Big error costs Twins late in loss to Cardinals

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Zebby Matthews turned in the best start of his young career, Cole Sands allowed just one hit in his two innings on the mound and Griffin Jax made quick work of the Cardinals in the eighth inning on Sunday. The Twins appeared well on their way to a series-ending victory after Royce Lewis delivered a pinch-hit double in the bottom of the eighth inning to give them the lead back.

And then, things started to unravel.

With one out in the ninth, Edouard Julien slid and knocked down a ground ball, but it went off his glove and into the outfield. The very next batter, Brendan Donovan, hit a grounder to Julien, whose throw to second instead sailed into the left field, putting runners on second and third. The Cardinals then made the Twins pay with Lars Nootbaar’s two-run single leading St. Louis to a 3-2 win in the series finale at Target Field.

“First time that I’ve ever (missed) on a double-play throw arm side,” Julien said. “I don’t know what happened. Maybe my feet weren’t turned enough, but I usually do that. I don’t know. It just happened in a bad moment, I guess.”

After the error, Jhoan Duran struck out Cardinals (65-65) left fielder Tommy Pham, putting the Twins within an out of sealing the victory. That was the closest they got.

Nootbar swung at the first pitch of his at-bat and sent a single to left to put the Twins (72-58) down for the first time all day.

“We gave it to Duran. He gets a bunch of ground balls. He really didn’t do anything to hurt his cause, but sometimes you get a bunch of ground balls and you can lose the game,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It’s a play that Eddy’s going to make almost every time.”

Duran (6-7) surrendered three hits and two runs, both were unearned.

An inning earlier, it looked as if Lewis was going to play hero, hammering a JoJo Romero changeup to the warning track in left-center field to bring in Willi Castro and give the Twins the lead back.

The game had been tied since the fifth inning when Matthews, in the best start of his young career, allowed a home run to Victor Scott II with two outs in the inning. Matthews was sharp in his outing, striking out seven batters, including two in each of his first three innings of work in his outing.

“I definitely was happy with the performance out there,” he said. “I left a slider up in the fifth inning that Scott was able to put a barrel on, but for the most part, I executed the pitchers I wanted to.”

He nearly matched Cardinals starter Erick Fedde, who quieted the Twins for the third time this season. Fedde allowed just a home run to Castro, the first batter he faced in the first inning, before settling in and not giving another run in his six innings of work.

“He’s a difficult task,” Baldelli said. “He’s proven that.”

But while the Twins weren’t really able to solve Fedde, they did have themselves in position late to win a game and, for the third time in a week, saw a potential victory turn into a tough loss.

“We probably could have found ways to score some runs today and separate a little bit and give ourselves a little bit a cushion,” Baldelli said. “When you’re trying to hold it together and keep them from scoring for many innings, sometimes just putting balls in play will lead to wins.”

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Will Louie Varland shift to the bullpen again? Twins not sure yet

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Right around this time last year, the Twins decided to move Louie Varland to the bullpen, allowing him first to get his feet wet in the role at Triple-A before deploying him as a weapon out of the major league bullpen.

Varland responded to the new challenge, giving up just two earned runs in 12 innings (1.50 ERA) to cap the regular season and making two scoreless playoff appearances. But while it appeared as if Varland could be ticketed for a similar role again late this season, injuries to starters Joe Ryan and Chris Paddack have made the decision harder — and perhaps slightly delayed it.

With rookies Simeon Woods Richardson, David Festa and Zebby Matthews already in the major league rotation pitching important innings, Varland is in Triple-A starting, serving as depth should something happen to anyone currently in the rotation.

“We can’t put ourselves ever in a spot where we run out of capable starters,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “That is always going to be the first thing that I have to bring up when we talk about Lou and his ultimate landing spot in September as far as how he’s getting his innings.”

If the Twins need another starter, he should be the first in line and shortening him up for a relief role would leave them thin on available options for the rotation.

Varland struggled in the majors earlier this season, losing his rotation spot to Woods Richardson. But he’s made a handful of spot starts in the majors since his bumpy April and performed better. He’s also pitched notably better at Triple-A.

