NEW YORK — After his final start of the first half of the season, Pablo López expressed his disappointment with his body of work and how inconsistent he had been. But in his first three starts of the second half, López has been plenty consistent. He’s been consistently good.

López threw six innings on Wednesday, giving up two runs on just three hits while striking out seven in the Twins’ 8-3 victory over the New York Mets in the series finale at Citi Field, staving off a sweep after falling in the first two games.

“It’s been good the way I’ve been feeling on the mound,” López said. “It feels like myself. … A lot of times when you feel out of sync, that translates to pitches not doing what they’re supposed to do, location not being there. It’s been a lot of work, a lot of consistency with routines, feeling good, feeling strong, being healthy, hearing the feedback from every department within the organization.”

Lopez’s effort comes after two seven-inning starts in which he fanned seven in each of those, as well. Since the second half of the season started, López has given up five earned runs in 20 innings — and the results have much more closely resembled what the Twins had become used to seeing from the all-star pitcher.

Trevor Larnach robbed Francisco Lindor, the Mets’ leadoff hitter, of a home run in the first inning, meaning the only blemish on López’s line Wednesday was an 0-1 pitch to Mets third baseman Mark Vientos that he took out for his 16th home run of the season, a two-run shot an inning later.

That wiped out the early lead the Twins (59-48) had gained in the top half of the inning when Byron Buxton hit a solo home run.

But the Twins didn’t trail for long, jumping all over Mets (7-4) starter Luis Severino for five runs in the third. The inning started with Austin Martin singling and then stealing second before coming around to score on Larnach’s single.  Larnach then stole second himself and came around to score on Max Kepler’s hit.

“I think setting the guys in motion and setting them loose a little bit made some things happen for us and maybe turned some of the energy in our way and got us some bases,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “And all that ends up mattering.”

Royce Lewis drove in Kepler before Matt Wallner hit a Severino changeup out of the park for two more runs.

Wallner just missed his second home run of the game a couple of innings later when center fielder Tyrone Taylor, who robbed Ryan Jeffers of a home run days earlier, got his glove on a ball that appeared to be going out. Wallner settled for a double and came around to score later in the inning.

“We were just stacking up hits,” Wallner said. “Any time you can put up five in an inning, I think you have a pretty good chance to win.”

Briefly

Kepler left the game with a head contusion and Baldelli said the right fielder went through preliminary concussion protocol tests with everything coming back OK.

In the fourth inning, Kepler was hit in the back of the helmet by a throw from Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez. Alvarez was attempting to get Brooks Lee at second base, and Kepler, who had just struck out, was charged with interference on the play. Lee was called out on the play.

Baldelli said he had never seen anything like the play — and was worried about the potential of it seeing it more frequently.

“It makes you ask the question: What if every time a guy struck out and walked across the plate and there was a man on … the catcher fired it off the guy and decided to just do that?” Baldelli said. “And I think the answer to the question is, ‘Yeah, I hope that doesn’t start happening.’”

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Payton Otterdahl always suspected hip trouble may find him. His brother, Trevor, had both of his hip labrums repaired, and it’s a hereditary condition.

Sure enough, in 2022 — fresh off his Olympic debut in 2021 — Payton started to feel “a lot” of pain in his hip when competing in the shot put. It was his worst season to date.

“So I knew it was either I was going to have to retire from throwing,” Otterdahl said, “or get surgery to get it corrected.”

Early retirement was never really an option.

“Oh, I didn’t think about it,” the 2014 Rosemount High School grad said. “I knew I still had goals.”

One of which can be achieved this week. Otterdahl qualified for his second Olympics last month at the U.S. Trials and is a medal contender in the shot put competition, which is scheduled to begin with the qualifying round Friday at 2:10 p.m. Central.

Nearly 23 months after surgery, Otterdahl’s climb back to the top is almost complete.

He had the procedure in September 2022, and couldn’t compete for the next seven months. That half year was dedicated entirely to rehab. Otterdahl never skipped an exercise prescribed by his physical therapist.

His days were flush with core work and the strengthening of his hamstrings, quads and everything surrounding that hip joint.

“I left the PT room just soaking wet with sweat every single day. It was hard work,” Otterdahl said. “I’ve done PT for a lot of other injuries and stuff, but the one recovering from the hip, you’re in a hole after surgery, and you’ve got to work hard to pull yourself out of it. So I was getting some serious workouts on the recovery.”

But the North Dakota State alum has built a living on hard work, generally with his training. He approached rehab with the same mindset. The end result was a successful recovery. As soon as he could return to activities, Otterdahl said he was training better than ever before.

“And I knew that this was definitely time well spent to get this fixed,” he said. “I’m kind of a glass half-full type of guy. So I didn’t really see it as a huge setback, especially when there was a problem that needed fixing. I just remember 2022 has been my worst year as a pro so far, and I remember how hard that was, so knowing that getting the surgery done was going to make me pain free and be able to, hopefully, train pain free was all the motivation I needed to get through it.”

