Manager Ron Gardenhire knew he had to be flexible in order to juice up the Twins' often-slumbering offense, but he didn't know it would be so hard. And he's seen enough.
"Give up defense for offense?" Gardenhire asked Monday. "Well, I've watched it for 43 games, and I'm not very happy with it. I don't like it. We're going to try to put people out there to catch the ball." They haven't done much of that lately. The Twins have committed 36 errors this season, second most in the American League, and the former infielder managing the team intends to fix it.
Step One: Gardenhire removed second baseman Brendan Harris from his lineup Monday, making him the team's designated hitter, at least for a day. Harris leads Twins infielders with five errors, and has failed to turn double plays on a handful of other occasions.
More changes could be coming, the manager said, including giving chances to young infielder Alexi Casilla.
"We're not catching the ball the way we like to see us catch the ball," Gardenhire said. "I can't live with too many mistakes, I just can't live with it. It's not fun baseball."
TWINS 7, RANGERS 6 (12 innings): Carlos Gomez wasn't supposed to play because of a sore right wrist, and Howie Clark is the newly arrived 25th man. But Gomez beat out an infield hit, then scored the winning run on Clark's double to straightaway center field, helping the Twins climb back to .500. Bobby Korecky earned his first major league victory by rescuing the Twins from a bases-loaded jam in the 11th inning, and also picked up his first big-league hit. Joe Mauer delivered a game-tying single in the ninth inning to rally the Twins and send the game to extra innings.
