Postgame: Mauer was hoping to complete his first cycle

CLEVELAND — So much to write about these past three days. Here's some extra stuff from the Twins' third straight rout:

When Joe Mauer doubled in the first inning Wednesday, you knew what was coming next. Three straight times the previous two days, Mauer doubled and Max Kepler followed with a home run, so there Mauer stood, waiting to trot home.

Weird: It didn't happen. Kepler walked — hey, the Indians recognize the pattern, too — and the Twins … well, denied that particular bit of magic, they simply found a variety of new ways to pummel the first-place-for-now Indians. The final score was 13-5, the cumulative August total reached marking the first time in franchise history the Twins have scored in double digits three straight times in the same series.

"It was in front of me there," Mauer said. "I could see him fumble a little bit, so I tried to keep going and give Max [Kepler] a little easier at-bat there with a guy at third and less than two outs."

He succeeded, and with the triple, he was three-fourths of the way to his first career cycle. All he needed was a home run. He was aware of that when he batted again in the ninth, right?

"I was. But I was still just trying to have a good at-bat," Mauer said. "Yeah, I was aware of it."

Karma was working with him, too. Brian Dozier tripled right ahead of Mauer in the eighth inning, and Mauer copied him. Then Dozier homered in the ninth — his fourth home run in four games, by the way — and all Mauer had to do was connect off righthander Dan Otero.

He didn't. Otero threw five different pitches, a fastball, curveball, sinker, slider and changeup. Mauer took the first for a strike, and fouled the curve off. He took two balls, then swung at the changeup and pulled it on the ground to Mike Napoli for an easy out — the only time all night he was retired.

Mauer finished with three-quarters of a cycle for the 21st time in his career, 13 of them lacking a triple and now eight lacking the home run. He's never completed the cycle in a game.

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The Twins haven't swept a four-game series with the Indians since 1991, and they have never, in their 56-year history, won all four games in a series in Cleveland. So they'll try to make a little history — crazy, isn't it, that they might do it was a last-place team playing a first-place team? — behind new Twin Hector Santiago on Thursday.

And their task may have gotten a little easier, too. Josh Tomlin, 11-3 with a 3.43 ERA this season, was originally scheduled to pitch on Thursday, but manager Terry Francona's plans changed when Danny Salazar went on the disabled list after losing Monday's start. Rookie Mike Clevinger, who owns a 7.74 ERA in four major-league games, was called up to replace Salazar, and since Thursday is his regularly turn to pitch, Francona decided to give Tomlin an extra day of rest.

The did-he-or-didn't-he controversy in the third inning, when Lonnie Chisenhall made a diving attempt at catching Max Kepler's sinking line drive, drew Molitor's empathy.

"It's a big call. I saw one angle where it looked like the ball might have grazed turf. But it was close, and they're not going to turn it over unless they are 100 percent sure," Molitor said. "It was a heck of an effort, because that ball wasn't hit very deeply at all, but Chisenhall has been playing shallow all series."

When Francona challenged the call, umpires in New York found ambiguity in the blurry replays, uncertainty over whether the ball ricocheted off a blade of grass or leather. The call stood, the runs scored, the fans booed, and Francona and pitching coach Mickey Callaway charged umpire Jim Reynolds, insisting that they were robbed. Automatic ejection followed.

"You can understand the reaction," Molitor said, "because that's a big point in the game."

The challenge even had a lingering advantage for the Twins; when Abraham Almonte nearly reached first base on a third strike that rolled to the screen, the Indians believed he had beaten catcher Juan Centeno's throw. But they had used their manager's challenge, and could not appeal the play.

So Max, what did you think? Was it a catch? Said the Twins rookie, diplomatically, "Apparently not.

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