The Loons are within striking distance of the No. 1 seed in the West after downing San Jose 4-1 on Saturday in St. Paul.

The Loons now have 40 points, second most in the West and just two fewer than conference-leading San Diego.

Loons head coach Eric Ramsay feels the Loons’ current positioning in the table is just given the club’s performance.

“I think we’ve sustained form over a difficult period. I really wanted to make sure we kept our heads above water in June. … I wanted to make sure at the end of this five-game block, we are keeping pace at the top,” Ramsay told reporters. “I think as long as we’re in touching distance, we can finish this year really, really well. I think we’ve got a lot of margin to improve. I feel like we have the potential to do what we did last year, I feel the players have got a lot of belief. It’s a really exciting thing to be a part of, and I feel everyone connected to the group can sense the energy and the real belief that we can win every game and beat everyone in front of us.”

The party got started in the fourth minute Saturday, as Tani Oluwaseyi scored his eighth goal of the season via a corner kick redirect. Robin Lod put a header on target that was seemingly headed directly for the San Jose keeper, before Oluwaseyi’s foot changed the ball’s trajectory right in front of the net and put Minnesota United up 1-0.

That assist was Lod’s 34th with the Loons, giving him the most in franchise regular season history, one clear of Emanuel Reynoso.

The Loons went up 2-0 in the 42nd minute, when Oluwaseyi beat multiple defenders on a majestic run to the end line, then delivered a perfect cross to Kelvin Yeboah, who snuck a header inside the far post for his sixth goal of the campaign.

Minnesota United made it 3-0 in first half stoppage time when the club’s set piece mastery continued as Anthony Markanich scored on a right-footed blast resulting off a corner.

San Jose scored early in the second stanza to trip the Loons’ lead to 3-1, but Oluwaseyi officially put the game away in stoppage time with another dominant run that resulted in his second assist of the need, a feed to Joseph Rosales for an easy goal.

San Jose held possession for 65% of the contest, but Minnesota United had 12 shots to the Earthquakes’ 10 and put six shots on target, versus San Jose’s four.

Ramsay lamented the lack of a clean sheet and cited a few decision-making errors at various points in the contest that need to improve as the Loons continue their evolution, but couldn’t deny the general quality of play from his club.

“I think, in general, it was a high-level performance,” Ramsay said. “And I think the score reflected that. I think the number of chances we had reflected that. … In many ways, it is the hallmark of why we’re such a difficult team to play against.”

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Saige Wimes’ late goal sends Aurora FC into USL W-League semifinals

Three years ago, the Minnesota Aurora advanced to the USL W League national championship game in their inaugural season.

Saturday night, another team playing its first year in the league stopped them one step short of returning.

A goal by Ellie Walbruch in extra time at the end of the first half proved to be the difference as the expansion Utah United topped the Aurora 1-0 in a national semifinal matchup before a crowd of 5,607 at TCO Stadium in Eagan.

The United (12-1-0) advance to face defending champion NC Courage U23 — which defeated Asheville City SC 2-1 in Saturday’s other semifinal — for the national title next weekend.

Minnesota finished its season 12-1-2 overall.

Utah — which entered play leading the league in goals — controlled the tempo for much of the first half, keeping the pressure on Minnesota goalkeeper Taylor Kane and the Aurora defense.

Yet, Aurora forward Ava Westlund started to assert herself as play went on, firing off a shot from just to the left off United goalkeeper Taylor Rath, then breaking free in front of the Utah net before Rath stepped up to make another save.

That set the stage for Walbruch to score in extra time, beating Kane to the ball and driving it into the net to put the United up by a goal at halftime. It marked just the second goal the Aurora had surrendered at home all season.

Minnesota managed to keep the pressure on in the second half, including three shots that sailed high of the net in extra time, but could not find a way to get the ball past Rath.

