There was an injury, an ejection, and a replay review on a play that would have tied the game — and that was just the bottom of the seventh inning.

There weren’t many dramatics to speak of for the first part of Saturday’s game, but the Twins made things interesting late in the seventh and captured the lead in the eighth on Alex Kirilloff’s three-run home run to surge to a 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers at Target Field.

It was the second game-deciding home run for Kirilloff in as many days after a prolonged slump in May.

“You just saw the dugout and the team’s reaction. Nobody is pulling harder for a better guy,” bench coach Jayce Tingler said, filling in for ailing manager Rocco Baldelli. “And knowing how much he’s been working, and certainly been showing signs of coming out of it. For him to deliver the big one there in the eighth was huge, off a really good pitcher.”

Kirilloff’s late heroics off Texas reliever David Robertson came after a game in which the Twins (28-23) were unable to do much against Rangers (24-29) starter Michael Lorenzen. The Twins pushed across a run in the first when Ryan Jeffers drew a walk with the bases loaded.

Lorenzen finished his day by retiring the last nine batters he faced but after heading back out to start the seventh, he started cramping. After being checked out for a lengthy period of time, he departed. Upon his exit, things started to take a turn for the Twins, who were down 3-1 at the time.

“We just struggled to find the sweet part of the bat and the barrel, so he was in a groove,” Tingler said of Lorenzen. “With nine outs to go, our guys stayed patient and we were able to get to the bullpen a little bit, which was big.”

It was Kirilloff who began the seventh-inning rally, kicking off the inning with a single off reliever Jesus Tinoco before Carlos Santana drew a walk.

After Willi Castro struck out, Robertson was called upon to face Edouard Julien. Near the end of his at-bat, Julien just got his bat on a pitch, fouling it off. Heim appeared to have caught it cleanly, though the umpires disagreed, prolonging Julien’s at-bat.

That play led to the end of Rangers manager Bruce Bochy’s day when he was ejected. Given an extra life, Julien wound up drawing a walk. The next batter, Carlos Correa, sent a long sacrifice fly to center field, plating the Twins a run.

The Twins had a chance to tie it later in the inning, but Carlos Santana was thrown out on Jose Miranda’s single when Santana attempted to score on a close play at home.

It wouldn’t matter, though, as Kirilloff, drilled a low breaking ball from Robertson to left-center field in the eighth — and then let out a rare show of emotion, yelling as he crossed home plate — to send the Twins to their fourth straight win.

“When I hit it, I didn’t know it was out. Saw (center fielder Leody Taveras) at the wall, so I thought there was a chance he was going to catch it. So, it was just a sigh of relief,” Kirilloff said. “And kind of rounding the bases, seeing (Byron Buxton and Max Kepler) at home plate just pumped up, everyone pumped up, I got pumped up. It was fun.”

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At the midway point of this season, Timberwolves’ decision-makers figured how much of their high-priced talent would be retained would depend on how the team did in the playoffs.

Now down 2-0 in games to Dallas in the Western Conference finals, the Wolves face a luxury-tax dilemma. Breaking the team up to save millions in luxury tax, which could be as much as $25 million, would be devastating for fans, who the last month have made the Wolves the toast of Minnesota.

>> If the Wolves were to trade Karl-Anthony Towns, whose salary next season will be $49.3 million when he’ll be 29 years old, they’ll have fan-favorite Naz Reid, who’ll be 25 for $14 million, ready as his successor. For the 2027-28 season, Towns is guaranteed $61.2 million.

>> Towns is from New Jersey. His former agent, Leon Rose, is now president of the New York Knicks, who, coincidentally, have four first-round picks for the June 26-27 draft and two first-round picks in 2025. The Wolves this year have one first-round pick and none going forward until until 2028.

It’s unclear whether Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who coached Towns with the Timberwolves, could be convinced that Towns has finally decided to play defense.

>> Rudy Gobert, at $41 million, is the highest-paid Timberwolf this season. He’ll be second-highest next season, surpassed by Towns if he’s retained.

>> The $41 million pay bump Anthony Edwards, 22, will get because he was named All-NBA second-team last week will be 30 percent of his team’s salary cap. That increase boosts his five-year guaranteed maximum contract extension to $245.4 million.

>> Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, at $2.8 billion, is the 1,225th-richest person in the world, per Forbes, and has been willing to spend on players. Investors Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, challenged for cash and hoping to gain control of ownership from Taylor, wouldn’t be expected to spend as freely as Taylor, who is 83 and has said he doesn’t need cash.

