HOUSTON _ The fastball placement. The mix of breaking balls, including the hard-to-handle knuckle curve. Every pitch well intended and well executed. Astros right-hander Justin Verlander is still throwing 95 miles per hour, and when he's on point with his other pitches, it's pointless to think opponents have a chance.
That's where the Twins were at on Tuesday, facing their old AL Central nemesis. Even without the Old English D on his uniform it looked like the same old Verlander.
While Verlander shut down the undermanned Twins offense, the Twins watched their opener, right-hander Trevor May, open up a hole they could not climb out of in a 5-2 loss at Minute Maid Park. It was a loss worsened by the departure of Miguel Sano, who was carted off the field in the second inning with what's being described as a lower left leg bruise that looked a lot worse.
In two games, the Twins 'openers' have put the team in the hole, giving up six runs. Houston scored four off May in the first inning on a RBI double by Alex Bregman, RBI single by Tyler White and a two-run home run by Yuli Gurriel. The Twins hoped May could go two innings on Tuesday. He ended up leaving after 26 pitches _ with Andrew Vasquez warming up in the bullpen.
The Twins scored their run in the third inning on Robbie Grossman's RBI double. Bregman doubled in a run in the seventh to give Houston a 5-1 lead. It was his second three-double game of the season, and allowed him to pass former Twin Eduardo Escobar to take the major-league lead with 46.
What the Twins will remember the most about the game is the sight of Sano grabbing his surgically repaired left leg.
The injury occurred in the second inning after Sano drew a walk off of Verlander to put runners on first and third. Verlander's 0-2 curveball got away from catcher Martin Maldonado and rolled down the third base line. Grossman and Sano tried to advance a base, and Maldonado threw to second, where Sano just beat a tag by Carlos Correa.
Sano's right leg was his lead leg on the play, but his left leg eventually slammed into the bag, and the burly third baseman took his right hand and shoved Correa's his left leg to get him away as he fell back in pain.
Sano rolled over three times and was unable to get up as head trainer Tony Leo rushed out to attend to him. After a few moments, Leo didn't take any chances and summoned a cart to carry Sano off the field.
Football players are often carted off the field with injuries. Regardless if Sano is lineman-sized or not, it's out of place on a baseball field. But initial X-rays were negative, and the Twins announced less than 40 minutes later that Sano has a lower left leg bruise and is day-to-day. Further tests are expected.
Sano is trying to salvage a season in which he got off to a slow start, landed on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring on May 1 then spent a month in Fort Myers for conditioning and swing work. He returned noticeably thinner and looked better at the plate until recently, as a 4-for-46 skid has dragged his batting average down to .198 since his return.
Sano had surgery to insert a rod into his leg after suffering a stress reaction late last season. So any injury to that area will set off alarms.
