Standout rookies in 2015, Twins' Miguel Sano and Tyler Duffey making comebacks at different pace

The Twins' most-futile stretch of baseball in team history was from 2011 through 2016, with 2015 as the only interruption in loss totals that ranged from 92 to 103. The expectation for that '15 bunch was more of the same, yet somehow they were still alive for the American League's second wild card entering the final weekend of the schedule.

Ultimately, that went to Houston, and Paul Molitor's Twins finished 83-79. Two rookies played a significant part in this modest run at competence:

Miguel Sano, who entered the lineup at age 22 on July 2, and Tyler Duffey, 24, who was inserted into the rotation in mid-August when an ineffective Phil Hughes was shut down with a bad back.

Sano served as a full-time designated hitter. In 80 games, he batted .269 with 18 home runs and 52 RBI, and a slugging percentage of .530 and was voted the Twins' MVP.

Duffey was called up on Aug. 6 for what was basically an emergency start in Toronto, and what he did was add significantly to the Twins' pitching emergency.

The Twins scored three in the top of the first. Duffey gave up a long, two-run home run by future teammate Josh Donaldson in the bottom of the first. He gave up a gigantic grand slam to Twins destroyer Jose Bautista in the bottom of the second.

That was it: Two innings, two bombs, six runs, in what became a 9-7 loss for the Twins.

On Tuesday, Duffey was in the home clubhouse at Target Field, talking about the ups-and-downs of a big-league pitching career. "It seemed iffy if we ever were going to see you again after that first one in Toronto,'' I said.

Duffey shook his head and said: "That was terrible.''

And then Hughes was sidelined and the Terry Ryan administration gave Duffey another shot as a starter on Aug. 15. He shut out Cleveland for six innings on one hit. Starting then through his final start on Oct. 1, Duffey made nine starts, with a 5-0 record and 2.25 ERA in 56 innings.

Sano and Duffey spent most of the next six years as Twins teammates. On Tuesday, they were separated by 11 miles — Target Field and CHS Field — and at different stages of comebacks from distressing periods in their careers.

Sano last played for the Twins on April 30. He was batting .093 with one home run and three RBI in 17 games when diagnosed with a torn meniscus in his left knee.

There seemed no rush to get him back, particularly since rookie Jose Miranda started becoming a righthanded threat. Sano hit two home runs playing against the rookies in Florida, and was in the St. Paul Saints' Class AAA lineup on Tuesday vs. Toledo.

Duffey made 26 starts in the disastrous 2016 season (59-103), became a reliever, a good one in 2017, bounced continuously between the Twins and Class AAA Rochester in 2018 and then effective in big bullpen roles for three seasons.

The Twins traded Duffey's pal Taylor Rogers before the season started and turned to Duffey to close the opener. He gave up two runs to Seattle in the ninth and took a 4-3 loss.

It was a bad omen. Forty percent of the fly balls he allowed were leaving the park. Impossible, but true, Duffey said.

"I would come in, throw good, get two outs, and then a walk, maybe a hit dropping in, and an inning would get away,'' he said. "At some point, you have to remember how good you are.''

That mindset might have truly started when Duffey struck out four of five Cleveland batters on June 30. On Sunday, he had a fifth straight strong effort and his first save in a crucial 6-5 win over Texas.

Duffey seems to have remembered how good he can be. Now his co-standout rookie of the second half of 2015 will be trying to forget the .093 he left behind earlier this season and remember what went into those days of yore when he was dangerous.

As for Tuesday, Miguel, looking trim, took batting practice, made a jovial walk down a hall, told an employee that his surgically repaired left knee felt "good, really good,'' declined an interview request from a Strib correspondent and waited out a rain delay to get some at-bats while hitting third as the designated hitter for the Saints.

No specific timeline for his return, the Twins were saying 11 miles away in Minneapolis.

Miguel Sano started a rehab assignment with the Saints on Tuesday.

First inning: Walked on 3-2 pitch and scored a run.

Second inning: Doubled to right-center to drive in two runs on an 0-1 pitch.

(Tuesday's game was suspended by rain in the bottom of the second inning and will resume at 5:07 p.m. Wednesday, with the regularly scheduled game to follow 30 minutes after.)