>> In January, Mark Cuban sold the Mavericks for $3.5 billion. In 2021, Taylor agreed to sell the Timberwolves and Lynx for $1.5 billion.

A little birdie says one of the partners who bought the Mavericks last December from Cuban had contacted Taylor about buying the Timberwolves for more than $1.5 billion, but with a condition that his group could move the team to Las Vegas. Taylor declined.

>> Last Oct. 5 and Oct. 7 in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, the Timberwolves swept now-playoff opponent Dallas, winning 111-99 and 104-96. The Wolves’ Anthony Edwards did not play in the first game due to an ankle injury, and the Mavs’ Kyrie Irving missed the first game with a groin injury.

>> The Mavericks share American Airlines Center with the NHL Dallas Stars, the franchise that played at Met Center in Bloomington before being relocated by Norm Green in 1993.

Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Sean Sweeney directs the team during a December 2022 game against the Minnesota Timberwolves in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

>> Sean Sweeney, the former University of St. Thomas star guard, has been moved by Mavs’ coach Jason Kidd from overseeing defense to offense and back to defense.

Sweeney, 39, at the insistence of Mavs’ star Luka Doncic, will assist Doncic’s Slovenia team in trying to qualify for this summer’s Paris Olympics. Slovenia could end up competing against Greece and star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who besides Doncic, is a fan of Sweeney from their days with the Milwaukee Bucks.

>> While in town to play the Timberwolves, Sweeney on Thursday hosted St. Paul basketball pals at a Mancini’s Char House dinner. Sweeney, who after the season could get an interview for the Washington Wizards head coaching job, residences in South Bend, Ind. (he’s a big Notre Dame fan) and eclectic Uptown Dallas. Meanwhile, he’s taking up boxing and spars to keep in shape.

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>> While the Timberwolves are in the Western Conference finals, Wild fans are still waiting for the Zach Parise-Ryan Suter $98 million, 13-year signings of 2012 to pay off, one keen observer notes.

>> Timberwolves president Tim Connelly, signed for $40 million over five years but with an option to leave after year two this season, will be able to name his price on a new deal in Minnesota or elsewhere.

>> Shooting guard Kendall Brown, 21, the 6-foot-7 former East Ridge High star with the Indiana Pacers, is averaging 3.6 minutes per playoff game.

>> Sam Darnold, the placeholder quarterback for rookie J.J. McCarthy, is the 33rd-best QB in the NFL, according to ex-QB Chris Simms’ NBC Sports rankings. Simms admires Darnold’s quick release and says he’s an “A+ intermediate short-game thrower. He also said Darnold’s “athleticism is kind of eye-popping.”

Simms, interestingly, has McCarthy ranked No. 30. There’s no doubt that Darnold, with a $10 million, one-year contract, will start the season. But as the schedule becomes less challenging at the midway point, McCarthy could then get his first chance.

>> The Vikings’ top two draft picks last month, McCarthy and Dallas Turner, as well as ex-North Star Mike Modano, attended the Wolves-Mavs game Friday night.

>> Las Vegas has the Vikings’ over-under, won-loss record next season at 6.5, which seems about right.

>> The Giants are a one-point favorite over the Vikings in their season opener in New Jersey, per BetOnline.ag.

Minnesota head baseball coach John Anderson walks off the field. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)

>> Among those endorsing Ty McDevitt as John Anderson’s successor as new Gophers baseball coach were Anderson and Paul Molitor, who two months ago wrote a letter to athletics director Mark Coyle on McDevitt’s behalf.

>> Sam Udovich, the Cretin-Derham Hall junior who has committed to golf at Texas Christian, shot 69 at Troy Burne to advance to final 36-hole qualifying for the U.S. Open June 3 at the Golf Club of Georgia. Also shooting 69 was former Gopher Angus Flanagan. Both happen to hold the Southview Country Club course record of 61.

The U.S. Open will be June 13-16 at Pinehurst (N.C.). Last year, there were 10,187 qualifying entries for the Open at LA Country Club. To be eligible, a handicap not exceeding 0.4 is required. More than half of the 156-player field already has been filled.

>> That was St. Paul’s Mark Nelson last weekend in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia refereeing the undisputed world heavyweight title fight that Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk won by decision over England’s Tyson Fury at Kingdom Arena. It was Nelson’s 94th world championship assignment throughout 23 countries.

