Danny Valencia befuddled by his great start

The 25-year-old third baseman doesn't know why he's been virtually impossible to get out in Kansas City. On the series, Valencia is 8-for-9 with seven RBIs. With his second consecutive four-hit attack Tuesday night, Valencia became the first rookie in Twins history to have back-to-back four-hit games.

"This is rare," he said of his streak. "It's definitely rare. It's obviously great to have it, but it's something that will probably never come again. I've been fortunate, so I'm just really happy with the way things have been going."

Valencia was recalled on June 3 from Triple-A Rochester, where he hit .292 with 15 doubles and 24 RBIs in 47 games. In his last four games for the Twins, Valencia is 14-for-19 (.737) with eight RBIs.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire points to Valencia's hard work outside the lines as the reason for his recent success.

"He's been working really hard, watching, paying attention, sitting on the bench, working with [hitting coach Joe] Vavra in the cage," Gardenhire said. "As we talked about, he's balancing his swing. He's using the whole field, he's driving it the other way.

"The kid can hit. He's been one of our top prospects coming up for a long time. He struggled this year power-wise, but he's hit the ball."



(mlb.com)