He has felt no issues with his hip since returning to competition in 2023. He dubbed that season an “experimental” year. Because Otterdahl was essentially starting back from Square 1, which he viewed as a positive.

Retreating to the basics of the movement allowed him to build up his throw to his desired form and weed out many of his former bad habits.

“I’ve still got some that still need weeding out,” Otterdahl said, “but a lot of them were fixed.”

And with that came better (longer) throws, particularly as his hip continued to strengthen. That is still an ongoing process; doctors said the joint wouldn’t reach 100 percent until two years after the surgery. That landmark will come at the end of this season.

But he’s pain-free now and performing at a high level. Improved technique and a better understanding of his throwing motion led to better results. Better results led to more confidence, which has fed on itself in a snowball effect.

The 28-year-old enters the Paris Games as the No. 5-ranked men’s shot putter in the world, the exact position he finished in the World Championships a year ago. That’s a far different spot than the one he was in three years ago, when he was not everyone’s pick to even qualify for the Olympics.

It was an achievement for Otterdahl in Tokyo to get into the finals, where he finished 10th. This time, he noted, “everything has definitely been elevated.”

“I’m still not expected to medal, per se,” he said. “But I’m hoping to punch my way up a little bit.”

Pressure comes with expectations, but Otterdahl proved he can handle those at U.S. Olympic Trials. He noted he struggled for two-thirds of that competition, which only ramped up the need to perform.

And, sure enough, when the going got tough, Otterdahl delivered the throws necessary to finish top three in America’s insanely deep field. Otterdahl noted he had to peak at Trials. After that, it was back to accruing volume before building back up to another peak in France.

He knows all about this entire process in his second trip to the Olympics. He has prepared for the many call rooms, the process of prelims and the lack of warmup throws in competition.

And Otterdahl went to Paris ready to walk.

Yes, walk.

“After the prelims in 2021, my watch that tracks my steps had me at 28,000 steps that day,” Otterdahl said. “You have to walk pretty much everywhere in the village to get around, so you’re just accumulating (a) crazy (number of) steps. So going for walks has been one of those things that I’ve been doing to just get used to the high volume of steps.”

Anything to give himself an edge in his pursuit of his goals ahead of another “opportunity,” as he calls it, on the world’s grandest stage. One that he took the long road over the past three years to earn.

“I don’t really think too much about the negatives like, ‘What if you don’t perform?’ Or, ‘What if you fail?’ That’s not really my mindset,” Otterdahl said. “I’m kind of a glass half-full guy. I’m thinking about, ‘Oh man, what if I do get that medal?’ All the things that come with that has me excited. It’s an opportunity to shine, not an opportunity to fail, so I’m really excited to show what I’ve got.”

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After graduating from Mounds View High School, Shoreview native Lara Dallman-Weiss was fully prepared to go to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on a running scholarship. She put down a deposit for school and even had a roommate lined up before having a change of heart.

“I had this gut feeling that I was doing myself a disservice if I didn’t do the scary thing,” Dallman-Weiss said. “I called my dad and he told me I could do it as long as I fixed the situation myself.”

That’s exactly what Dallman-Weiss did. She made the necessary phone calls, packed her belongings and moved away from home.

All to pursue her passion for sailing at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla.

“My coach was stoked when I told him I was coming,” Dallman-Weiss said. “That’s where I got really competitive with it.”

That competitiveness has landed her back at the highest level. After qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Dallman-Weiss is back for more at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. She will start competition in mixed dinghy at approximately 5:05 a.m. CT Friday.

Not bad for a kid who got her start in sailing as a 6-year-old at White Bear Yacht Club. She still has fond memories of traveling around the Twin Cities for races after her dad taught her how to sail. Maybe a little surprising considering she wasn’t the biggest fan of the sport at first.

“I didn’t like being in the boat alone,” Dallman-Weiss said with a laugh. “Eventually they learned that I actually liked it when I was in the boat with other people.”

As much as she started to enjoy sailing, Dallman-Weiss gravitated to other sports in her youth, and it wasn’t until she got to Eckerd College that she started to see a future for herself in sailing. Now she’s a two-time Olympian, readying herself to compete in the mixed dinghy alongside Stu McNay, a five-time Olympian himself.

“I have a different confidence now,” Dallman-Weiss said. “It’s about us leaning on each other and enjoying it as much as possible and seeing where we end up.”

Asked last week about her goals, Dallman-Weiss tried her best to keep things in perspective. As much as she would love to be standing on the podium in the end, she also plans to soak in the moment while her hair is blowing in the wind.

“I’ve reached the pinnacle of the sport,” she said. “I can be really proud of myself and enjoy every bit of it.”

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