Twins postgame: Thoughts on Sano, Park, Dozier and more

First of all, some unfortunate news to report. Twins first base coach Butch Davis has left the club to be with his family following the unexpected death of his brother. The Twins expect Davis to return by the end of the weekend.

Mike Quade, manager of Class AAA Rochester, coached first base on Thursday instead of Davis

Sano, RF: This is what a transition looks like, folks. Miguel Sano saw some action in right field on Thursday and it all didn't go well.

Sano, who is making the transition from third base to right field, converged on Deven Marrero's bloop single to right in the second inning. That was fine.
Travis Shaw legged out a double to right-center in the third inning when Sano was a little slow running over to the ball then threw a five-bouncer toward second baseman Brian Dozier.

Twins manager Paul Molitor wasn't too concerned with that play.

``I thought his route on the double to right center was fine," he said. ``And he hit the cutoff man like he was supposed to."

Two batters later, Brennan Boesch lined one to right that Sano moved to his right to catch, took the wrong angle and tried to adjust as the ball sailed over him for a double.

Sano has been a good listener, the Twins say. We'll see what he does with the information he gathered on Thursday. The Twins expected some growing pains, and they were on display Thursday.

Park at the plate: Byung Ho Park got his first hit and RBI as a Twin on Thursday when he drove in Sano with a single to right field in the second inning.

Park struck out in all three plate appearances on Wednesday at jetBlue Park. He was a different man on Thursday, swinging at the first pitch in all three plate appearances. He grounded out to short and flew out to center field in his other plate appearances.

``Good to see," Molitor said. ``We talked to make sure he's not feeling pressure to impress and he's trusting his preparation and results are not of the utmost concern," Molitor said. ``He was more relaxed today."

Park will not travel to Bradenton on Friday to face the Pirates. So there will be no meeting with fellow South Korean Jung-Ho Park, who came over last season and ended up playing well. Molitor noted that the teams play each other five times this spring.