Postgame: Bullpen still thin; Molitor on Sano's defense, Polanco's play

Three extras from a night that included 29 hits and a 41-minute rain delay:

I wrote for the paper about how no Twins starter has been able to collect a second win this season, but it's not just the starting rotation that's having trouble lately. The Twins' bullpen has had some recurring problems, too, and that was borne out again Monday, when Ricky Nolasco's short start meant they needed more than six innings from the bullpen. That's a lot, and Trevor May allowed two runs in the fourth inning, and Kevin Jepsen gave up two more in the ninth.

"Everyone knows our bullpen is thin right now," manager Paul Molitor said, and that's an understatement. Minnesota's bullpen has an ERA of 4.75, better only than Texas this season.

It was the fifth consecutive outing in which May has allowed runs, a startling turnaround for a reliever who had a stretch of 12 scoreless outings in 13 appearances earlier in the season. And Jepsen gave up a two-run double to Infante, the 10th time in 19 appearances this year that he's allowed at least one run.

May sat through the third-inning rain delay to pitch the fourth, and Molitor nearly told him to forget it. But the skies cleared, and May wound up throwing 37 pitches, a season high.

The Twins did get four spotless innings from Taylor Rogers, Brandon Kintzler and Fernando Abad, with Kintzler working his way around Salvador Perez's leadoff triple in the seventh inning with two strikeouts and a ground ball.

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"The one thing that's been slow to come in his defensive progress is wall comfortablilty. He has a little bit more confidence in trying to close on balls in front of him rather than behind him," the manager said. "I see him out there with Butch [Davis, the team's outfield coach] every day, trying to get him to go back and learn how to feel for the wall and know where he's at. Balls that get out there quickly, I think he loses track of where he's at in relation to the wall."

The play turned into Salvador Perez's second triple of the season, and both are the result of some shaky Twins defense in the outfield. The catcher's first triple came in Kansas City on April 8, when Eddie Rosario dove for his sinking line drive, with the ball rolling to the wall when he missed it.

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As tricky as Molitor's four-infielders-for-three-spots predicament is, there is another infielder in line for his chance, too. Jorge Polanco's seventh temporary stint with the Twins ended with Escobar's return, and while he didn't get to play much — he started five games in 16 days — he made a stronger-than-usual impression.

He'll be back for an eighth time, in other words.

But he's also 22, and must wait for the Twins' logjam to clear.

"He still needs some time. He puts together the at-bats you hope to see, but he does need some time," said Ryan, who hopes to give Polanco some undisturbed time to "settle in" at Class AAA Rochester. "We're going through a tough time, but that doesn't diminish the fact that there are some people ahead of him. "

Still, Molitor said, he understands how tired Polanco must be of going back and forth for three years. Those five games he started? They're more than Polanco has played in any of his previous stints.