E-Twins' Sano hits 19th, 20th homers

The Twins' No. 3 prospect hit his 19th and 20th longballs and drove in three runs Monday to power Rookie-level Elizabethton to its seven straight win, a 6-5 victory over the Princeton Rays.

"I felt good tonight," Sano said through a translator. "I was very comfortable in the batter's box."

It was the third multi-homer game of the season for the 18-year-old infielder, who's gone deep four times and has 12 RBIs in his last four contests. Earlier this month, he homered six times in a seven-game stretch.

Signed by the Twins as a non-drafted free agent in October 2009, Sano has a seven-game hitting streak that coincides with Elizabethton's recent winning ways.

"I've been focused on each pitch and am seeing the ball well right now," Sano said.

Leading off the bottom of the second, he hit a drive off the left-center field wall.

"I was rounding second when I saw the center fielder [Deshun Dixon] had hit the wall very hard," Sano explained. "The ball bounced pretty far away from him and our third-base coach was waving me in."

Sano crossed the plate without a throw for the inside-the-park homer. With two outs in the fifth, he hit a more traditional homer that scored Eddie Rosario, whose RBI single had knocked out Princeton starter Matthew Spann (4-1).

Sano deposited the first pitch from reliever Jeff Ames over the wall in center field to extend the E-Twins' lead to 6-2. The insurance proved key as the Rays scored a run in the sixth and two more in the seventh.

A native of the Dominican Republic, Sano leads the Rookie-level Appalachian League with 43 extra-base hits. He's one homer behind his good friend, Rosario, who hit one to retain the league lead. Sano's also third with 57 RBIs, trailing only Rosario and Bluefield's Art Charles, who are tied with 59.