It was around 6 p.m. Pacific time. Chris Herrmann was shagging balls in right field. Kyle Gibson was in the clubhouse, getting ready for the pitchers and catchers meeting. Joe Mauer was in the middle of batting practice.
Rod McCormick, the Twins clubhouse attendant, rushed to the field to tell manager Ron Gardenhire that Maddie Mauer had called looking for her husband. And the wheels started rolling.
Mauer was in the clubhouse with traveling secretary Mike Herman, who was arranging a charter flight back to the Twin Cities. Gardenhire waved Herrmann over and told him that was starting behind the plate. Gibson prepared to throw to someone else.
Mauer, normally pulse-less in pressure situations, wasn't this time.
``That's probably the least calm I've seen him," said closer Glen Perkins. ``He was pacing around pretty good. Mike had gotten up to do something, and he was like, `Where's Mike? Where's Mike?' I was the same way, when we had our second one I was in Kansas City."
Mauer was off to the airport, and a Twins lineup already down a few quarts of experience, looked even less lethal. But it erupted at the end, bailing out Perkins, who had blown a save in the bottom of the ninth, to win 10-3 in 10 innings. The Twins have won six of their last seven and have won their last three series.
This team is ballin' a little right now.
``We have some confidence right now," Gardenhire said. ``Guys are getting after the game. Just happy more so than anything else. The defense has just been outstanding. We are making plays all over the field and that is fun to watch and guys are getting as excited about the defense as it is scoring runs.
``That's what baseball is supposed to be about. Both sides of the ball."