Twins closer Jhoan Duran looking like himself again, even if he’s not hitting 104 mph

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – Jhoan Duran has a pair of shoes in his locker with bright red lettering that reads “104.8 mph.” Seems like the perfect accoutrement for Players’ Weekend, doesn’t it?

“No. They’re not for games,” Duran said. “It was a gift.”

Well, maybe it’s for the best that they won’t go on his feet this weekend. His 104.8-mph fastball hasn’t been in his arm this year, either.

After topping 104 with nine pitches last season, Duran has yet to reach that velocity this year. He came close, hitting 103.9 in San Francisco last month, but he’s only thrown four pitches that traveled 103 mph this year.

The thing is, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said earlier this month, Duran “doesn’t need to reach the very extreme top of his velocity to be effective, obviously. It’s not like 104 [mph] is a strikeout pitch and 102 isn’t.” Duran, the manager pointed out, missed the first month of the season with an oblique injury, and “we don’t want him to do anything that could affect his ability to go out there and get outs, important outs, for us. We need him.”

That’s true, especially this weekend. Duran pitched Wednesday at Target Field, and then Thursday and Friday at Globe Life Field, the first time this season he’s pitched in three consecutive games. By earning saves in both games at Texas, giving him 18 on the season in 19 save opportunities, he moved into the top 10 on the Twins’ all-time save list with 53, passing Bill Campbell and moving within one of Mike Marshall for ninth place.

He’s also looked like himself again, having given up only one run over six innings in August, with nine strikeouts.

“Today was probably the best he threw the ball,” Baldelli said after the Twins’ 4-3 victory on Friday. “The way the ball came out of his hand today looked visually the best. So it was a big day for him.”

Even if the task was a little more challenging than expected. Duran recorded the first two outs on a strikeout and a groundout, and the game appeared over when umpire Gabe Morales called Leody Taveras out on a ground ball to Edouard Julien. But replay corrected the call, Taveras immediately stole second base and suddenly Duran was facing Marcus Semien, who had homered earlier in the game, with the tying run in scoring position.

Didn’t matter. Duran needed only four pitches to strike out Semien, the final one a 101.2-mph fastball.

“He’s a good, good hitter,” Duran said with evident relief. “I felt better today than I did [Thursday]. Maybe because I threw more” this week.

Twins broadcaster Paul Molitor took part in the Rangers’ pregame ceremony to honor Adrian Beltré, their longtime third baseman who was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame last month.

The Rangers have created an exhibit at the ballpark with mementos of Beltré's career, and they announced during the ceremony, to the player’s obvious shock, that they will erect a statue of the Hall of Famer outside Globe Life Field, just as the Twins plan to do for fellow inductee Joe Mauer outside Target Field.

The ceremony ended with Beltré, wearing a cowboy hat the Rangers gave him, taking his position at third base and throwing a “ceremonial throw” to his longtime teammate, shortstop Elvis Andrus. A clever idea — except Beltré's throw sailed over Andrus’ head and into right field.

• None of the Twins’ pitchers have used any special equipment for Players’ Weekend, but Pablo López will change that on Sunday. The righthander plans to wear a pair of cleats that include the pattern of stars from the Venezuelan flag, some pickleball rackets to honor his favorite pastime and drawings of his two dogs, Bennie and Bosco.

• Thomas Harrington took a perfect game into the sixth, and the Saints didn’t have a runner reach second base until the ninth in a 3-0 loss to the Indianapolis Indians, their eighth straight. That’s the second-longest losing streak in franchise history.