ssian in IndyCar history,

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MINNEAPOLIS -- After adding Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes in the off-season, the Twins expected their rotation to be better. Instead, the offence has been the biggest turnaround for Minnesota. Joe Mauer hit his first home run of the season, Brian Dozier connected for his fourth and Nolasco earned his initial win with the Twins in a 7-1 victory Saturday over the Kansas City Royals. "I feel like, one through nine, everybody today had at least three hard-hit balls each, and thats a tell-tale sign an offence is clicking," said Dozier, who tied for the AL lead in homers. "Been doing that for the past week now, so everything is starting to click as a team right now." A day after getting his first RBI of the year, Mauer hit a three-run shot against starter James Shields (0-2). Dozier had a leadoff homer for Minnesota, which has scored the second-most runs in the American League. Nolasco (1-1) showed why the Twins signed him to a $49 million, four-year contract to steady their rotation. The right-hander gave up five runs in each of his first two outings for his new team, but was on top of his game Saturday in his first home start for Minnesota. Nolasco went eight innings and allowed five hits with four strikeouts. "I wish I could say Im going to go eight every time," Nolasco said. "This level is very difficult and you can never count yourself out no matter how good or bad youre doing. I had two bad starts, but my mentality is still like I could do something like today." While the rotation was addressed in the off-season, it was Minnesotas lineup that figured to keep the Twins near the bottom of the AL Central again. Instead, Dozier has been a power source in the leadoff spot, and Minnesota has received big production from a middle of the order that includes Trevor Plouffe, Chris Colabello and Jason Kubel. Making the transition full-time to first base this season, Mauer was slow to come around with the bat. Kansas Citys first trip to Minnesota was the perfect remedy, though. In his career, Mauer has hit .338 against the Royals with 11 homers and 95 RBIs. Hes also hit .350 (12 for 37) against Shields. "When its all said and done his numbers are going to be there," acting Twins manager Terry Steinbach said. "Hes a professional hitter, a great hitter, and just over the course of time its going to happen. It was good to see him connect with one and get that ball out of the ballpark." Shields put Kansas City in an early hole again. The Royals had seven quality starts in their first eight games, but Bruce Chen allowed two first-inning runs Friday night and only went 3 2-3 innings. Shields gave up a home run to Dozier on his fourth pitch and Minnesota added six runs in the second. Shields was undone by the defence, including his own. None of the runs in the second were earned because Shields misplayed a sacrifice bunt by Kurt Suzuki, with the ball slipping out of his hand for an error as the pitcher tried to throw to third base. Shields then walked No. 8 hitter Aaron Hicks with the bases loaded. Later, third baseman Mike Moustakas couldnt handle a hard-hit grounder by Dozier that deflected into left field for an error, allowing two runs to score. Mauer followed Moustakas error with a three-run homer, his first since Aug. 16 last season. "Even though it was a 3-2 count, I was trying to go changeup down and away," Shields said. "Hes a pretty good hitter. Hes going to hit that every time." Shields yielded seven runs -- one earned -- in 5 2-3 innings. He gave up six hits and walked three while striking out five. NOTES: Steinbach filled in for Twins manager Ron Gardenhire the past two games while Gardenhire attended the funeral for Michael Hirschbeck in Ohio. Hirschbeck, the son of umpire John Hirschbeck, died Tuesday at age 27. Gardenhire is expected back for Sundays game. ... Kansas City recalled LHP Danny Duffy from Triple-A Omaha to pitch out of the bullpen. Duffy, who was in the mix for a rotation spot this spring, is the only healthy left-hander in the bullpen. The Royals optioned 2B Johnny Giavotella to Omaha. ... Minnesota put LF Josh Willingham on the 15-day disabled list with a bruised left wrist. Willingham was set to have an MRI later Saturday. The move was made retroactive to Monday, and the team hopes hell be ready to return when eligible. The Twins recalled RHP Michael Tonkin from Triple-A Rochester. ... Minnesota assistant general manager Rob Antony said SS Jason Bartlett will travel to Fort Myers, Fla., on Sunday to begin rehabilitating a left ankle injury. Bartlett was placed on the disabled list Monday. ... Twins RHP Kevin Correia (0-1, 6.17 ERA) pitches Sunday against LHP Jason Vargas (1-0, 1.20). Daniel Carrico Jersey . Giants manager Bruce Bochy told The Associated Press of the decision before NL West-leading San Francisco opened a 10-game homestand Monday night with the first of three games against second-place Arizona. Eder Portugal Jersey . Not that Durant cared. The only streak he cares about is still intact. http://www.soccerportugalnationalshop.u ... al-Jersey/. Appearing on TSN 690 Monday afternoon, Mike Babcock said he had conversations with both P.K. Subban and Carey Price about those