CLEVELAND — A couple of extras from another offensive explosion at Progressive Field:
Joe Mauer was on second base for all three of Max Kepler's home runs on Monday, and he was there again Tuesday, having followed Brian Dozier's home run with a double, to watch the rookie connect again. An inning later, Mauer doubled again, driving in a run.
Those doubles were notable for a lot of reasons. It was the first time this season — and in fact, the first time in more than two years, since June 26, 2014 — that Mauer had doubled twice in the same game, a remarkable drought considering he had 32 career two-double games before Tuesday.
It also gave Mauer, who doubled and homered during the Twins' 12-5 rout on Monday, back-to-back games with two extra-base hits. Again, it's been a long time since that happened — six years, in fact. Mauer has had five such two-game stretches in his career, but the most recent was July 26-27, 2010.
The doubles also give Mauer 13 for the season, and a fighting chance to keep alive another tradition: In 10 of the past 11 seasons, the St. Paul native has collected at least 25 doubles. One more would tie him with Kirby Puckett for the most 25-double seasons in franchise history. It won't be easy, though; even with three so far this week, Mauer is only on pace to hit 20 this year.
(Interesting trivia note: Mauer has little chance of reaching the all-time record for 25-double seasons — which is held by his manager, Paul Molitor. Molitor had 18 such years in his 21-year career, which tie him with Pete Rose, Tris Speaker and Ty Cobb, Hall of Famers all.)
And since Mauer scored in both innings, he ran his career runs total to 872 — two more than Tony Oliva, and now the fifth-most in Twins history. That record is held by Puckett, too, with 1,071.
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