“I don’t know the answer,” Baldelli said of Varland’s future role. “I think you could see it play out both ways.”

Topa progressing

While there’s still a question of whether or not Varland joins the bullpen at some point this year, Justin Topa is hoping to provide the Twins a late-season addition to the relief corps.

Topa has been on the injured list all season, first dealing with knee tendinitis and then elbow soreness after going on a rehab assignment earlier this month which had to be halted.

The reliever played catch at 60 feet on Sunday with no issues, will take Monday off and then return to catch play on Tuesday and Wednesday as he keeps ramping up. He hopes by the end of next week, he can be throwing off the mound.

“It’s been frustrating, getting close and then the setback with the knee the first time,” Topa said. “Knee’s been feeling probably the best it’s felt in over two years and then obviously this pops up. But you just kind of roll with the punches and try to find a silver lining in everything.”

Though Topa is aware of the time crunch — there’s a little more than a month remaining in the regular season — he still believes there’s enough time for him to get back and impact the team down the stretch.

“I think after talking to (athletic trainer) Nick (Paparesta) and everybody, once we get past that point of doing some flat ground work and get on the mound, I think it’s going to be a relatively quick ramp up,” Topa said. “Not in the sense of we’re going to try to overdo it, but in the sense of, I threw enough in St. Paul that first go-around, maybe one or two games there.”

Briefly

Max Kepler was scratched shortly before Sunday’s game with left knee soreness and Baldelli said he spent much of the day in the training room. Baldelli said he would get imaging done on his knee, at which point the team would know more. … Baldelli did not have much of an update on Alex Kirilloff, whom the Twins pulled from his rehab assignment after he experienced what the manager called “residual back soreness.” Kirilloff has been on the injured list since June 13 and played one game in St. Paul on Friday, doubling once in his five at-bats before the Twins paused his rehab assignment.

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New fishing regulations possible for Basswood, Birch, Saganaga lakes in northern Minnesota

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Anglers who like to fish some of the big, popular lakes in northeastern Minnesota should pay attention to possible rule changes, and now is the chance to give your input on those regulations.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources recently announced the possible rule changes with public meetings set for September and written comments accepted until Oct. 7.

For Saganaga and Sea Gull lakes off the Gunflint Trail — and the Seagull River and Gull Lake between them — the DNR is re-evaluating the 10-year-old experimental regulation for walleyes. The current rule allows three fish daily with a 17-inch minimum size and only one fish over 20 inches.

Edmund Isaac, DNR fisheries supervisor in Grand Marais, said he wants to hear public input before deciding whether to keep all, some or none of the current experimental regulations.

“It’s not an all-or-nothing thing; we can take parts of it people like and maybe change others,” Isaac told the News Tribune. “We want to hear what our stakeholders have to say before we put something out there.”

The Saganaga Lake system is known for producing some of the largest walleyes in the state, including the all-time state record at 17 pounds, 8 ounces, caught by LeRoy Chiovitte, of Hermantown, in 1979.

LeRoy Chiovitte holds the state-record walleye he caught May 13, 1979, and weighed on a scale that DNR staff inspected. The DNR is considering changes to the current (2024) special walleye regulations that cover Sea Gull, Saganaga and Gull lakes and the Seagull River, where Chiovitte caught the big fish. (Charles Curtis / Forum News Service)

The new regulations likely will be in effect for the 2025 open-water fishing season starting in May.

In other DNR proposals:

— Basswood Lake’s sunfish limit would become five fish daily, down from the current statewide limit of 20 daily.

— Basswood Lake’s northern pike regulations would change from the current three-fish limit with a 24- to 36-inch release slot and one fish allowed over 36 inches to the proposed two-fish limit with a 30- to 40-inch release slot and one fish over 40 inches allowed.

— Birch, Farm, South Farm, Garden and White Iron lakes would see lake-specific special regulations for northern pike eliminated (currently three-fish limit with a 24- to 36-inch release slot and one fish over 36 inches) and move to current Minnesota northeast regional northern pike limit (currently two fish daily, with a 30- to 40-inch release slot and one fish allowed over 40 inches. Spearers can take two pike daily but only one may be larger than 26 inches.)

