out there, it looks like he’s supposed to be out there at that time of the game,” Molitor said. “I think that’s the best thing you can say.”

Molitor also praised May for how he handled the news.

“We talked about not having to do that to this guy too much,” Molitor said. “He’s very team-oriented in his comments. He was receptive, kind of likes it. There’s some positives there.”

May was as pleased as anyone to see Duffey help the Twins get a much-needed win.

“He responded well to his start today,” May said. “He had some fire, and that’s good. Me being in the dugout doesn’t help us out in the pen.”

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Milone returns from DL for finale vs. Indians

Betsy Helfand | MLB.com | August 15, 2015

Carlos Carrasco gave up a season-high six runs in four innings against the White Sox on July 25. Since then, Carrasco has been dominant. In his last three starts, the righty has a 1.04 ERA in 26 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting just .085 against him and he has struck out 22 batters and walked just two.

Carrasco will get the ball Sunday for the Indians in the finale against the Twins at Target Field. Carrasco is looking for his fourth consecutive start of eight or more innings allowing no more than four hits.

He'll face off against Tommy Milone, who will be activated from the 15-day disabled list to make the start. Milone had a mild flexor strain and hasn't started since July 31. On the year, he is 5-3 with a 3.76 ERA. Sunday will mark Milone's fifth career start against the Indians. In his career, he is 1-1 with a 1.99 ERA in 22 2/3 innings against the Tribe.

Three things to know about this game

• Expect Indians utility man Ryan Raburn (activated from the bereavement list on Saturday) to be in the lineup for the Tribe on Sunday against the left-handed Milone. Through 136 plate appearances against left-handed pitching this season, the right-handed-hitting Raburn had a .300 average to go along with a .908 OPS.

• Twins right fielder Torii Hunter is hitting 6-for-18 (.333) off Carrasco and first baseman Joe Mauer is 6-for-11 off the Cleveland starter.

• Indians outfielder Michael Brantley rejoined the team on Saturday, but spent the day receiving treatment on his ailing left shoulder. Brantley is doubtful for Sunday's game, but there is a chance he could return to the lineup as a designated hitter on Monday in Boston.

Eddie Rosario swats pitch near his chin for homer, announces himself as King of Bad-Ball Hitters

Chris Landers | MLB.com | August 15, 2015

For as long as there have been pitches that miss the strike zone badly, there have been intrepid batters who dare to hit them anyway. Vladimir Guerrero was once the leader of this ragtag bunch -- legend has it that, as a Minor Leaguer, he once went yard on a ball that bounced in the dirt, and he's been known to do things like this:

Vlad inspired a legion of acolytes, men whose plate discipline could most succintcly be described as, "Nope." But in the years since his retirement, there has been a vacuum at the top. Those dreaming of smacking any and every pitch have been left without that beacon of hope with which to guide themselves.

In this time of darkness -- when baseball fans are hardly ever forced to ask themselves: "Was that an actual swing, or was he just trying to swat a fly?" -- the world needs a hero. The world needs Twins left fielder Eddie Rosario:

You know the old maxim: The closer it is to your head, the easier it is to see, right? Minnesota went on to beat the Indians, 4-1, and that was just the seventh dinger of the year for Rosario. So we think the moral here is clear: Just keep swinging at anything and everything, and the Baseball Gods will surely reward you.

Twins option Tonkin to make room for Milone

Betsy Helfand | MLB.com | August 15, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS -- No matter what Tyler Duffey did in his second Major League start Saturday, the Twins needed to make a roster move. With Tommy Milone coming back from the 15-day disabled list and getting the start Sunday, it seemed like Duffey might be the one to go.

But Duffey earned himself at least one more start with his performance Saturday, throwing six innings of one-hit ball in a 4-1 win over the Indians. Instead, the team optioned Michael Tonkin back to Triple-A Rochester.

Tonkin was recalled on Friday when Blaine Boyer landed on the DL. He pitched two-thirds of an inning and gave up a run in Friday's loss and will head back to Rochester with a 6.17 ERA in 11 2/3 innings with the Twins this year.

To make room for Duffey in the rotation, Trevor May, a starter-turned-reliever-turned-starter, will head back to the bullpen. Though general

13

manager Terry Ryan said May's future is as a starter, manager Paul Molitor has liked how May has pitched out of the bullpen since he landed there in early July.

May has helped eat valuable innings as a setup man and only returned to the rotation on short rest because starter Phil Hughes had to go on the DL.

"Between his stuff and how he handles himself out there, it looks like he's supposed to be out there that time of the game," Molitor said of May.

Duffey will start for the team on Thursday in Baltimore. May, once he recovers from his 49-pitch effort Friday, will be available out of the bullpen.