>> Cretin-Derham grad Ryan McDonagh, 34, who went on to win two Stanley Cups with Tampa Bay Lightning and last week was reacquired by the Lightning from Nashville, the other day completed his college degree at the University of Wisconsin.

“Took a few extra years,” he said on social media.

>> What happened to the rivalry? St. Thomas, which last week won the Summit League baseball championship, can thank devoted St. John’s-Collegeville baseball alum Scott Becker for recommending Division III All-America former Johnnie slugger Max Nyrop to the Tommies. Nyrop wanted a masters degree program that St. John’s didn’t have and Division I competition for his final Covid-19-eligibility season, when he hit .377 with six home runs and a league-leading slugging percentage of .754.

Another former Johnnie, ace pitcher Kody Dalen, will play for the Tommies next season as a grad student.

>> Local basketball referee Eric Curry will work predominantly Big Ten and Mountain West games next season.

>> St. Thomas Academy new Hall of Fame members: Tom Perrault, Jack Blum, Mark McDonald, Nicholas Tongen, David Hicks, Dylan Thomas, William Ratelle, Alan Reid, Jordan Schroeder and Frank Deig.

>> Steve Sir, the former Cretin-Derham Hall sharpshooter, is coaching the Mongolian men’s and women’s national basketball teams.

>> Condolences to the family of former Forest Hills golf professional Mike Retica, who passed away at 84 recently due to dementia and brain injuries.

>> Randy Misegades’ Henning High boys basketball team won just one game during his first season as coach 19 years ago. The past season, Misegades coached the school to his 300th victory.

Don’t print that

>> If wideout Justin Jefferson, who, as expected, skipped last week’s voluntary Vikings workouts, skips the June 4-6 mandatory minicamp, he would be fined a total of about $90,000.

Jefferson, by the way, has the same agent, Brian Ayrault, as has 49ers linebacker Nick Bosa, who sat out voluntary and mandatory workouts last season before agreeing to a $170 million ($122.5 million guaranteed), five-year contract last Sept. 6. Ayrault also represents Bengals QB Joe Burrow, who waited until Sept. 7 to get a $275 million, five-year deal with $219 guaranteed. Burrow’s deal averages $55 million a season.

>> Among college free agents the Vikings signed, Gabriel Murphy (linebacker, UCLA) and Jeshaun Jones (wide receiver, Maryland) received the largest guaranteed deals, essentially meaning they’ll receive practice squad salaries of $12,500 per week.

Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coach Micah Nori. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

>> Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori is getting mentioned in some circles as a potential Lakers head coach.

>> It’ll be surprising if Mike Conley, 36, isn’t offered a high-paying assistant coaching job by the Timberwolves when his playing days are over. Meanwhile, Conley is guaranteed $21 million through the 2025-26 season.

>> Two potential future Gophers coaching prospects — Sean Sweeney of the Mavericks and Ryan Saunders of the Nuggets — reached the NBA playoffs as assistants.

>> For the third straight year, Vikings’ team payroll has been low. Some smart people wonder whether the reason is that owners Zygi and Mark Wilf three years ago paid nearly $500 million for the Orlando City team in Major League Soccer. Spending that amount on soccer may have decreased cash flow for the football team.

Two years ago, the Vikings were near the bottom of the 32-team NFL in real payroll; last year they were still in the bottom half, and currently are ranked near the bottom. The highest-paid players on the team were Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter and they’re gone, so there’s no excuse not to sign Jefferson.

Wide receiver Malik Nabers speaks to the media during New York Giants Rookie Minicamp at Quest Diagnostics Training Center on May 10, 2024 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

>> Pssst: There was buzz at draft time that the Vikings wanted to move from No. 11 to No. 5, not to pick a quarterback but to get LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers, who was picked No. 6 by the Giants. Had that trade occurred, Jefferson would have been traded and Nabers would have been the No. 1 receiver.

>> It looks like tight end T.J. Hockenson could miss at least the first month of the season while recovering from ACL surgery.

>> Ex-Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, who has a new $100 million guaranteed deal with the Falcons, made a $511,000 profit on the Inver Grove Heights five-bed, five-bath, 5,677-square foot house he bought in 2018 and sold the other day for $1.3 million.

>> Although Anthony Edwards is just 22 years old, inside the Timberwolves locker room, when he speaks, teammates are all ears.

