Twins power past Mariners, 6-3

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The Twins didn’t get a ton of hits against Seattle right-hander George Kirby on Wednesday, but the ones they did made a mark.

Carlos Correa, Trevor Larnach and Willi Castro hit solo home runs, and Castro hit a run-scoring triple as the Twins beat the Mariners 6-3 in front of 15,685 at Target Field.

The Twins put five men on base on four hits and a walk off Kirby and all scored. Correa and Larnach hit back-to-back, one-out home runs in the first inning, and Castro added another in the second for a 3-0 lead.

Kirby (3-3) walked Correa with one out in the fourth, and Castro brought him home with a triple into the right-field corner to make it 4-1. Of the Twins’ seven hits, only one was a single.

By contrast, Twins starter Chris Paddack (4-1) allowed nine base runners in 5⅓ innings on eight hits and a walk. But he mitigated the damage with 10 strikeouts. The only one of those Mariners base runners to score was Mitch Garver, whose solo home run in the fourth cut the Twins’ lead to 3-1.

The Twins took a 2-1 lead in a four-game series that ends with a 12:10 p.m. first pitch on Thursday and avoided losing consecutive games for the first time since they lost five straight April 14-19.

Max Kepler hit a run-scoring double in the eighth inning to extend his hitting streak to 10 games, tying a career high he had achieved twice before. Jhoan Duran pitched the ninth for his third save.

The Mariners rallied for two in the seventh. Julio Rodriguez hit a one-out single off Caleb Thielbar, bringing Baldelli out of the dugout to summon Griffin Jax. Jax got Jorge Polanco to fly out to center for the second out, but he walked Mitch Haniger and Cal Raleigh hit a two-run double to left-center to make it 4-3.

But Jax retired the side in order in the eighth inning, and the Twins added a pair of two-out runs in their half of the inning. Edouard Julien walked and scored on Ryan Jeffers’ double, and Kepler drove Jeffers home with a drive off the right-field wall to make it 6-3.

Duran pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save. In five appearances, the big right-hander has allowed no runs, two hits, no walks and has struck out eight.

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Owner of Minneapolis-St. Paul-West St. Paul Mexican restaurants charged with tax crimes

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The owner and operator of Hamburguesas El Gordo has been charged with 10 felony tax crimes in connection with the restaurant chain.

Claudia Iveth Gutierrez Mendez was charged Tuesday in Dakota County District Court with five counts of filing a false or fraudulent tax return, four counts of failure to pay taxes and one count of failure to file a tax return in connection with her business, which currently has locations in St. Paul, West St. Paul and Minneapolis.

An audit determined that Gutierrez Mendez owes more than $260,000 in state taxes, the charges say.

Gutierrez Mendez, 40, of Maplewood, was charged by summons and is not in custody. She declined to comment on the charges when reached by phone Wednesday. She is scheduled to make a first court appearance June 18.

The charges allege investigators with the Minnesota Department of Revenue discovered that between March 2018 and November 2022 Gutierrez Mendez filed tax returns that underrepresented sales and the sales tax owed by the business.

Gutierrez Mendez did not file tax returns between December 2022 and February 2023 “despite conducting business as usual and collecting taxes from customers,” the charges allege.

In an interview with investigators in September, Gutierrez Mendez said she could not explain the discrepancies, the charges say. She told investigators “she made a lot of different mistakes in different areas when operating her businesses.”

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NBA defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert expresses love for Timberwolves, who have given him ‘a home’

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Rudy Gobert watched Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals in his home with his newborn baby, Romeo, in his arms Monday evening.

And he watched it with a smile.

Because while the first-time father obviously wanted to be on the floor with his teammates in Denver, he was also like a proud papa watching his Timberwolves teammates bring the type of defensive effort they’d seen him demonstrate all season.