"We talked about the Trevor May situation a lot before we decided to bring him in [to start]. The Hughes injury kind of forced our hand a little bit," Molitor said. "I was hoping from everything I heard about Duff that he'd have a chance to come up here and kind of prompt us to consider giving him another start. I'm kind of happy about that for him obviously, but also the fact that me putting Trevor back out there I think is a good thing for our team."

After tough debut, redemption for Duffey in win

Betsy Helfand | MLB.com | August 15, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS -- Tyler Duffey didn't think he'd get the call back to the Majors so quickly. After getting lit up for six runs in two innings on Aug. 5, he got a return ticket to Triple-A Rochester, where he seemed likely to stay for a bit.

But Duffey did get the return call, and he made the most it, throwing 5 1/3 innings of no-hit ball vs. the Indians before Francisco Lindor doubled. Duffey ended the night with six scoreless innings, allowing just the one hit and earning his first big league victory in the team's 4-1 win on Saturday night.

His outing earned him at least one more start in the Majors. Duffey will start Thursday in Baltimore, in place of the injured Phil Hughes.

"I threw a lot more strikes and that helps. My curveball, which has been my go-to ever since I've been pitching, really, [I] threw that over the plate for strikes," Duffey said. "They can't just look for a fastball. They have to look for that, too."

Duffey registered seven strikeouts, most coming on the curveball, and he seemed to settle in well, something that didn't happen in his first start.

He said he was amped up for his start in Toronto and was trying to throw 100 mph to compensate. He went back to Triple-A Rochester and made one start, also giving up one hit in six innings. When he came back, there were noticeable differences.

"The curveball helped him a lot because he got ahead of some fastball hitters. He used it to get back in counts," manager Paul Molitor said. "I just thought the looked a lot more poised and comfortable."

That poise and comfort helped him carry his no-hit bid as long as he did. Though it was on his mind while he was pitching, it wasn't his focus.

"Anyone that says they aren't, either they're not paying attention to the game or they just don't want to see it," Duffey said. "You end up playing games in your head, see how long you can keep it going, but you're not trying to go out there and throw a no-hitter. If it happens, it happens."

Though he came away with a quality start, the five walks he gave up were still nagging at Duffey postgame.

"It was just bad on my part. I think I got a little wound up and let one get away from me and then it kind of rolled there," he said. "Normally that's not me and so when I do that, it makes me a little upset. It's still in the back of my head even though I threw well. I'm still not very happy that I walked five."

After the game, Duffey was treated to his first Twins postgame dance party, a clubhouse staple, where he had to dance.

"I don't think I embarrassed myself too bad," Duffey said.

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Duffey earns first MLB win as Twins top Tribe

Jordan Bastian and Betsy Helfand | MLB.com | August 15, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS -- Twins rookie Tyler Duffey moved on from his rough Major League debut in a big way on Saturday night, limiting the Indians to only one hit in an impressive start that guided Minnesota to a 4-1 victory at Target Field.

Duffey, who allowed six runs and lasted only two innings in his only previous big league outing on Aug. 5 at Toronto, carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and finished with six scoreless innings en route to his first career win. The right-hander struck out seven and sidestepped the potential harm of the five walks he issued. The Tribe's only breakthrough came in the ninth, when Roberto Perez hit an RBI single off Glen Perkins.

"I threw a lot more strikes, and that helps," Duffey said. "My curveball, which has been my go-to pitch ever since I've been pitching, really, [I] threw that over the plate for strikes. They can't just look for a fastball. They have to look for that, too."

Indians righty Josh Tomlin took the loss after giving up two runs -- courtesy of consecutive homers by Eddie Rosario and Chris Herrmann in the fifth -- in 6 1/3 innings, in which he struck out five and walked none. Tomlin was making his 2015 debut after working his way back from preseason surgery on his right shoulder.

"It felt pretty good to be back out there and competing," Tomlin said. "I wasn't going to change my mentality after those two home runs. I didn't execute one pitch and I executed one pitch, and both were the same result.

Twins second baseman Brian Dozier provided some insurance with a two-run homer (his 25th blast of the year) off Cleveland reliever Bryan Shaw in the eighth.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Back-to-back jacks: Rosario and catcher Herrmann gave Duffey all the run support he needed with back-to-back home runs to right in the fifth inning. Rosario whacked a chin-high pitch to give the Twins the lead, and Hermann followed it up by getting the best of Tomlin in a seven-pitch at-bat.

Sweet 16: After the Indians began their night with an 0-for-15 showing against Duffey, Francisco Lindor saw to it that the pitcher's no-hit bid went no further. The Tribe's rookie shortstop pulled a 2-2 pitch into the right-center-field gap for a one-out, no-doubt double in the sixth inning.

"I'm not letting someone else throw a no-hitter against us," Lindor said. "You see it, and you want to break it. It's not like, 'Oh my God, he's throwing a no-hitter.' We weren't stressing. There was no one talking about it, but I'm sure it was in the back of our heads."