“Our goal is to make the Basswood northern pike regulation simpler while also protecting the trophy northern pike fishery on Basswood Lake,” said Keith Reeves, DNR area fisheries supervisor in Tower.

The DNR is holding public input sessions on the regulations Sept. 20 from 6-8 p.m. in the Sea Gull Community Center and Sep. 24 from 6-8 p.m. at Minnesota North College, Vermilion campus in Ely.

The DNR is also taking input on these proposals via a survey at mndnr.gov/fishregs through Oct. 7. For more details or to comment directly by email, U.S. mail or phone about individual proposals, contact the area fisheries office (find them at mndnr.gov/areas/fisheries) for the proposals on which you wish to comment.

General input may also be submitted to Jon Hansen at jon.hansen@state.mn.us or 651-259-5239 or via U.S. mail to Fishing Regulations/Jon Hansen, Box 20, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155.

The regulation proposals also have been posted at the accesses to each lake included in the proposal.

Other lakes in Todd, Stearns and Olmsted counties could also see regulation changes for next year.

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A Cottage Grove man raises — and tracks — monarch butterflies from eggs on milkweed leaves to flights to Mexico

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As July sunlight pokes through the trees, a butterfly egg rests gently in Wojciech Poreba’s palm as he sifts through milkweed leaves at Hamlet Park in Cottage Grove.

At age 25, Poreba has four years of experience raising monarch butterflies. There is no place for impatience, he said, and being delicate is key for success.

In Poland, where he was born before arriving in the U.S. at 15 with his mother and stepfather, there are no monarchs. Instead he raised spiders and other types of butterflies, like swallowtails. Poreba currently has a giant white knee tarantula and a young sapphire tarantula, along with monarch and swallowtail caterpillars, among his collection in his room.

“I always loved insects. I have always just enjoyed watching or raising them since I was a kid,” said Poreba.

The first he learned about monarchs was through television nature shows, then he gained more knowledge through the Boy Scouts. After doing research, he decided it was time to raise them on his own.

Wojciech Poreba inspects milkweed at Hamlet Park in Cottage Grove while looking for monarch butterfly eggs Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 7, 2024. (Devanie Andre / Pioneer Press)

Raising and releasing

In 2020, Poreba raised 60 monarchs given to him by his sister from the Minnesota State Fair. Last year, after keeping track of butterflies on a spreadsheet, he raised 999 monarchs. He hopes to raise 3,000 by the end of this summer.

With 600 released in early July, Poreba has hundreds more metamorphizing in his bedroom in Cottage Grove.

Poreba collects monarch eggs from milkweed plants along parks and highways that use pesticides or are being cut down. He carefully looks under the leaves of milkweed plants — the only plant that monarch butterflies reproduce on — for white eggs the size of a pencil tip.

In places where he sees monarchs thriving, he leaves the eggs alone.

Wojciech Poreba holds one of approximately 60 monarch caterpillars that he is currently raising at his Cottage Grove home on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (Devanie Andre / Pioneer Press)

“When you raise them inside, you give them a much higher chance of survival because just 10 percent or less survive to adulthood,” said Poreba. “The number one important thing is to have milkweeds because that is the only plant that the monarch butterflies will reproduce on.”

When he collects eggs, he plucks the leaf off and places it into a bucket with other milkweed leaves. After thoroughly checking the plant, Poreba brings the eggs home to raise.

Caterpillars big and small

Monarch caterpillars big and small crawl along a row of potted milkweed plants by his bedroom window, littering the sill with dried leaves. Along the ledge are replicas of spiders and butterflies.

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On the wall hangs a poster displaying different types of bees. Above a neatly made bed is an old chrysalis, with a new one hanging beside the bedframe. On top of a large drawer are spreadsheets, tagging stickers and dried milkweed leaves holding new eggs. Next to the eggs is an old Kemps ice cream container with a swallowtail caterpillar, next to a small tarantula habitat.

The eggs take about a week to hatch, and off it goes to eat the milkweed leaves. As the larva grows into a striped caterpillar, Poreba moves it to a milkweed plant by his windowsill.