>> The Timberwolves-Mavericks ticket market crashed on Wednesday. Tickets that were $148 retail went down to $80 at game time. Too many fans bought on-sale on Tuesday and got burned.

For Friday’s game, the ticket market spiked — it was $250 just to get into Target Center.

>> It was three decades ago when the then-lowly Timberwolves upset the Philadelphia 76ers at Target Center and I asked the 76ers’ Charles Barkley after the game if the loss was embarrassing to him.

“I make $3 million a year — nothing embarrasses me,” Barkley shot back.

Newly elected Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Joe Mauer poses for a photograph after signing his name to the backer board of his plaque during a news conference Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, in Cooperstown, N.Y. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)

>> The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., suggests inductees generally keep induction speeches to about 90 words. Former Twin Joe Mauer, asked last week by the Pioneer Press about the speech he’ll make at Cooperstown on July 21: “It’s a work in progress. I want to finish it a few weeks before to make sure I can practice it before I deliver it. It’s hard to summarize how I got there in eight minutes. I’d say I’m anxious. I’m excited to be going out there and joining that group. It’s humbling, and it still feels pretty surreal.”

Paul Molitor, also a first-ballot Hall of Famer and Cretin grad, will be at Cooperstown.

“I’m going to support him the best I can, and I hope he doesn’t succumb to any pressure to feel he has to be too short with his words,” Molitor said. “If you have to take 15 to 20 minutes to say what you need to say, I think you should have the freedom to do that. I’m going to encourage him to speak from his heart and not be concerned about the minutes that are ticking away.”

>> Fellow Hall of Famer Dave Winfield from St. Paul on public speeches: “Remember the ‘Three Bs’ _ Be Brief Brother.”

>> Among celebrities at Hazeltine National on Thursday evening to officially launch the 124th U.S. Amateur that will be held Aug. 12-18 were Mauer, who is honorary co-chair, and Gov. Tim Walz.

>> Ex-Viking Adam Thielen, 33, of the Carolina Panthers, with two seasons left on a $25 million contract, is registered for a golf trip to Northern Ireland for September of 2025.

>> The Twins are averaging 20,199 per game at Target Field, 23rd in major league baseball.

>> The Gophers will finish 18th in the upcoming 18-team Big Ten men’s basketball season, projects 247sports.com, with a starting lineup of Lu’Cye Patterson, Mike Mitchell Jr., Femi Odukale, Dawson Garcia and Frank Mitchell.

>> The Gophers’ Williams Arena ranks 14th among the Big Ten’s 18 basketball venues, per usatoday.com. The worst is Rutgers’ Jersey Mike’s Arena, the best Indiana’s Assembly Hall.

>> Niko Medved, the Colorado State men’s basketball coach from Roseville who took the Rams to the NCAA tournament two of the last three seasons, via the transfer portal has landed 6-7 former Purdue starting guard Ethan Morton.

>> Gophers assistant women’s golf coach Matt Higgins has significant support to succeed retiring head coach Rhyll Brinsmead.

Overheard

>> John Anderson, who last week finished his Gophers baseball coaching career with 1,390 victories, on predecessor Dick Siebert, who finished with 754 victories: “It was daunting following the legend Dick Siebert and the tremendous success he had. It will always be his program, and I tried to keep it relevant. I hope he is proud.”

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Minnesota’s Taylor Heise entered this inaugural Professional Women’s Hockey League season as a self-described “pass-first kind of gal.”

With Minnesota one win away from capturing the PWHL championship and Game 4 of the best-of-five Walter Cup Final to be played at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday night, Heise clearly has seen the light when it comes to shooting the puck. Specifically, the red light.

The former Gophers’ star leads the PWHL playoffs with five goals and seven assists. She scored Minnesota’s first goal in Friday night’s 4-1 win over Boston to go with a pair of two-goal games in the postseason.

All that after scoring four goals in 19 games during the regular season.

Heise points to some pointed words from her father for the change of approach — and change of fortune.

“He said, ‘When you’re on a roll, the only person that can stop it is you,’” Heise said. “He said that stopping that (roll) is me making a pass first. I’m always going to look to pass if it is the right play, but I’ve gotten better with the confidence that (her coaches and teammates) want me to shoot, they want me to score.

“They’re never going to look at me and ask, ‘Why did you not pass that puck?’ Because they know that is not ever me.”

