OAKLAND, Calif. — Near the end of the first game of the Twins’ doubleheader against the Athletics last Sunday, Carlos Santana approached manager Rocco Baldelli by the bat rack, attempting to talk his way into the lineup for the second game.

Evidently it worked: The 38-year-old played both games of the doubleheader.

That passion and desire are partly why the veteran reached a career milestone Friday when he took the field for his 2,000th major league game, becoming just the 251st player to do so.

“I say thanks to God for giving me another opportunity to stay here. I’m very proud,” Santana said. “ … I think I’ve worked hard for that and this moment. Today is a special day for me.”

The first baseman is just the second active player to reach 2,000 games behind Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen, who appeared in his 2,069th game on Friday.

Reaching the number likely would have been hard for Santana to believe when he debuted on June 11, 2010, for Cleveland. But for those around him, it’s not so difficult to understand how he got here.

“Guys like him who are able to play 2,000 games, they dedicate everything in their lives towards being able to fulfill that commitment to play baseball,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “ … Your life for 365 days a year revolves around putting yourself in the ideal position to play this game at the highest level and play it every day. … What he puts in his body, the routines, the workout routines, the nutrition — he hires people to work on him every day. Every day. This is like clockwork every single day for the entire season and offseason.”

Santana’s durability has been a strength of his since he debuted. He has largely avoided the injured list and often has been among the league leaders in games played. He played in all 60 games of the 2020 season. In 2018, he appeared in 161 of 162. In three other years, he played in 158 games. He’s topped 150 games in nine separate seasons.

This year, even in his late-30s, he’s played in 70 of the Twins’ first 76 games, behind just Willi Castro, who has appeared in every game.

Getting to 2,000 games requires durability and good health. But it also requires sustained productivity. Santana entered the day tied for the team lead with 12 home runs, hitting .247 with a 119 OPS+, a mark that is 19% better than the league-average hitter.

“That’s an incredible accomplishment. It’s really hard to get to that in today’s game,” shortstop Carlos Correa said. “I’ve never seen anybody look that good at 38. Ever since I’ve been playing, all the guys you see at 38, they can’t run like he runs. They can’t play defense like he does. He’s hitting the cover off the ball. He’s an impressive human being.”

The Twins planned to present Santana with a gift of two bottles of Johnnie Walker Blue Label after the game — one for display and one for him to enjoy.

“I’m a guy who’s very positive and I love the game,” Santana said. “I love the game. I enjoy my teammates, enjoy the fans, my family. They support me, too. I love everything. That’s why I’m here.”

Twins recall Funderburk

The Twins recalled southpaw Kody Funderburk on Friday and designated Jay Jackson for assignment for the second time this season following a performance in which he gave up three runs (and two home runs) in the ninth inning against the Rays on Thursday.

Jackson had returned to the Twins on June 12 after being designated and spending a few weeks with the Triple-A Saints.

Funderburk entered Friday with a 5.18 earned-run average across 24 1/3 innings.

Briefly

Bailey Ober will take the ball when the Twins take on the Athletics in the second game of the series on Saturday. … Max Kepler was not in the starting lineup on Friday after leaving the game early on Thursday. He is day-to-day with neck stiffness.

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CLASS 2A

Rockford 6, Foley 0: Rockford junior ace William Haas carried a perfect game into the sixth inning and finished with a 1-hitter featuring 13 strikeouts, all done in just 89 pitches, on Friday at Target Field.

The Tennessee commit finished the season with a 10-1 record with a 0.92 earned-run average with 151 strikeouts in 84 innings.

Rockford (26-5) scored two runs in the third and four more in the sixth. Harrison Edwards went 3 for 3 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Aiden Smith also plated three runs on the strength of two hits, both triples.

Alexander Jennissen had the lone hit for Foley (23-5).

Rockford was making its first state baseball tournament appearance.

CLASS A

Springfield 5, Parkers Prairie 1: Springfield senior Jakob Nachreiner threw a four-hit complete game, striking out 11 while going 3 for 4 with two runs scored to power the Tigers to their second state title in program history.

Aiden Moriarty and Russell Beers each had two-hit games for Springfield (25-2), with Beers driving in a pair of runs.

