It was a gorgeous day at Target Field on Sunday -- for everyone but the Twins. Here are a trio of leftovers.
WILSON WHIFFS: Joe Mauer struck out twice against C.J. Wilson, the first one on a 3-and-2 cutter that Mauer thought was high. Plate ump John Tumpane disagreed. Mauer swung at a high fastball to end the fifth inning, a whiff that was his 10th against Wilson in his career. That made Wilson just the third pitcher ever to strike out the three-time batting champion 10 or more times, joining C.C. Sabathia (19) and Justin Verlander (11). Mauer is now 3-for-30 in his career against Wilson.
SMALL PROGRESS: It's a little hard to see, considering his ERA entering Sunday's game was 8.25 and actually rose, but Logan Darnell felt he made some small progress against the Angels, after two ugly starts against the White Sox earlier this season. He struck out Mike Trout and Albert Pujols back-to-back in the first inning, and had an easy fourth inning, too. He held a 3-1 lead at one point, and could feel his fastball command improving. "I thought I located my fastball better than I had in the past," the rookie left-hander said. "I made a lot of good pitches. ... But I made mistakes, and they seemed to make me pay for the ones I threw today." Especially Howie Kendrick, who blasted an upper-deck homer on a two-strike curveball. "He hit a good pitch, I thought. It was a two-strike curveball that I didn't get down enough." Darnell walked Trout in the fifth and was removed for A.J. Achter, who allowed the baserunner to score.
OFFICIALLY, THEY'RE DONE: It's been a mere formality for more than a month now, but the Twins were eliminated from the AL Central race on Sunday, and they could formally vanish from the wild-card chase by Tuesday. Minnesota's "magic number" for elimination remains at two, by the traditional formula, but as Steven Patent, developer of Pennant Solutions clinchings software points out, it's already impossible for the Twins to catch both Kansas City and Detroit due to the six games remaining between them. As for the wild card, only two more Seattle victories and one by Oakland, which could come by Tuesday, are required to lock Minnesota out of the postseason for a fourth straight season. More timely: The Twins are 2 1/2 games behind Chicago for fourth place, and headed to U.S. Cellular Park for three games this weekend, a pivotal series if they hope to avoid their third last-place finish in four years.