There, the caterpillars are free to roam and eat until they grow to full size, which takes another two weeks.

Poreba lets the caterpillars climb to the top of his window frame as they prepare to form a chrysalis. He likes to keep a close eye on the caterpillars as they decorate the window frame with green cocoons. As the chrysalises form and set, metamorphosis starts — a process that turns the caterpillars into colorful monarch butterflies.

Tagging stickers

Finally, after two to three weeks, the striped caterpillar emerges as a orange-winged butterfly. Once the monarch’s wings are fully dried, Poreba carefully places tagging stickers — just a few centimeters in size — on its wing. The stickers are used to track the butterflies as they travel to Mexico. Eastern monarchs make the journey to Mexico, while western ones travel to coastal California.

Poreba has been doing this process for four years in Minnesota with tags from Monarch Watch, a research, education and monarch butterfly tracking program through the University of Kansas.

Each fall, the group distributes more than a quarter of a million tags to volunteers across North America. The volunteers capture monarchs throughout the migration season, record the tag code, tag date, gender of the butterfly and geographic location, then tag and release them. At the end of the tagging season, this information is submitted to Monarch Watch for their research.

Last year, Poreba became a Boy Scouts Cubmaster and now helps teach young people about insects. By helping Minnesotans raise and learn more about monarch butterflies and their importance to the ecosystem, he hopes that others will be encouraged to plant butterfly gardens and protect natural habitats for them.

Wojciech Poreba observes his milkweed plants that house and feed approximately 60 caterpillars on a windowsill at his home in Cottage Grove on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (Devanie Andre / Pioneer Press)

“If you don’t have experience raising monarch butterflies, you can just simply plant one milkweed for them. That is extremely helpful for them already and you can learn what they look like so that you know not to pull out milkweeds or spray them with pesticides,” said Poreba.

He hopes to raise enough butterflies to create a public release event in the fall. He said he’d like more people to appreciate them and other insects.

“I would say not to be scared of insects. Not all insects are harmful. Many insects are extremely beneficial for our gardens. Without bees, we wouldn’t be here. Bees are (the) number one insects that pollinate flowers to create forests.”

More about monarchs

Monarch butterflies have bright orange-red wings with black veins that are speckled with white spots along the edges. Monarchs are known to migrate across North America and Canada to Mexico, then return to their homes to reproduce and start the cycle again.

The monarch butterfly is the only butterfly known to make a two-way migration, according to the U.S. Forest Service website.

Butterflies are among many pollinators in nature and though they are not the most efficient pollinators, they are recognizable and well-known. Pollinators come in many shapes and sizes, and are beneficial for the health and reproduction of flowering plants.

Wojciech Poreba finds a monarch butterfly egg on a milkweed plant at Hamlet Park in Cottage Grove on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (Devanie Andre / Pioneer Press)

In December 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared monarchs to be “warranted and precluded,” which put the monarch butterfly on the candidate list for endangered species due to higher priority listings. The list is where the status of a species is held under review each year until it is no longer a candidate.

On July 21, 2022, the International Union for Conservation of Nature announced that monarch butterflies have entered the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as endangered. This is the first time the butterfly was officially declared at risk of extinction.

Milkweeds are vital to the reproduction of monarch butterflies since it is the only food source for larvae. By destroying habitats with milkweed plants, either from pesticides or cutting down natural terrain, the reproduction rates of monarchs decline.

In order to efficiently raise monarchs, it’s important to do research on what they are and how to take care of them. Monarch Joint Venture, a 501(c)(3) organization, is one of many that can provide resources and ways to help monarchs.

Washington County’s efforts recognized

Meanwhile, this summer Washington County’s Public Works Department received two national awards for its efforts to protect monarch butterfly habitat.

The Biggest Adopter Award is given to partners with the most acres using adopted conservation measures. And the Highflyer Award is given to those with the highest percentage of adopted acres above a 2023 target.

The awards were presented to county staff by the Monarch Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances Program, a voluntary program working to protect and grow monarch butterfly habitat.

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