Given the team’s recent struggles at the plate, the Twins are looking for production anywhere they can get. That means rookie utility man Austin Martin better be ready for some more playing time.

While the Twins struggled to solve Dodgers pitching ace Tyler Glasnow in a 6-3 loss to Los Angeles on Tuesday night at Target Field, Martin proved to be the only player who had any sort of success. He recorded the first hit of his major league career when a line drive landed in the outfield for a hustle double. He followed that up by pulling a rocket down the line for another double in his next at-bat.

Asked about Glasnow’s dominance after he recorded 14 strikeouts, only needing 88 pitches to do so, catcher Ryan Jeffers summed it up perfectly in the Twins clubhouse.

“He was better than all of us today,” Jeffers said. “Except Austin.”

Not bad considering Martin made his major-league debut just a couple of weeks ago. What was working so well?

“It was pretty simple,” Martin said. “Just see the ball, hit the ball.”

That’s always been his style. He prefers to simplify things in the batter’s box as much as he can. That has served him well over the years.

“He has a different type of approach than most of our hitters here,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We don’t have as many guys that have his sort of more contact-related approach. He sees the ball usually really deep before making any sort of decisions. He’s not generally trying to hit the ball as hard.”

That’s exactly what the Twins are the looking for at the moment.

“Anyone that goes out there and battles out good at bats, and hits balls hard, and plays the game the right way,” Baldelli said. “Anyone that wants to do that right now is probably going to earn some at-bats and get an opportunity to go out there and play.”

That bodes well for Martin as he tries to find his place on the team.

“Just trying to take advantage of every opportunity I get,” he said. “Just enjoy my time here and compete to the best of my ability.”

As for the first hit of his major-league career, Martin tried to downplay it, saying he knew it was only a matter of time.

“It was cool to get it out of the way,” he said. “I’m glad that my dad was able to be here and see it live.”

He paused.

“It was a bittersweet,” Martin said. “I’d rather go 0 for 4 with four strikeouts and us win the game.”

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Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Aerosmith have announced dates for their rescheduled farewell tour, which will now hit St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center on Jan. 22.

All previously purchased tickets will be honored for the rescheduled shows. Ticketholders will receive more information via email. Additional tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday through Ticketmaster. Neither the promoter nor the venue announced prices. The Black Crowes will open.

The tour kicked off in September 2023 and was scheduled to stop in St. Paul on Nov. 13. But Steven Tyler first hurt his vocal cords on the third night of the tour, a Sept. 9 concert in New York, which led to the group postponing a half dozen dates. After Tyler took an extended break from singing, his doctors found further damage.

“Unfortunately, Steven’s vocal injury is more serious than initially thought,” read a post on the band’s Facebook page. “His doctor has confirmed that in addition to the damage to his vocal cords, he fractured his larynx which requires ongoing care. He is receiving the best medical treatment available to ensure his recovery is swift, but given the nature of a fracture, he is being told patience is essential.”

Formed in Boston in 1970, Aerosmith scored a series of hits that remain radio staples to this day, including “Sweet Emotion,” “Walk This Way” and “Dream On.” But by the 1980s, drug addiction and clashing personalities nearly led to the end of the group. After several members went through rehab, Aerosmith made a stunning comeback, becoming MTV darlings and selling even more records the second time around.

Over the past dozen years, Aerosmith’s future has been shaky. Flamboyant frontman Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry have publicly feuded over Tyler’s stint as a judge on “American Idol” and his failed attempt to launch a solo country career with 2016’s “We’re All Somebody from Somewhere.”

In 2015, band members began publicly discussing a final tour and a 2017 European outing was billed as their farewell. More recently, Aerosmith played an extended Las Vegas residency as well as the first Twin Cities Summer Jam in 2019.

Drummer Joey Kramer, who came up with the band’s name, will not be part of the tour. In a news release, the group said: “While Joey Kramer remains a beloved founding member of Aerosmith, he has regrettably made the decision to sit out the currently scheduled touring dates to focus his full attention on his family and health. Joey’s unmistakable and legendary presence behind the drum kit will be sorely missed.” Kramer’s second wife Linda died in June 2022.

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By LISA MASCARO, JILL COLVIN and STEPHEN GROVES (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson will meet on Friday with Donald Trump for a press conference on election integrity at the presumed Republican presidential nominee’s Mar-a-Lago club, a Trump campaign official said.

The joint appearance comes as the embattled Johnson is fighting for his job as House speaker in the face of a threat of ouster from hard-line Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a top Trump ally.

Johnson, of Louisiana, told GOP lawmakers at a private meeting early Tuesday he had spoken with Trump the night before, but he shared no details of their talk.

Another person familiar with the planning said Johnson and Trump will have a “joint announcement” on Friday but provided no other details.

The new Republican speaker, once skeptical of Trump, became a key supporter. He led one of the main legal challenges to the 2020 election in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by the mob of Trump’s supporters trying to stop certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over him.

Since becoming the House speaker, after the ouster last fall of Kevin McCarthy, Johnson has tried to keep a close relationship with Trump. The two speak regularly as Johnson works to keep critics at bay.

The issue of election integrity has been an obsession for Trump since he lost the 2020 election, even though elections are broadly secure and every state in the union certified its 2020 results that were sent to Congress.

Greene met with Johnson at the Capitol on Tuesday as she works to force a snap election to remove him from office.

Johnson offered to give her a spot on a proposed “kitchen cabinet” of advisers to the speaker, Greene said as she left the nearly hourlong session, but she said she was more interested in how he handles several issues before Congress, particularly aid for Ukraine, which she opposes. She has not publicly discussed when she may bring up the motion to vacate and told reporters she does not yet have a “red line” for bringing up the action.

Johnson’s planned meeting with Trump was first reported on CNN.