“I had a little emotion at the end, because it felt like it was something special,” Gobert said. “The energy, the focus that they had, the determination, I don’t know, there was something special in the way they came out. They came out to play 48 minutes. It was an incredible day. It was an incredible way to end the day for me.”

Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert is joined by all of his teammates at his Defensive Player of the Year press conference at Target Center on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Jace Frederick / Pioneer Press)

It was that effort and domination shown by the Wolves on Monday that not only led to Gobert winning his fourth NBA Defensive Player of the Year award this week, but also Minnesota to the league’s top defense by a wide margin.

“Rudy’s driven the defensive culture here,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said.

Defensive culture is cemented through consistent repetitions of energy and execution. Those are Gobert’s calling cards. Finch noted he’s a “top-five defense all by himself.” But Minnesota reached a different stratosphere this season by mimicking what its star center did every night on that end of the floor and buying into that as the team’s identity.

Defensive Player of the Year, Gobert said, is a team award — and the Wolves won it.

“It’s about being the best defense we can be,” Gobert said. “For me, it’s about impacting my team to be the best defense we can be. I wouldn’t be able to do it without coaching staff, players, my family and everyone around me. I’m really grateful for that.”

He’s grateful for many things in Minnesota — one of which is belief.

At his award press conference Wednesday morning in the Target Center atrium, the big man was flanked by basketball boss Tim Connelly. It was the exact same setup used for his introductory press conference after the mega trade 22 months prior.

Since then, there have been ups and downs. Gobert noted Connelly brought him to Minnesota with the intent to win a championship. The 2022-23 season’s results suggested that was not in the cards. Gobert clearly wasn’t himself, and both player and team struggled to acclimate to one another.

“But we kept fighting, we kept getting better every single day through adversity,” Gobert said. “From Day 1, I felt some love from everyone in this organization embracing me. And when things didn’t go as smoothly as we wanted them to last year, they never doubted me. They have shown me love every day, pushing me to be better every day, and I really appreciate that.”

Primarily, Connelly and Finch never doubted him. The two leaders of the organization essentially made a pact prior to making the trade that they would have patience when it came to the big-ball experiment. As Finch noted, there was no Plan B. They believed in Rudy Gobert, and they believed their roster construction could work.

The gamble paid off handsomely. They’ve been proven right on all accounts. And Gobert is a major reason why.

After a year in which he did not look like himself, the 7-foot-1 Frenchman has returned to his previous form, and perhaps even exceeded it.

“He’s really improved himself. Guys said he can’t switch on guys and guard ‘em, guard smaller players, and he’s done that this season,” Wolves forward Kyle Anderson said. “So it’s really special, really well-deserved. I think this was his best one.”

Gobert noted he’s continued to improve as a player and to adapt to an ever-evolving league. But he’s most proud of the way he’s grown as a leader.

“Being able to lead my teammates even better, be able to communicate better with them, and have an amazing amount of understanding between each other,” Gobert said.

That’s an ability born out of comfort. There’s a lot of that between the big man and his teammates, this team and this state. “RUUUUU” commonly echoes through Target Center as fans celebrate his blocked shots. Wolves guard Anthony Edwards expresses his admiration by shouting out “Big RU GO-BRR.”

Spanning the Target Center exterior Wednesday morning was a virtual banner honoring the big man’s latest achievement. Karl-Anthony Towns was at Gobert’s home Tuesday evening when Gobert officially received the honor. All of Gobert’s teammates were in attendance at his press conference Wednesday to celebrate.

“I think I’ve found a home. I’ve found a team, a coaching staff, an organization and a city that has embraced me, and a group that has embraced me. I feel like it’s like a family,” Gobert said. “We are there for each other. We really care about one another. We all want to see each other shine. We all want to see each other prosper, whether it’s family, whether it’s everything outside of basketball. It’s a lot of love. It’s really fun to be a part of something like this. Everyone is on the same page, and everyone is trying to give everything that they have towards one goal. It’s something that I’ve always dreamed of. Every day when I wake up, I’m really grateful to be a part of something like this.”