on-ice traits during Hockey Canadas summer orientation camp. Mike Babcock: McGill experience, P. Bernardo Silva Portugal Jersey . Messis father, Jorge Horacio Messi, is apparently still under investigation for an alleged 4 million euros ($5.3 million) in unpaid taxes from Messis image rights from 2007-09. Messis public relations firm confirmed Spanish media reports that the state prosecutor has asked for Messi to be dropped from the investigation that began in June 2013. Vieirinha Jersey .C. -- The Edmonton Oilers used a late-power-play goal to get a hard-fought road victory.INDIANAPOLIS -- A slick surface was all it took for Sebastian Saavedra to win his first IndyCar Series pole. It was also just enough to slip Ryan Hunter-Reay out of the top starting spot for Saturdays Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Saavedra won the pole Friday when Hunter-Reay appeared to drive through a patch of standing water that caused him to spin and crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The accident exiting Turn 14 came on the lap after Hunter-Reay had moved to the provisional pole, and IndyCar penalized him by taking away his two fastest laps for causing a session-ending caution. "We definitely gave that one away," Hunter-Reay said. "Every time through there I almost lost it. I had a few big moments there, but in qualifying youve got to go for it. In the wet, youre always going for it. "Theres a very fine line between stepping over getting that good lap in the wet and throwing it off." Rain showers changed the track conditions for each of the four qualifying sessions, and it picked up moments before the start of the final Fast Six session. IndyCar brought the cars back to pit road because of standing water on the track for a red-flag period that lasted about 20 minutes. Saavedra had just bumped rookie Jack Hawksworth from the pole when Hunter-Reay turned his fast lap. But the IndyCar rule is to strip a driver of his two fastest laps for bringing out a red flag during qualifying, so Hunter-Reay was dropped to third. Hunter-Reay, the only driver to advance to the Fast Six through the first four races of the season, has not started lower than third this year. But his Andretti Autosport team had work to do to repair his bright yellow No. 28, which sustained heavy damage to the right rear of the car. Saavedra, who turned a lap at 1 minute, 23.8822 seconds, will lead the field to the green flag for the first IndyCar road course race at Indianapolis. "I love the rain," Saavedra said. "It was crazy at first because we didnt know what to expect from the track -- if it was going to be wet, if it was going to be dry. The whole session was just weird. It started to rain and went from wet, to dry, to super dry, to super wet. I loved it." The previous road course was reconfigured into a 14-turn, 2.439-mile course to accommodate IndyCar, which is using the race to open the speedway and create buzz in advance of the Indiaanapolis 500.dddddddddddd. Drivers for the first time are running clockwise at the famed speedway, which will run the Grand Prix on Saturday and then revert to the traditional oval Sunday for the opening practice for the May 25 main event. Because the event and the track configuration are new, the field may be even headed into Saturdays race. It appeared even when Saavedra advanced into his first Fast Six of the season, then hung on to win the pole and give IndyCar a relatively inexperienced front row. Saavedra has 41 career starts dating to 2010, but his longtime backer this year brought him to KV Racing, the team that won the Indianapolis 500 last year with Tony Kanaan. Hawksworth, starting on the outside of Saavedra, has three previous starts. The British driver is in his first season with Bryan Herta Autosport. Hawksworth spent last season racing Indy Lights, where he won three times. Meanwhile, a tough qualifying assignment made it a nearly impossible session for Andretti Autosport, which had all five of its cars in the first group. With only six drivers advancing from that group, the odds were stacked against the organization. Indeed, only Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe moved on while Marco Andretti, Carlos Munoz and Franck Montagny were eliminated. "Obviously, Im not very happy," Andretti said. "It was a team decision to go out, we were worried about the wet, but we plateaued too early and the track got better at the end. Weve been on the outside looking in of this hundredth of a second. Im losing sleep over this couple hundredths of a second." Wished good luck for Saturdays race, Andretti, who will start 13th, said: "Thanks, Im going to need it." Mikhail Aleshin, the first Russian in IndyCar history, had been strong through three practices and advanced into the second round of qualifying. But his fastest laps were wiped out when he was hit with an interference penalty. He and Sebastien Bourdais had raced each other hard for many laps two weeks ago at Barber, and Bourdais was eventually penalized for contact. The two drivers disagree wildly on who was to blame. Simon Pagenaud, teammates with the rookie but friendly with Bourdais since their days racing in France, wasnt sure what happened in qualifying. 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