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On a day when Minnesota fans were in line hours before first pitch to get their hands on a Byron Buxton bobblehead giveaway, the Twins leadoff hitter put on a show worthy of being immortalized in sports memorabilia form.

Buxton, one of two Twins bound for Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Atlanta, went 5 for 5 and became the first player in Target Field history to hit for the cycle. He capped off the rare feat with a seventh-inning home run to deep, straightaway center field as Minnesota trounced the Pittsburgh Pirates 12-4, winning for the sixth time in its past eight games.

Buxton singled in the first, tripled in the second, hit a ground-rule double in the third, singled in the fifth and homered late, becoming the first Twin to hit for the cycle since Jorge Polanco did it in an April 2019 game in Philadelphia.

“Feels good. Obviously I’ve got my teammates there. The support they have amongst us in that dugout is pretty incredible. I think that was a big reason to note,” Buxton, who missed a game earlier in the week after taking a pitch off the hand. “They kept me going. ‘Buck, you’re going to do it today.’ They told me that. It was just one of those where you have to believe in yourself that you’re going to do it. I think all of those guys in there believe in me more than I believe in myself sometimes.”

Opener Cole Sands pitched two perfect innings before a trio of relievers came on to finish the game. Travis Adams (1-0) got his first major league win with four innings of work. Kody Clemens, Matt Wallner and Willi Castro also homered for the Twins, who improved to 47-48 with the win. Justin Topa struck out two Pirates in the ninth to close the game.

“Obviously the hitters are better here. So just being a little more precise with executing my pitches and knowing where I can miss and not miss,” said Adams, who was making his second major league appearance. “And I think just to be a little more aggressive with hitters, I had a little better mentality, and results were better.”

Pittsburgh starter Matt Burrows (1-3) was hit hard early, and lifted after 1 1/3 innings.

While Sands needed just 19 pitches to cruise through the first two innings, Burrows had two Twins on base in the first inning, then hit a serious snag in the second. With one out, Burrows walked Royce Lewis with control problems, and followed by hitting Ty France with a pitch. Next up, Clemens sailed the first pitch he faced deep into the right-field seats for a 3-0 lead.

Buxton, who had led off the game with an infield single, tripled just beyond the reach of Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz, and came home when Willi Castro’s swinging bunt died between the mound and the plate for a 4-0 lead. Following a walk of Trevor Larnach, Castro came home on Ryan Jeffers’ single to right, which chased Burrows from the game.

The first batter faced by Pittsburgh reliever Genesis Cabrera, Brooks Lee, dropped a double down the left-field line to score Larnach for a 6-0 lead before the Pirates got out of the inning. In total, the Twins sent 11 to the plate in their half of the second inning.

They touched Cabrera for three more runs in the third.

Adams, on in relief of Sands, pitched a perfect third but encountered turbulence in the fourth. With one out he walked Andrew McCutchen, then allowed a single to Bryan Reynolds for Pittsburgh’s first hit of the game. Nick Gonzalez hit a hard grounder to third, but Lewis misplayed the ball and McCutchen scored on the fielding error.

Adams’ initial pitch of the fifth became a souvenir when Jack Suwinski popped it into the second deck in right field. It was Suwinski’s first homer of the season and made the score 9-2.

Buxton came up for the fifth time with two outs in the seventh and blasted an Andrew Heaney pitch 427 feet over the park’s deepest fence. He left the game but not before coming out of the dugout for a curtain call prompted by the fans.

“One of the hardest things to do in our game is to try to hit a home run and then proceed to hit a home run,” said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, who noted that he was taking two of the bobbleheads home — one for himself and one for his daughter. “You only maybe, if you’re lucky and play a long time and you’re a great player, only maybe get a couple of opportunities to complete a cycle. And do it by hitting a home run when you need a home run? I don’t know. I’ve never seen it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before. Wouldn’t doubt if I never see it again. Unless he does it tomorrow.”

Buxton became the 12th Twin ever to hit for the cycle, and the first to do so in a home game since Michael Cuddyer did so in May 2009 versus Milwaukee at the Metrodome.

