Tommy Milone was convinced that Tuesday's game would not be played. But he made sure to be ready in case the teams decided to give it a shot.
``It didn't look like it was going to let up," he said. ``But I didn't check out. They kept coming back every hour or so saying, `we're going to try to get this game in.' Just tried to stay mentally in, just in case we did play."
They did, and Milone got through six innings of one-run ball before manager Paul Molitor lifted to make sure he left the game on a positive note. Yes, there was talk of Milone losing his spot in the rotation if he had another poor outing, but achieved two things. One, he got past the fourth inning, which he didn't do in each of his previous three starts. Two. He got through the batting order twice, which has been a problem.
It worked out on a night in which the teams had to wait a long time to play. Both teams felt the same way, that it was better to wait out the rain than to have a crazy day of two games and travel.
``Everyone felt like we were here, and to try to play tonight, rather than play a day-night tomorrow with the travel," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. ``It's late, and we'll bounce back rather quickly. But I think a chance to regroup tomorrow night will be fine.
``When you win, it looks like you made a good decision."
The Twins did win, but it was far from a clean game. The Twins could have been charged with three errors on Tuesday but was given just one. Danny Santana forgot where he was at in the field and misplayed a fly ball into a double for Josh Reddick in the eighth. Neil Ramirez was ineffective, giving up a three-run homer to Danny Valencia in the eighth.
And the highlight of the game - Santana throwing out Jake Smolinski at the plate in the fifth - almost didn't happen because Miguel Sano tried hard to cut off the throw.
