Twins dig long ball, at least for one night

Back-to-back home runs for the Twins? That’s like two straight laughs at a Dane Cook show. The Twins don’t hit home runs. They nibble and pick and gnaw. They’ve turned small ball into a verb. And here they were, in the game their manager deemed the most important this season, a game that could’ve shattered their glass slipper, launching balls like they hadn’t all year.

Delmon Young’s homer pre-empted Kubel from doffing his cap and put the Chicago White Sox on notice that the Twins weren’t going down without a fight, not in their own building. The din from Kubel’s homer hadn’t ceded when Young put the exclamation point on the Twins’ 9-3 victory Tuesday to pull them within 1½ games of the White Sox in the AL Central with two remaining in this series at the Metrodome.

“I was in the dugout, giving all the high fives, and I looked up and Delmon had hit one,” Kubel said. “When you hear the crowd, you know.”

Though they weren’t packed to the rafters, 35,225 strong witnessed the Twins’ 50th home win in 76 games. And they saw an offense that somehow scored the fourth-most runs in the major leagues in spite of hitting the second-fewest home runs.

Passan ripped Dane Cook. And I approve of that.