Twins showing AL Central will run through Minnesota
CHICAGO – They played Minnesota Nice all weekend as guests in Chicago.
The Twins came to town admiring the White Sox’s scary potential, raving about Chicago’s lethal lineup, talking about phenom Luis Robert, and saying the Sox might present a serious challenge to them for the AL Central supremacy.
Well, it turned out to be the ultimate setup, blowing their cover Sunday when they ambushed the White Sox 14-2, scoring 27 runs and hitting seven homers in the three-game series.
The masked man behind the attack, the ageless Nelson Cruz, who might be 40 but is playing as if he may be around until he’s 50.
Cruz went 4-for-5 with two doubles, two homers, seven RBI and four runs, putting his name alongside immortals in the game’s history.
The only other player 40 or older who had more than Cruz’s 12 total bases in a game? A fella by the name of Babe Ruth.
He also became the second-oldest player in American League history with four extra-base hits in a game behind only Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson.
“For a lot of people, it’s kind of a career day, the kind of day you’d probably never forget,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Maybe Nelson remembers all of them, but I don’t know if that’s possible. He has a lot of games where he’s just extraordinarily impressive.
“I haven’t seen too many guys do anything like this.”
The White Sox might throw a retirement party themselves if Cruz ever decides to quit. He has been a one-man wrecking crew against the White Sox, hitting .433 with seven doubles, 11 homers and 34 RBI, including a .521 on-base percentage and .917 slugging percentage, in his 19 games against them since joining the Twins.
“It’s nothing against anyone, you know,” said Cruz, who hit .545 during the three-game series with a major league-leading 10 RBI. “I just try to do my job. If you ask the Royals, they’d probably say that too. For me, it’s just business.
“I try to bring the same approach day by day, trust the work I put in every day, and just go out there and try to execute.”
Certainly, he’s defying Father Time, hitting 41 homers with a career-high 1.031 OPS in 120 games last year, and saying this spring he has no intention of retiring anytime soon.
“A tremendous hitter,” said White Sox manager Rick Renteria, who reminded they still have seven more games left against the Twins this season. “I’m sure there are other types of situations in which we want to avoid him. We can just work around him or walk him or whatever the case might be.”
The White Sox better come up with something because he doubled in the first inning, doubled again in the second inning, hit a solo homer in the fourth and a three-run shot in the eighth.
“I’m going to be honest,” said Twins center fielder Jake Cave, who started the fireworks with a first-inning grand slam. “He hit that second one today, and I looked right at Rocco (Baldelli), and I go, ‘Damn, this guy’s really good.’
“Rocco was like, ‘Yeah. It’s actually pretty incredible.’ ”
Somehow, Cruz just keeps getting better and better, averaging 40 homers and 105 RBI the last six seasons.
So after hitting more home runs the last decade than anyone in baseball with 346, Cruz is now the leader in this decade, too, with three homers.
“You never want to take anything for granted in this game, and one person that I know takes nothing for granted is Nellie,” Baldelli said. “From the moment he wakes up, actually, until the moment the game ends and he gets home, he takes care of himself. He works exceptionally hard on the field, off the field, in the weight room. He takes care of his body.
“He does everything you want, and he also shows everyone else how to do it.”