Dylan Debilzen tossed a complete game for Parkers Prairie (25-2), while going 2 for 3 and scoring the team’s lone run in the first frame. But Springfield left the bases loaded in that frame, as it also did in the fourth.

Briefly

The start time for the Class 3A state title game between Mahtomedi and Totino-Grace has been moved up to 10:30 a.m. on Saturday at Target Field. The Class 4A title game between East Ridge and Mounds View will begin at least 45 minutes after the conclusion of the Class 3A title game.

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An Arden Hills bar owner has admitted to stashing the gun his friend used to fatally shoot a man during a fight inside the business, then lying to investigators by claiming the shooting was not captured on video surveillance.

James Henrey Welsch, 49, of Vadnais Heights, pleaded guilty this week to aiding an offender by being an accomplice after the fact in connection with the March 25, 2022, shooting at Welsch’s Big Ten Tavern.

Eric Baker, 47, of Minneapolis, shot 36-year-old Dustin Kukowski, of Mounds View, who died 11 days later.

James Henrey Welsch, left, Eric Baker, right (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Baker planned to argue self-defense at trial but accepted an 11-year-old prison sentence under a December deal with prosecutors that saw him plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter.

Welsch reached a plea agreement with prosecutors Monday, the same day his trial was to start.

Attorneys agreed that the felony offense should be ranked at a severity level of seven, resulting in a stayed prison sentence and probation, Ramsey County Attorney’s Office spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein said. Sentencing will be Sept. 6.

Welsch claimed he found gun outside

Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to the bar at 4703 U.S. Highway 10 around 12:30 a.m. and saw a patron holding napkins to Kukowski’s chest. He was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where doctors performed several surgeries to try to save his life. The father of two died April 5.

A bar patron told deputies he saw Baker and Kukowski fighting before the shooting. Deputies recovered a 9mm casing from the bar and later arrested Baker at a Roseville hotel. He declined to speak to authorities.

Welsch told deputies he was downstairs at the bar when the shooting took place. He was evasive when asked about Baker and denied having a phone number for him, according to the criminal complaint.

Dustin Kukowski, 36, of Mounds View, was shot on March 25, 2022, at Welsch’s Big Ten Tavern in Arden Hills and died April 5, 2022, while hospitalized. The shooter, Eric Eugene Baker, DOB: 11/22/1976, was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison March 12, 2024, after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter. (Courtesy of Debbie Kukowski)

Deputies found images on Facebook that showed Welsch and Baker together at the Minnesota Wild game earlier that night. Welsch then admitted he had a phone number for Baker and gave it to deputies.

Welsch agreed to let deputies look at the bar’s surveillance system. The equipment did not appear to be powered up, and Welsch said he was in the middle of construction projects and that he had not used his camera system for a while.

Later that day, an investigator took a call from someone who wanted to remain anonymous and said that Welsch and Baker are “best friends” and that the bar’s surveillance video system worked, the complaint says.

A bartender later told investigators she grabbed the gun off the bartop after the shooting so that no one else would be hurt. She said she brought it to the kitchen and showed Welsch, who took the gun downstairs, according to the complaint.

Four days after the shooting, Welsch reported finding the Glock 9mm under trash bins at the bar. The handgun did not have a magazine when an investigator recovered it.

Welsch later that day said he didn’t remember much from the night of the shooting because he was drunk.

Investigators told Welsch that they knew he had taken possession of the gun that night. Welsch then admitted he grabbed the gun from a kitchen counter, unloaded it and hid it in the basement rafters, the complaint said. He said he later put the gun outside to get some distance from it, and apologized for not telling deputies where it was on the night of the shooting. He said he did not know where the gun’s magazine went.

Investigators opened the bar’s digital video recorder and discovered the hard drive had been disconnected from its contact site. Investigators cloned Welsch’s network video recorder and found video that stopped about a half-hour after the shooting.

Attorney: He’s remorseful

Defense attorney Thomas Kelly said Friday that Welsch had been grieving the sudden loss of his mother and turned to alcohol to deal with it, “leading to actions that were out of character for him.”

Welsch has been sober for more than two years “and his life is quite different than it was on March 25, 2022,” Kelly said.

