A handful of extras from an eventful night at Target Field:
Miguel Sano had had a terrible week. He went 0-for-9 against the Indians and struck out six times, and he had driven in only four runs all month. But Paul Molitor noticed something Thursday night that gave him hope: Sano drew two walks.
"He's been working really hard, just trying to stay on the ball and recognize pitches a little bit better," the Twins' manager said. "When he's getting walks, I know he's getting close."
Sano walked again in the first inning Friday, and then his night got really interesting. In the fifth inning, Sano inside-outed a pitch to right field for a single, and though he was quickly thrown out on a baserunning error — he ran through coach Gene Glynn's stop sign on Eddie Rosario's double and stopped halfway to the plate — it was another good sign.
Byron Buxton, in fact, said he predicted to Sano that he would break out of his slump with a two-homer game Friday.
Then came the seventh inning, and reliever David Hernandez's first pitch: A slider that Sano drove to the second deck in deep left-center, 452 feet away. An inning later, facing Silvino Bracho, Sano outdid himself, cracking a pitch to the third deck, directly above the bullpens, estimated at 474 feet.
"Miggy's homers," Molitor understated, "were extremely loud."
Sano wasn't the only home run hitter, of course. Max Kepler connected on his sixth in the past eight days, and Eduardo Escobar hit his 11th of the season, just one shy of his career high. Brian Dozier connected on a long down-the-line shot into the upper deck that tied him with Michael Cuddyer, who was in the stadium watching the game, for 10th place on the Twins' career list with 141. And Byron Buxton had the night's most memorable homer, an inside-the-park blow that took him only 13.85 seconds to complete.