“It’s special. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous before the game started, just knowing it was bobblehead day. Obviously, you want to come out and do something good,” Buxton said, after becoming just the second player in baseball to record a cycle this season. “So, to be able to come out on bobblehead day and have a day like this is something I won’t forget. Obviously, it’s the first one. So, cherish it and move on tomorrow.”

The series concludes on Sunday with the first pitch scheduled for 1:10 p.m. Minnesota will send right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson (5-4) to the mound to face Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller (3-10).

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While full-out splash and dazzle musicals can make for a memorable night at the theater, there’s something uniquely rewarding about being in a small room with one or two people, listening to them unspool their stories. At such times, theater can provide an intimate human connection that nothing on a screen can match.

If such an experience sounds appealing, I strongly recommend Artistry’s involving little production of “Love and Baseball.” It’s a small, sweet play about a man and woman who drift in and out of one another’s lives over the course of a few years, navigating changes in the dynamic between them, which could land them in friendship, romance or a bitter feud, depending upon their decisions.

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Artistry’s take on Jerry Montoya’s deft hybrid of comedy and drama is a tremendously well-executed show that features two finely crafted and disarmingly natural performances. It invites your emotional investment in the perseverance and happiness of these two individuals over the course of the play’s 90 intermission-less minutes. And you don’t have to care a bit about baseball to enjoy it. But if you are a fan, there’s even more to like.

In the Bloomington Center for the Arts’ cozy little Black Box, Katie Phillips has created a clever set that’s part living room and part baseball diamond, complete with on-deck circles and furniture in place of infielders. “Love and Baseball” plays out in three scenes, spaced in two-year intervals, beginning with philosophy professor Michele awaiting a friend’s arrival at his apartment when his roommate, filmmaker Will, barrels in and is startled to find her there.

Despite his palpable longing to turn on a playoff game involving his beloved Los Angeles Dodgers, Will engages her in conversation that subtly conveys a mutual attraction between these very different people, spiced with explanations of philosophical principles and, as the title would suggest, baseball. In Montoya’s well-constructed script, each of the three scenes includes Will telling a story from Major League Baseball lore that serves as a metaphor for if, and how, this relationship may progress.

It evolves into a finely spun tale that’s well worth experiencing. In his detail-oriented direction, Eric Morris has clearly impressed upon his actors that this is an opportunity to be seized with relish: a chance to shape a nuanced, life-sized character and travel in tandem with another to engage an audience in the experience of watching a relationship unfold before their eyes.

And the actors do marvelous things with their characters, particularly Kendra Mueller, who bears most of the emotional heavy lifting as Michele, a woman of both confidence and vulnerability who’s a grounded realist but also a flirtatious adventurer. As we watch Michele’s journey unfold, Mueller is magnetic, conveying joy, rage and heartbreak in a compellingly convincing portrayal.

Dustin Bronson’s Will is also captivating company, unpeeling for us the layers of a man who at first seems of almost stereotypical simplicity, but whose feelings for baseball may prove the key to what Michele wants in her life: a man capable of deep, devoted love.

Dustin Bronson and Kendra Mueller in Artistry Theater & Visual Arts’ production of “Love and Baseball,” a comedy about a possible relationship between a filmmaker and a philosophy professor that’s foiled and perhaps sparked by luck and timing. It runs at the Bloomington Center for the Arts through Aug. 2, 2025. (Courtesy of Alyssa Kristine Photography)

Similarly, Artistry’s production feels suffused with a love of the art of making theater. I recommend you catch it.

‘Love and Baseball’

When: Through July 28

Where: Artistry Black Box, Bloomington Center for the Arts, 1800 Old Shakopee Road W., Bloomington

Tickets: $50-$33, available at 952-563-8575 or artistrymn.org

Capsule: Richly rewarding, it’s an intimate little night at the theater.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.