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By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ (Associated Press)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man who bludgeoned Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer and was sentenced to 30 years in federal court was also convicted Friday of aggravated kidnapping by a state court which could put him behind bars for life.

A federal judge last month sentenced David DePape to 30 years in federal prison for the 2022 attack against Paul Pelosi.

A San Francisco jury on Friday found DePape also guilty of first-degree burglary, false imprisonment of an elder, threatening a family member of a public official, dissuading a witness to the charges and aggravated kidnapping.

DePape’s public defender Adam Lipson told the jury during closing arguments that DePape was guilty of three of the charges but that prosecutors had not presented evidence to convict him of threatening a family member of a public official and aggravated kidnapping.

Prosecutors added those two charges in late May, as DePape’s federal trial was wrapping up.

A federal jury convicted DePape of assaulting a federal official’s family member and attempting to kidnap a federal official. On May 28, he was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison during an unusual resentencing hearing that resulted from judicial error. DePape will likely be deported back to Canada after he completes his punishment.

Lipson earlier argued that the state trial represents double jeopardy following the federal conviction. Even though the criminal counts are not the same, the two cases stem from the same act, he told the judge.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman agreed and dismissed the state charges of attempted murder, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. Another judge upheld the decision on appeal.

Lipson focused his closing arguments on explaining to the jury that prosecutors did not prove DePape kidnapped Paul Pelosi, who was 82 at the time, with the intent “to exact from another person money or something valuable,” which is integral to the charge.

Prosecutors said the valuable thing DePape wanted from the kidnapping was to create a video of Nancy Pelosi confessing to crimes he believed she had committed, prosecutors said.

Lipson argued the video didn’t exist and if it did, it wouldn’t have had any value.

“When he broke into the Pelosis’ home his intent was to confront and potentially hurt and assault Nancy Pelosi. That was his intent at that time, that has nothing to do with Mr. Pelosi,” he said.

In her rebuttal, Assistant District Attorney Phoebe Maffei pointed out DePape told a detective and testified in federal court that he planned to get a video of Nancy Pelosi confessing to what he believed to be crimes and post it on the internet.

“There is inherent value in a video of the Speaker of the House confessing to crimes in her own home,” Maffei said.

The attack on Paul Pelosi was captured on police body camera video just days before the 2022 midterm elections and shocked the political world. He suffered two head wounds including a skull fracture that was mended with plates and screws he will have for the rest of his life. His right arm and hand were also injured.

On Monday, Maffei told the jury DePape unleashed a “reign of terror” on Paul Pelosi before bludgeoning him with a hammer as part of a plan he put together over months.

“The plain facts of this case are terrifying by themselves without embellishment,” Maffei said. “David DePape broke into the home of an 82-year-old man while he slept, entered his bedroom, held him hostage with a hammer, threatened him, threatened his wife and attempted to kill him.”

DePape admitted during his federal trial testimony that he planned to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage, record his interrogation of her, and “break her kneecaps” if she did not admit to the lies he said she told about “Russiagate,” a reference to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Lipson told the jury during closing arguments that before the attack, DePape was living an isolated, lonely life and “went down the rabbit hole of propaganda and conspiracy theories.”

This week the judge expelled DePape’s former partner from the public gallery and the second floor of the San Francisco courthouse because the judge said she was trying to tamper with the jury.

On Monday and Tuesday, Gypsy Taub, a well-known activist in the Bay Area, handed out pieces of paper outside the courtroom with the address of a website she runs that promotes conspiracy theories. The cards were also found in a women’s bathroom near the courtroom where the website’s address was scrawled in marker on a wall.

“You have been trying to corruptly influence one or more jury members,” Dorfman said sternly before asking two bailiffs to escort Taub out of the courtroom.

DePape’s federal public defender said during his federal sentencing that DePape was first exposed to extreme beliefs by Taub, who has two children with DePape.

Taub met DePape in Hawaii when he was 20 years old and she was in her 30s and pregnant, DePape’s twin sister, Joanne Robinson, said in a letter to the federal judge seeking leniency.

Robinson wrote that Taub isolated DePape from his family and inflicted “extreme psychological damage” on her brother.