Twins day at camp: Sano knows the loud art of calling off infielders

Miguel Sano is trying to absorb a lot of information as he learns to play right field, but he has already mastered the instruction Little League coaches have imparted to onrushing outfielders for decades.

Train whistle. Use your train whistle, Miguel.

Sano screamed "I got it, I got it!" so loudly as he charged toward the infield to snag Rusney Castillo's shallow fly ball Tuesday, he could be heard outside Hammond Stadium. And nobody heard him more clearly than Joe Mauer and Brian Dozier, who briefly tracked the pop-up, then smartly evacuated the area.

"I say 'I got it, I got it, I got it!' Everybody hears me," Sano said proudly after the game. "Everybody moves, so I can catch it."

Yeah, not many infielders will get in the way of a 270-pound outfielder hustling at top speed. Not if they value their careers. So the Twins have emphasized to Sano the importance of communication. Of 120-decibel communication.

"Between the spin and height [of fly balls] and who's around you and where they were at the start of the play — we're just learning what his range is going to be," manager Paul Molitor said. "Balls he needs to take charge of, he definitely has precedence over the infielders, so it's good to see him call them off on those sort of plays."

But it's even better to see him bash those baseballs out of stadiums, as he did Tuesday to a changeup from Boston's Joe Kelly. The 22-year-old slugger cleared the boardwalk in left-center, only his second home run of the spring, but one of the most majestic all month.

Michael Tonkin will open the season in the Twins' bullpen, a place he's plenty familiar with. But the role he fills will be new.

The 26-year-old righthander is Molitor's choice to be the team's long reliever, a specialty Tonkin hasn't tried much as his career closed in on the major leagues. That pitcher is summoned if there is an injury or early knockout of the starter, and he's sometimes asked to pitch anywhere from three to five innings.

"I talked to Michael about how he is going to fit and how he can contribute, and right now, that's the way it's going to be for him," Molitor said.

Tonkin has pitched two innings only 24 times in his 184 appearances over the past three major and minor league seasons, and only once in that time has he gotten nine outs in a game. But "your roster is never shaped perfectly," Molitor said.

To prepare him, the Twins will ask Tonkin to throw 40 pitches, or roughly double his normal workload, Wednesday, then have him stay behind in Fort Myers for an outing of at least 50 pitches Saturday. He'll rejoin the team in Baltimore on Sunday.

• Outfielder Darin Mastroianni, assigned to the minors last week, impressed his manager Tuesday by racing from first base to third on a pitch that skipped back to the screen.

• With Tuesday's win, the Twins have beaten Boston five times in six games. It's the first time since 2011 that the Twins have won the "Chairman's Cup" championship between the Fort Myers-based teams. The Twins hold a 12-11-1 advantage since the annual series began in 1993.