Somewhat lost in the four hits, one walk and two errors of the Twins’ six-run fourth inning on Saturday was the fact that the deciding volley in a 6-1 victory over Houston started and ended with players taking extra bases.

After being hit on the left hand by a pitch from Spencer Arrighetti to start the inning, Byron Buxton stole second and scored on a fielding error by Jose Altuve to tie the game, 1-1.

With two out and the bases empty later in the inning, Christian Vazquez sent a line drive into the left field gap and, determined to take advantage of Altuve’s arm, quickly decided it was a double. He scored on Matt Wallner’s double to make it 6-1.

“I’m fast (and) I know Altuve has not a good arm, and I was trying to go to second base,” explained Vazquez, a former teammate. “I had it.”

Vazquez immediately popped up and declared himself safe, a call upheld by second base umpire John Tumpane.

“Bottom of the order, if we can do that for the big boys at the top of the order, that’s huge for us,” said Vazquez, the veteran catcher who batted ninth. Wallner was the leadoff hitter. “It was fun.”

Buxton’s previous at-bat changed narratives quickly. After being hit on the left hand by a 96.2 mph four-seam fastball, he was quickly followed to first base by Baldelli and head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta. He convinced them he was OK, then quickly stole second, reaching the bag with the same hand.

“We saw that and it was like, ‘OK, let’s go. We’ve gotta get going,’ ” said third baseman Jose Miranda, who cleared the bases later in the inning with a three-run home run off Arrighetti.

Buxton, known as the Buck Truck for being able to carry the team at certain junctures of a game, said he takes pride in making plays that inspire his teammates.

“A lot of pride,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I’m the Energizer Bunny, but when it starts, it kind of comes in bunches. So, I think that goes for whoever would have started that, you know? It’s always fun to be able to start that inning, and I ended the inning too.”

That was a strikeout against Tayler Scott, but by then, the Twins had landed the fatal blow.

Big outs for Alcala

The Twins started the season believing they have one of baseball’s best bullpens, and through eight games that’s been the case.

After five relievers each threw a scoreless on Saturday, the bullpen is 2-1 with a 2.25 earned-run average (sixth in MLB) in 32 innings (seventh). They’re fifth in runs-against (eight) and tied for ninth with 10 walks.

The job, right-hander Louis Varland said, “Is to strikeouts, limit runs, limit walks.”

Varland, Cole Sands, Jorge Alcala, Justin Topa and Jhoan Duran all pitched scoreless innings on Saturday. Alcala, a big right-hander with a power arm, worked out of trouble after loading the bases with one out on double, single and hit by pitch.

After a pair of visits by pitching coach Pete Maki, Alcalde got out of the jam by striking out Yordan Alvarez looking and getting Christian Walker to fly out.

“He bared down and did really well,” Varland said. “Showed some guts out there. You love to see it.”

Briefly

Starter Ober lowered his ERA from 27.00 to 12.50 by giving up one run, a homer by Jose Altuve, in four innings … Right-hander Chris Paddack (0-1, 24.40 ERA) is scheduled to pitch Sunday against Astros starter Ronel Blanco (0-1, 5:40).

First game the walks, then the hits and the runs.

Edouard Julien and Christian Ramirez drew walks in a scoreless third inning off Houston starter Spencer Arrighetti, snapping a two-game run without a base on balls by Minnesota. Then the floodgates opened in the fourth.

Jose Miranda hit a three-run home run, and Matt Wallner added a run-scoring double as the Twins erased a one-run deficit on four hits, another walk and two errors in the fourth inning to beat the Astros, 6-1, on Saturday at Target Field.

Miranda’s home run, his first of the young season, was the centerpiece of a six-run inning that ultimately evened a three-game series that concludes Sunday with a noon first pitch.

Bailey Ober struggled with his control in his second start of the season but limited damage against him to Jose Altuve’s leadoff home run, largely on the strength of five timely strikeouts. He was relieved by Louis Varland after allowing three hits and a pair of walks in four innings.

Varland, Cole Sands (1-1), Jorge Alcala, Justin Topa and Jhoan Duran each threw a scoreless innings for the Twins (3-5).

