Twins

May injury dampens offensive outburst as Twins top Seattle

The righthander left after getting hit by a line drive.

By La Velle E. Neal III

April 26, 2015 at 3:44PM

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Trevor May (65) is checked after he was hit by a line drive from Seattle Mariners' Kyle Seager in the fourth inning of a baseball game Saturday, April 25, 2015, in Seattle. May left the game after completing the play for the out. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) (Brian Stensaas — ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

SEATTLE – Twins righthander Trevor May got Austin Jackson to strike out looking to start the bottom of the first inning Saturday night, and some cheers went up around Safeco Field.

Oh yeah, Longview, Wash., was in the house. As about 150 family members and friends took the two-hour drive north to watch May, a star at Kelso High School, pitch in Seattle for the first time as a major leaguer.

May felt he would be able to control his emotions yet take in the atmosphere on such a big day for him. The day, unfortunately, ended early when a line drive off Kyle Seager's bat struck May in the right forearm.

May left the game early and missed out on the Twins stringing hits off erratic lefthander James Paxton and the Mariners bullpen. The Twins pulled away to an 8-5 victory and can win the three-game series — and finish with a 3-3 road trip — if they prevail in the series finale Sunday.

The only negative was that May's homecoming was ruined when his 1-0 pitch to Seager in the fifth inning came right back at him and nailed him in the elbow.

May took the shot, chased after the ball when it deflected and threw to first to retire Seager. But he winced, grimaced and squirmed in pain as he tried to shake it off. Head trainer Dave Pruemer rushed to his aid. After a few minutes, May was removed from the game.

X-rays were negative, and May is day-to-day because of a right elbow contusion. May vowed to make his next start.

"It was one of the few spots near the elbow where it is OK to get hit by a ball and it just looks like a little bruising," May said. "At that point, I just wanted to make a play and then deal with it after."

He wasn't around to see the Twins break the game open in the middle innings and pull away. Eduardo Escobar hit his first homer, and three other Twins had two hits each.

"We talk about if we are going to be effective offensively it is going to be balanced," manager Paul Molitor said. "And guys, I don't think they care too much where they hit, they just look and go play.''

The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the first inning but mustered one run, on Nunez's walk. May was shaky in his first inning. Giving up a single to Seth Smith, walking Robinson Cano after being ahead 0-2 then giving up a two-run double to Nelson Cruz.

But May was markedly better the next two innings, attacking the strike zone like he promised to. He struck out the side in the second then left a runner on first in the third inning. Of the 28 pitches he threw over those two innings, 24 were strikes.

For his improved work, May entered the fourth with a tie game, thanks to Escobar's home run over the left-center field wall. Escobar told Dustin Morse, the Twins director of communications, that he was going deep Saturday, and he jumped on a 3-2 fastball from Paxton.

But May had to yield to Tim Stauffer (1-0) when he was hit by the line drive. The Twins bats got going, as Nunez and Kurt Suzuki hit RBI singles in the fifth to give the Twins a 4-2 lead. The Twins got two more in the sixth and two more in the seventh to go ahead 8-3, and the bullpen held on from there.

"It was a good night offensively, right from top to bottom," Molitor said.

Minnesota Twins' Brian Dozier, right, comes in to score as Seattle Mariners catcher Mike Zunino waits for the ball in the sixth inning of a baseball game Saturday, April 25, 2015, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) (Brian Stensaas — ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP/The Minnesota Star Tribune)