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The way Christian Vázquez was running the bases Sunday, there was some doubt, even as his fly ball cleared the left-field wall in the bottom of the ninth, whether he could navigate his way to home plate.
He almost got caught off first base after his second-inning single. He did get caught off first after his fourth-inning groundout. Those ignominious moments, a sixth-inning strikeout and a three-year slump led to him … hitting a walk-off home run off Josh Hader to give the Twins a 3-2 victory over Houston at Target Field.
Baseball is never required to make sense. On a day featuring Vázquez's improbable star turn and Carlos Correa making the All-Star team, the Twins provided reminders that a good baseball team, like a good hitter's swing, is a fluid fusion of disparate parts:
* In his first four games in the big leagues, Brooks Lee hit .474 with a double and a home run and made difficult plays at third base and shortstop.
His batting stance looks like an homage to the dead-ball era. He stands crouched and balanced, with his bat near his ear.
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His swing is remindful of the first time A.J. Pierzynski saw Joe Mauer take batting practice. ``He's doing everything we all try to do," Pierzynski said, "but can't."
"Sometimes I get too stagnant, and I try to move a little more," Lee said. "But I really try to be quiet, with my hands and my body."
Lee's simple approach and short, level swing should make him more consistent than the average good hitter.
* Outfielder Matt Wallner had his first two plate appearances after being recalled from Class AAA. He drew a walk while taking the kinds of pitches he was swinging through earlier in the season, then hit a line-drive single that was measured at 117 mph off the bat, thought to be the hardest he's hit a ball in the majors.
He's stepping more directly toward the pitcher instead of toward the plate, as he was earlier in the season. "I just feel good," he said. "It was a long process. Slowly but surely, my swing came back, and I feel as good as I have in a long time."
Said Baldelli: ``You can tell he's attacking pitches the way he wants to. He's getting to fastballs up in the zone and he's timed up to hit them good. He's taking the breaking balls that are down and thrown at his back foot in ways we didn't necessarily see at the beginning of the year."
* The Twins bullpen produced three scoreless innings Sunday, the first courtesy of Josh Staumont, who has given up zero earned runs in 20 innings this season.
He retired the side on nine pitches in the seventh, and one of his fastballs was clocked at 101 mph.
"That was a monstrous moment for him to go out there and just put up a zero and he did it, and it was nice and quiet," Baldelli said. "His stuff is ticking up. It looks very good right now. And adding a guy that can go out there against anyone and put up a zero — we're fortunate to have another guy like that."
Staumont is making $950,000 this season, making him one of the best bargains in sports.
* Jose Miranda, left out of the starting lineup, contributed a pinch-hit single, giving him 13 hits in his past 14 at-bats. At the beginning of the season, he was considered organizational depth. He was behind Royce Lewis at third base and expected to be kept out of the majors by the likes of Edouard Julien and Lee. Instead, he has a superstar-like OPS of .910.
* Simeon Woods Richardson has an ERA of 3.48. He has saved the Twins, whose primary weakness entering the season was starting pitching depth.
Sunday, he retired the last 13 batters he faced.
The Twins have won five consecutive series and are on pace to win 92 games, in part because surprising performances have become the norm.
