A few thoughts after the Twins' 7-1 victory over the Indians.
Steady Eddie: Eddie Rosario has carried over his strong start to the season in June. Rosario homered and drew a pair of walks Sunday. In May, Rosario had an OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of 1.003, which ranked 12th in MLB among players who played in at least 20 games.
On Saturday, Rosario took a cutter from Trevor Bauer that was way off the plate and sent it into the first row over the right field wall to give the Twins a 3-1 lead in the third inning. It was the perfect example of Rosario aggressiveness to chase – and hit – pitches that are out of the zone.
"I remember the first couple of weeks of the season, he was hitting and he came up to me and he said he felt something that he felt in the second half last year, which is a really good sign," second baseman Brian Dozier said. "He goes off feel a lot. He's a guy that is very aggressive at the plate. I think on the basepaths or whatever, what's impressed me the most is him taking that next step as far as drawing walks and getting on base and that kind of thing which is huge."
Rosario finished fourth in batting average in May among all AL players (.368). Entering Friday, he was hitting .432 (19-for-44) when leading off an inning. That was the best mark in baseball.
Garver gets a stinger: During the last at bat of the game, Jose Ramirez fouled a pitch right off the knee of Twins catcher Mitch Garver. Garver writhed on the ground in pain for a moment before getting up and finishing the game.
"He's had them and he just said that it takes a while for the feeling to return in the leg," manager Paul Molitor said. "It kind of catches it in between the pad there. It got him good, there's a question about that."
The fact that Garver finished the game should bode well for his availability Sunday. It wasn't the only injury adventure in the ninth innings. Max Kepler fell awkwardly trying to catch a double off the wall in right centerfield off the bat of Francisco Lindor.
Then Ryan LaMarre got injured slipping as he threw the ball back to the infield. Molitor said LaMarre "rolled his ankle" a little bit but LaMarre looked fine sprinting to catch the final out from Ramirez.