During Friday’s game, Heise carried the puck into the Boston zone on a two-on-one with Kendall Coyne Schofield and elected to shoot. Boston goaltender Aerin Frankel made the save but taking the shot was the right decision. Heise acknowledged on Saturday that in the same situation earlier in the season, she would have passed the puck

Minnesota coach Ken Klee said he has not spoken to Heise about shooting the puck more, but he’s glad she has taken it upon herself to do so.

“She’s got a great shot,” Klee said. “I sat down with (goaltender) Maddie Rooney over the break and asked her about our players — who shoots well. Taylor and Zum (Grace Zumwinkle) came to the top of the list pretty quick.

“(Taylor) has a heavy shot, she can pick where she wants to shoot. She’s got a great skill set; she can take a slapper, she can snap it top shelf either side. She is a team player, so she does look (to pass) but with the three of them (Heise, Coyne Schofield and Michela Cava), they’re just reading off each other. They are having a lot of fun making plays together.”

Heise’s pedestrian goal-scoring numbers during the regular season were due in part to a shoulder injury that had her out of the lineup for five games. She also found out early on that the pro game is not that similar to the college game.

“Here, when I get the puck I’m not going to have five seconds to make a play,” Heise said. “It’s going to be one or two. I want to get five or six shots off in a game, but if I don’t, I can’t expect myself to put the puck in the back of the net.

“So, changing the way that that works, and also having the perspective of, ‘I need to go out there and throw some hits, too.’ I think getting yourself into that makes the game easier for me.”

Coyne Schofield said no one in the Minnesota locker room has been surprised by the success Heise has had in the postseason.

“Some people have made comments about her being a little quieter during the regular season,” she said. “Obviously, she dealt with an injury that kept her out for a little bit, but you’re seeing why she was drafted first overall.

“She’s doing what she does — at the most important time. She’s a clutch player, wants the puck on her stick when the game’s on the line.”

While Heise has been on a memorable run, she has not been alone in leading Minnesota to the brink of a title. As she put it, “I’m confident in what I’m doing, but I’m also very confident in my teammates.”

It can all culminate with a win on Sunday. Should Boston tie the series at 2-2, Game 5 is set for Wednesday in Boston.

“The last one to win is the hardest one to win — by far,” Coyne Schofield said. “We can’t look to the outcome, we have to look at the process that is going to take for us to get to that outcome.

“Everyone is banged up. No one is feeling their best, but you find a way to be your best.”

A St. Paul man was found guilty on Friday in the 2022 kidnapping of a woman from an Arden Hills parking lot, authorities said.

Raphael Raymond Nunn, 58, of St. Paul, was found guilty of kidnapping, bank fraud and identity theft after robbing two women at gunpoint and stealing from another, U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger said Friday.

Raphael Raymond Nunn (Courtesy of the Ramsey County sheriff’s office)

Prosecutors say Nunn was wearing a mask and gloves and armed with a black handgun when he approached a 61-year-old woman who had just parked in an underground parking garage at 3900 Northwood Drive in Arden Hills.

The criminal complaint alleges that when the woman got out of her vehicle about 7:25 a.m. Sept. 13, Nunn approached her with the gun. After the woman grabbed the barrel of the gun, he pushed her to the ground and then forced her back into the vehicle at gunpoint.

He ordered her to drive to an ATM at Wells Fargo at 2600 E. Franklin in Minneapolis. There, he forced her to withdraw cash using her debit card until she reached her limit of $1,000. He then forced her to call her bank and get a PIN number to withdraw cash from her credit card. He also took $30 from her wallet. He then ordered her to drive to Matthews Park at 2438 27th Ave. S. in Minneapolis.

Once at the park, he told her to get out of the vehicle and leave her key fob and phone in the car. He told her she could find her vehicle at the other side of the park after he was gone. When the woman walked to her vehicle, her kidnapper was gone and she called the police.

According to the complaint, multiple video surveillance cameras showed a man getting out of her car and walking to Cedar Food & Grill at 2600 Cedar Ave. in Minneapolis. Once inside the store, the man bought a bottle of soda and took off his hood. He was no longer wearing the mask, which he had discarded during his walk. Four days later he returned to the store in his own vehicle which led authorities to him as a suspect.

He was arrested Sept. 22, 2022 in Minneapolis. A search found evidence of the kidnapping and further evidence of theft from a second person and a gunpoint robbery of a third person.

After a four-day trial, Nunn was found guilty Thursday on one count of kidnapping, two counts of bank fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft.  A sentencing hearing will be held at a later date.

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