Saints finish season-opening road trip with one victory, one defeat and a lot of injured players They barely had enough players to put on the field in the finale at Omaha.
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PAPILLION, NEB. – The St.Paul Saints soon will play their first home game as the Twins Class AAA affiliate. Hopefully by then, they will have enough healthy players to form a bench.
The Saints closed out their season-opening series with the Omaha Storm Chasers by splitting two games Sunday, making it through to the end despite being down so many players that they had to bat their pitcher twice.
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FORT MYERS, FLA. – In two spring trainings with the Twins, Marwin Gonzalez hit one home run at Hammond Stadium. He found that missing power stroke, from both sides of the plate, on Thursday.
Gonzalez, who signed with the Red Sox as a free agent last month, gave the Red Sox an early lead with a first-inning home run, then slugged a long three-run home run off former teammate Devin Smeltzer in the fifth inning, leading Boston to a 5-4, eight-inning victory over the Twins.
Rookie Alex Kirilloff provided Minnesota s only run until the final inning, crushing a 410-foot home run over the center field fence, his first of the spring, off starter Eduardo Rodriguez in the second inning.
Jordan Balazovic throws strong inning vs Red Sox mlb.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mlb.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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FORT MYERS, FLA. – The Twins won in a walk-off on Tuesday, though neither team walked off at the time.
Miguel Sano doubled home pinch-runner Drew Maggi in the final inning of a seven-inning game at Hammond Stadium, and the Twins, held to only one hit in the first six innings, eventually claimed a 1-0 Grapefruit League victory over the Orioles.
Two more Twins batted after Sano s game-winner, in order to give Baltimore reliever Connor Greene a few more pitches.
A strong, steady wind and some strong, steady pitching limited the Twins and Orioles to three hits apiece and kept the game scoreless until Minnesota finally broke through in the seventh. Jorge Polanco grounded a one-out single to right off Greene, and Sano followed by lining a 3-1 changeup into the left-field corner, earning the Twins their second straight victory and evening their spring record at 4-4.