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Twins looking for some relief for their right-handed relief

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When the Twins sent longtime infielder Jorge Polanco to Seattle for four players in January, president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said it was a deal made for the future.

Two of the players were prospects, outfielder Gabriel Garcia and pitcher Darren Bowen, and two were veterans the Twins were hoping would help Minnesota defend its American League Central title this season.

Garcia, 20, and Bowen, 23, are playing productive innings with high-A Cedar Rapids right now, but the veterans — right-handers Justin Topa and Anthony DeSclafani — have yet to pitch an inning for the Twins, who started Wednesday’s game against the Mariners at Target Field two games behind first-place Cleveland in the Central.

DeSclafani, a starter, had surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his right arm on March 30, ending his season before it started. Topa, the guy the Twins really hoped would find a permanent spot in the bullpen, doesn’t appear as close to returning from tendinitis in his left knee as he did last week.

Topa, who made a pair of two-inning appearances with Class AAA St. Paul last weekend, threw a bullpen session on Wednesday at Target Field. Asked if it went well, the right-hander said, “Not really.”

The issue is pain in his left, planting knee.

“I’m still feeling some stuff, feeling it out. Trying to lock in and see what we can get some feedback on,” Topa said. “It was progressing … then (I) felt it again on this last one. We’re just taking it day by day and seeing what the next step is.”

Topa had a nice season for the Mariners last season, going 5-4 with a 2.61 earned-run average. He pitched 75 innings and struck out 61 against 18 walks. The Twins could use another dependable right-hander in the bullpen right now. After a solid inning from Cole Sands, Jay Jackson and Jorge Alcala surrendered a combined seven earned runs on six hits and three walks in Tuesday night’s 10-6 loss to Seattle.

Veteran Brock Stewart, the Twins’ best right-handed reliever outside of Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax when he was healthy — 0.65 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 27⅔ innings — is on injured reserve with shoulder inflammation and not throwing.

On Wednesday morning, the Twins sent Alcala, who threw 48 pitches in two innings Tuesday, back to Class AAA St. Paul and called up veteran right-hander Josh Staumont, a free-agent addition coming off surgery to repair thoracic outlet syndrome last summer.

“Josh has explosive stuff. That’s what he’s been known for, that’s what we’ve seen from him for a long time in KC, that’s what he’s got now,” manager Rocco Baldelli said.

From 2019-21 in Kansas City, Staumont had a 2.93 ERA with 124 strikeouts in 110⅔ major league innings before being bothered by TOS, compression of nerves and blood vessels that causes pain in the neck and shoulder and numbness in fingers. In his last 57⅔ innings with the Royals (2022-23), his ERA ballooned to 6.09.

Before surgery, Staumot said, he couldn’t raise his right arm above his head.

But Staumont, 30, made eight appearances in St. Paul this spring and struck out 16 in 10⅔ innings before joining the Twins.

“I’ve been feeling really good,” he said. “A lot of baseball is just kind of getting the routine of recovery and stuff like that kind of situated, just understanding what you need — especially after the anatomical change. You’re going to have adaptations, and that’s pretty much what the time was for.”

The Twins are asking Staumont to be ready to pitch more than one inning, something he’s not accustomed to, but something he says he’s ready for.

“He’s been throwing the ball good, so we’re bringing him in when he’s in a good spot,” Baldelli said. “And he’s pitching well. He feels good about himself. I think he can help us right now.”

Topa, meanwhile, is waiting for the results of a second magnetic imaging exam on his left knee. He said he pitched last season in Seattle with pain in the knee but “not to this extent.” Already on injured reserve (left patella tendinitis) since spring training, he’s unsure about when he could finally be activated.

“I don’t know,” he said. “We’re exhausting some different avenues here, so hopefully in the next day or two, we’ll get some clarity and see what happens.”