Arrighetti (1-1) pitched 4⅔ innings, giving up Miranda’s two-out, three-run homer on a 78 mph curveball. That scored the batter plus Edouard Julien, who reached on a fielder’s choice, and Trevor Larnach, who had walked.

Next batter Christian Vazquez hustled out a double, spelling the end for Arrighetti, who was charged with five runs on three hits and three walks. The Twins’ first run came in when Byron Buxton hustled in from second on an outfield error, but Buxton had reached after being hit by Arrighetti.

Buxton, playing center field, stayed in the game and took two more at-bats.

Vazquez later scored on Matt Wallner’s double off right-hander Tayler Scott. Wallner scored on Scott’s error when he tried to throw out Carlos Correa on a dribbler down the third–base line. That made it 6-1.

Altuve, who started the game with a home run off Ober into the shallow seats of the left field bleachers, went 3 for 5 for Houston.

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A pair of Minnesota Lynx legends are going into the Basketball Hall of Fame later this year.

Sylvia Fowles and Maya Moore were both announced as inductees on Saturday.

Fowles won a pair of titles with Minnesota — in 2015 and 2017. She was Finals MVP in both of those championship-clinching seasons and also was League MVP in 2017. The WNBA’s all-time leading rebounder (4,006) and four-time Olympic gold medalist will also go into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame this year.

Moore won four titles with Minnesota (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017), winning Finals MVP in 2013 and League MVP in 2014. Moore won a pair of Olympic golds with Team USA.

“I don’t think (any) one of us go into this thinking that we’re going to be Hall of Famers,” Fowles said. “You just do your job … and when it’s all said and done, the job is complete and here we are.”

On the men’s side, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard will also be inducted, not once but twice. And LeBron James and Chris Paul are part of the group that’s headed to the Hall as well, even before their playing careers end.

Anthony and Howard were announced Saturday as members of the Class of 2025, as was the 2008 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team that they played on — dubbed the “Redeem Team,” the one that captured gold at the Beijing Games and started a still-going run of five consecutive Olympic titles and counting for USA Basketball’s men’s program.

Also selected for enshrinement: WNBA great Sue Bird, Chicago Bulls coach and two-time NCAA champion Billy Donovan, Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison and longtime NBA referee Danny Crawford.

“I made it to the real basketball heaven,” Howard said. “It’s crazy.”

Enshrinement weekend is Sept. 5-6 at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, and the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

“When the call comes and in my case, I saw Springfield on the phone,” Anthony said on the televised announcement. “You know what time it is Springfield is on the phone. You know who it is. You get the phone call and you hear, ‘You’re in.’ And I think for me, it was a burden off of my shoulders.”

Donovan won back-to-back titles as a college coach with Florida. Arison oversaw Miami’s path to NBA titles in 2006, 2012 and 2013. Crawford worked NBA games for 32 seasons and was picked to work the NBA Finals in 23 of those years.

“For some, this is an individual honor,” Arison said. “But for me, this speaks to what our entire Heat family — players, coaches, staff and fans — have built together.”

Combined, the five players selected as individuals – Bird, Moore, Fowles, Howard and Anthony – were part of 11 WNBA or NBA championship teams, won 15 Olympic gold medals, made 37 All-NBA or All-WNBA appearances and were named as All-Stars 45 times in their careers.

“Surreal,” Bird said of her selection. “I don’t think there’s any way to really wrap your head around it.”

The Redeem Team’s selection means that Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant — already enshrined as Hall of Famers — essentially now go in for a second time. James and Paul, who are obviously both locks to get into the Hall after they retire, also played for that Olympic team, as did Anthony, Howard, Michael Redd, Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams and Tayshaun Prince.

That team’s managing director was Jerry Colangelo, who now chairs the Hall of Fame.

“We developed a set of standards where all the guys lived by those standards,” said former Duke coach and 2001 Hall of Fame inductee Mike Krzyzewski, who coached that 2008 Olympic team. “They were the best group of guys. I wish like crazy that Kobe was here. He was really the key guy, I think. As many great players as we had at that point, he was the greatest and everyone looked up to him.”

Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others were killed in a 2020 helicopter crash. Bryant was enshrined posthumously into the Hall later that year.

The Redeem Team had that moniker because it was the team tasked with restoring USA Basketball’s place atop the world stage, after the 2004 Olympic team only managed a bronze medal at the Athens Games. The Redeem Team went 8-0 in Beijing, winning those games by an average of 27.9 points.

“USA Basketball is thrilled to see the 2008 U.S. Men’s Olympic Team elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame,” USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley said. “The Redeem Team’s celebrated run in Beijing marks a pivotal moment in U.S. men’s Olympic basketball history and has propelled us to five straight gold medals.

“Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard, members of that team and individual inductees, are two of the many legends in this Class who have contributed to our organization’s success over the last 20-plus years, including Sue Bird, Billy Donovan, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles,” Tooley added.

UConn’s women’s program already had coach Geno Auriemma, Swin Cash (enshrined as a player) and Rebecca Lobo (enshrined as a contributor) in the Hall of Fame, and Bird and Moore going in together will obviously add to what’s always a huge weekend in New England.

“They’re hall of famers for me, they’re hall of famers for their family, they’re hall of famers for everybody — they’re even hall of famers for UConn haters,” Auriemma said. “That’s one thing they can all agree on.”

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WASHINGTON — A little more than three decades before Alex Ovechkin’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record, the “Great One” had his own chase.

Gretzky was in hot pursuit of Gordie Howe’s record in the spring of 1994. Howe was there when Gretzky tied and passed him. His father, Walter Gretzky, told him to be there, be supportive and be proud if anyone approached the record again.

Heeding his father’s advice, Gretzky made his first in-person appearance for Ovechkin in time to see the Washington Capitals captain score his 893rd and 894th goals to tie his mark. But Gretzky has been helping Ovechkin since far before Friday night.

It was December 2022, and Ovechkin stalled out just short of passing Howe for second on the all-time list, going four whole games without a goal.

“I called him and I said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to relax out there,’ ” Gretzky recalled. “And he’s like, ‘You know, I’m pressing.’ And I said, ‘For most people, that’s 20 games without a goal.’ ”

Gretzky told Ovechkin he would be at 900 goals before he knows it. Not so fast, though Ovechkin gets his first opportunity at No. 895 and sole possession of one of hockey’s biggest records on Sunday when the Capitals play the New York Islanders in Elmont, N.Y.

Of course, Gretzky will be there. Ovechkin wouldn’t have it any other way.

Sitting beside him, Ovechkin turned and said: “Thank you, Wayne, for your support, for your kindness. It’s great.”

“I’m very happy to be in this spot,” Ovechkin said. “I’m always gonna be grateful for it, and thanks to Wayne, how he supports me, how he always gives me advice to be patient, don’t put yourself in a stress position. I’m happy right now.”

The happiness was like a wave throughout the night, from a pregame ceremony honoring teammates with whom Ovechkin won the Stanley Cup with in 2018, through his two goals and a video montage of the path to 894.

After the game was over, Ovechkin and Gretzky shared a moment inside the Capitals locker room, a hug and some words before taking pictures to celebrate the occasion.

“You could tell he was genuinely happy for ‘O,’ ” longtime teammate Tom Wilson said. “To see those two guys standing together and embracing, giving each other a hug and a congratulations, I don’t think 10-year-old Tom would have thought he would ever be in that room to see that happen. Just an incredible moment between the two best goal scorers of all time.”

At some point, whether it’s Sunday, Thursday at home against Carolina or next weekend in either half of a back to back against Columbus, Ovechkin should surpass Gretzky.

Asked what he might tell Ovechkin when that happens, Gretzky quipped, “Why’d you do it?”

In reality, Gretzky will likely have a smile on his face like Howe did on March 31, 1994, because he knows what this chase means for the sport.

“It’s really been a wonderful journey for everyone,” Gretzky said. “It’s great for hockey. I’m so happy for the league. I’m so proud of Alex. … Great for the people in Washington and hockey fans all over the world.”

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