Twin killing: Lindor then dropped some jaws with a highlight-reel double play in the sixth. With one out and Miguel Sano on first, Trevor Plouffe pulled a pitch sharply through the infield. Lindor dove to his right, snared the grounder and recovered in time to start a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

The impressive double play helped make up for the fact that Lindor also made a throwing error on a routine play in the fourth.

"Athletically, he's capable of doing that," Indians manager Terry Francona said of the double play. "And it's certainly exciting to watch those. I'll brag more about him when he moves his feet on the routine [plays], because those are every bit as important. But, I admit, that was a play that not a lot of guys can make."

QUOTABLE "He threw an 0-2 pitch that was a really good 0-2 pitch. It's probably a good thing Rosario hit it. It might've hit him in the neck."-- Francona, on the Tomlin pitch that Rosario hit for the homer

WHAT'S NEXT Indians: The Twins will encounter one of the American League's hottest arms when Indians starter Carlos Carrasco (11-8, 3.68 ERA) takes the mound in a 2:10 p.m. ET divisional tilt on Sunday at Target Field. Over his past three turns, Carrasco has turned in a 1.04 ERA and held opposing batters to a paltry .085 batting average in 26 innings.

Twins: Tommy Milone will be activated from the 15-day disabled list to make his first start since July 31 as the Twins host the Indians at 1:10 p.m. CT in the last of a three-game series. Milone, who was on the DL with a mild flexor strain, is 5-3 with a 3.76 ERA on the year.

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More shuffling: Duffey to start again, May back to ‘pen, Tonkin out

Derek Wetmore | 1500espn.com | August 15, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins have been looking to get consistent starting pitching, even if it means a lot of moving parts for the time being.

Tyler Duffey got the win in his second big league start Saturday, and so he'll stick around to make another start Thursday for the Twins in Baltimore, manager Paul Molitor said.

The team knew it would need to make a roster move after Saturday's game, because Tommy Milone would need to be removed from the 15-day disabled list to make his scheduled start Sunday. One of the initial thoughts was that the corresponding roster move might be Duffey after his start, but instead the Twins will keep him around.

So to make room for May, the Twins will option reliever Michael Tonkin back to Triple-A Rochester.

Trevor May, who made a start Friday at the front end of a bullpen game, will be moved back into a relief role, Molitor said.

"Putting Trevor back out there is a good thing for our team," Molitor said. "Between his stuff and how he handles himself out there, it looks like he's supposed to be out there at that time of the game. I think that's the best thing you can say."

Duffey allows just 1 hit through 6 innings, Twins top Indians

Associated Press | August 15, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS -- Tyler Duffey took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning of his second big league game and pitched the Minnesota Twins over the Cleveland Indians 4-1 Saturday night.

Duffey, roughed up by Toronto earlier this month in his debut, came back to earn his first victory in the majors. A one-out double by Francisco Lindor in the sixth was the only hit Duffey (1-1) permitted before leaving at the end of the inning.

The 24-year-old righty struck out seven and worked around five walks. Relievers Casey Fien, Kevin Jepsen and Glen Perkins each pitched an inning in the combined four-hitter.

Eddie Rosario and Chris Herrmann hit back-to-back homers in the fifth off Josh Tomlin (0-1), who made his first major league start since shoulder surgery in April.

Brian Dozier added a late two-run homer for Minnesota, which had lost three straight to the Indians.

Tomlin lasted 6 1/3 innings. He scattered two hits over the first four innings before leaving a high fastball over the plate for Rosario leading off the fifth.

After Rosario launched the pitch 401 feet into the right field seats, Herrmann followed with his second homer of the season to the same place.

That was more than enough room for Duffey, who clearly recovered from a rough start 10 days earlier at Toronto. He allowed six runs, five hits, two walks in that outing, and threw 60 pitches in just two innings.

Dozier hit his 25th homer, a two-run drive in the eighth off Bryan Shaw.

Roberto Perez drove in Cleveland's run with long, two-out single in the ninth off Perkins.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Indians: Manager Terry Francona said OF Michael Brantley received treatment for his sore left throwing shoulder, and doubted he would play Sunday. "I think the best thing that we could maybe hope for is he swings the bat tomorrow. I don't want him to just go cold turkey into a game." . 2B Jason Kipnis (shoulder) is eligible to come off the DL on Monday, although Francona said he didn't know if he would be activated immediately. . Francona said RHP Cody Anderson (left oblique strain) would meet the team in Boston and likely throw a bullpen session on Monday.

UP NEXT

The Indians will start RHP Carlos Carrasco (11-8) on Sunday, four days after allowing just two runs in eight innings against the Yankees. Carrasco has thrown eight or more innings while allowing four or fewer hits in three straight starts. LHP Tommy Milone (5-3) is set to come off the DL for the Twins after being out with a strained elbow. Milone will make his first start since July 31, when he allowed four runs on 11 hits in six innings against Seattle.