Three leftovers from the Twins' first win of the season in Comerica Park:
— With the bases loaded and Yoenis Cespedes coming to the plate, Paul Molitor went out in the sixth inning to get Ricky Nolasco. He got a debate, too. "He said, 'I can get [Yoenis Cespedes] to roll over. He was thinking double play which was a good thing," Molitor said. But having thrown 106 pitches, "I didn't want to extend him any farther." Nolasco, just five weeks removed from inflammation in his pitching elbow, threw 106 pitches Wednesday. Aaron Thompson relieved him, and allowed a sacrifice fly to Cespedes, then a soft single by Nick Castellanos that scored a run. But he retired James McCann on a popup to end the inning.
— The Twins improved to 11-5 this season in games started by left-handed pitchers, an impressive statistic. And beating Kyle Lobstein, who is a control artist but not a hard thrower, on Wednesday was a good sign, too, Molitor said. "Some of the left-handers that fit the mold of Lobstein had given us problems in the past," he said. "[Chicago's John] Danks or [Kansas City's Jason] Vargas, those people who maybe don't have upper-90s velocity — they take advantage of aggressive hitters, and our guys are starting to slow it down a little bit. I think we've got a better approach. We've been able to get some wins against those type of people."
— It's been five years since the Twins have hit three triples in a game — and even in that instance, June 29, 2010, Denard Span collected all three. The last time three different Twins smacked a triple in one game was nearly a decade ago, on Sept. 10, 2006, and that one was a Piranha special. Nick Punto, Jason Tyner and Luis Castillo all tripled in a 12-1 Metrodome win over the Tigers, Johan Santana's 18th win. So the Twins were enjoying all the extra-base hits after the game. Torii Hunter marveled at Joe Mauer and Trevor Plouffe's back-to-back triples, in particular that "only one of those guys can run." He had to repeat that line even louder because Plouffe, at the locker next to him, didn't catch the not-so-subtle teasing the first time.
