Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • C2

By MICHAEL RAND At a time when MLB is struggling with pace of play and length of game issues related topics, but not one and the same recent Twins call-up Willians Astudillo is the hero baseball needs. The average MLB game this season has lasted 3 hours, 4 minutes about 20 minutes (at least) too long for my taste and the tastes of plenty of both hard-core and casual baseball fans. actually an improvement from last 3:08, but assuming games become ultrafast in the second half of the season, this will be the seventh consecutive year that games lasted an average of at least 3 hours. Contrast that with other sports: The average soccer game is over in a few minutes less than 2 hours. The average NBA game is 2:15.

NHL is about 2:20. NFL is closer to 3 hours, but only once a week and the action within the game seem to drag on. With people having more options and less time than ever, the unpredictable length and overall duration of a baseball game formerly charming is hurting the popularity. Within length of game problem is a pace of play problem. The biggest culprit is probably the amount of time between pitches which could be easily eradicated and hopefully will be soon with a pitch clock but another factor is that players are striving to have longer at-bats.

The number of pitches per plate appearance has crept upward in recent years to almost four, as has the number of plate appearances that end either in a walk or strikeout. Walks are valued and strikeouts are seen as a necessary byproduct of the patience that yields walks and the big swings that lead to extra- base hits. This season, 31 percent of plate appearances in MLB nearly one- third have ended in a walk or strikeout. A decade ago, it was 26 percent. In 1985, it was 22.6 percent.

But Astudillo is almost single- handedly trying to change that. In 2,786 career plate appearances in the minor leagues and winter ball, the 26-year-old who was born 13 days before the Twins won their last World Series in 1991 has walked only 97 times and more incredibly struck out only 87 times. Those are not misprints. Exactly 6.6 percent of his career plate appearances have ended in a walk or strikeout or about one- fifth as many as the MLB average this season. also hit .305 in his career, spending time with the Phillies, Braves and D-Backs organizations before latching on with the Twins this offseason.

Astudillo made his debut for the Twins on Saturday, and true to form he saw a total of five pitches in two at-bats a first-pitch single and later a flyout. That only made a tiny dent in a 3-hour, 44-minute marathon played in sweltering heat, but Astudillo did his part. He will get on base, but he will rarely walk. He will make an out, but rarely on strikes. Short of a pitch clock, MLB just needs about 200 Willians Astudillos and everything will be fine.

A model of short at-bats TALKER PACE OF OF GAME MARK VANCLEAVE mark.vancleave@startribune.com Twins call-up Willians Astudillo a patient man at the plate. He walks or strikes out only 6.6 percent of the time. VIEWPOINT RANDBALL If the Percy Harvin you thought you knew from his Vikings days was the brash, electric, unreliable, game-changing force who more or less defined the rise and fall of that era, perhaps you should get to know another side of Harvin. The former Vikings playmaker opened up for a long interview with MMQB, much of it an examination of the anxiety he has dealt with for years and the fallout from it. Per the piece: starts with the painful stuff: the migraines he has endured since he was seven.

That pounding is linked, he says, to an anxiety disorder that has gripped him since he was a kid, which he even know he had until he broke in with the Vikings and started making regular visits to the Mayo Clinic. Kept confidential by the medical protocols, and by his own protocols of manhood, the ailment caused Harvin to play most of his 79 NFL games on little or no Read Michael blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com. Harvin opens up about battle with anxiety Minnesota United head coach Adrian Heath commented on his former team, Orlando City SC, hiring the United Soccer League coach of Louisville City FC, James as its new coach. Orlando fired Jason Kreis after roughly the same amount of time Heath was at the helm before his firing in 2016.

Connor played under Heath at Orlando from 2012-14 before the club moved to MLS. absolutely delighted for James. worked really hard for this Heath said. was coaching with me when I was back there in the early days, when we were USL. So worked really hard.

Done a great job at Louisville. You know, nice to see another guy out of the USL getting an opportunity. do very well. a good guy, a good coach. And if they give him time, sure do it right.

Time is the operative MEGAN RYAN FROM OUR BLOGS THE UNITED BEAT Heath praises new hire in Orlando TIPSHEET Compiled by Ken Chia KNOW THIS For all their lack of hitting, the Twins went 13-14 in June. The frustrating thing for Twins fans is that they went a combined 7-2 against the Indians and Red Sox, but they also lost series to the Rangers, Tigers and White Sox. WATCH THIS It has been ugly for the Twins of late, and it could get a whole lot uglier in Milwaukee, where the Brewers have become one of the best teams. Game 1 is Monday night (7 p.m., FSN). RANDOM FANDOM to argue against the 12 year contracts for these two, but the real issue with Fletch was lousy draft picks and trading away good draft picks for older players past their prime.

on Zach Parise and Ryan Suter at startribune.com. TWEETED being on an NBA roster, Adidas contract kicks in and will pay him more than $14.5 Million for the 2018-19 season. From Nick DePaula Derrick shoe deal is worth more than six times his Wolves deal. Derrick Rose Jesus Aguilar GOLF AUTO RACING JOLIET, ILL. Kyle Busch knocked Kyle Larson out of the way on a wild final lap Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series 400, taking his fifth victory of the season.

Busch moved into the lead on a restart with 58 laps to go at Chicagoland Speedway, replacing Kevin Harvick at the front of the field. Busch, Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. representing top three teams this season were up front with about 40 laps left before a Larson crashed the party. First, he cruised by Harvick for second. He brushed the wall with seven laps left but kept going, and Busch was hampered by slower cars.

Larson bumped into the back of car and moved into the lead. Busch then raced into the back of car and sped ahead for the victory. I was going down the backstretch, I was like, no, not taking this one away right Busch said. Busch was booed by the crowd, but he got a thumbs- up from Larson, who called it a fair finish. roughed him up.

He roughed me up. Larson said. ASSOCIATED PRESS Bump gives Busch a title KILDEER, ILL. Sung Hyun Park beat So Yeon Ryu on the second hole of a playoff Sunday in the KPMG PGA Championship for her second major championship. After a brief rain delay on the par-4 16th hole at Kemper Lakes, birdie try rolled past, and Park finished off her South Korean compatriot with a 10-footer.

Park, 24, who also won the 2017 U.S. Open, screamed, threw her hands in the air, hugged her caddie and cried upon winning. is my first time feeling this kind of emotion, being this Ryu said through an interpreter. I was really happy, like, I help Japanese teen Nasa Hata- oko, who made up a nine- stroke deficit by shooting an 8-under 64, dropped out of the playoff with a par on the par-4 18th. Park closed with a 3-under 69, and Ryu shot a 73.

She took a two-stroke lead on the 16th but hit into water on the par-3 17th en route to a double bogey. ASSOCIATED PRESS Park wins 2nd major Park COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. David Toms made one long putt to take the lead, then another one to preserve it on his way to a one-shot victory Sunday at the U.S. Senior Open. Toms sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th hole at the Broadmoor to take the lead, then held on with a 20-foot downhill make after laying up from a fairway bunker on the 17th hole.

He saved par with a downhill knee-knocker from 3 feet on No. 18 to close out the round of even-par 70. Toms finished at 3-under 277 to edge Jerry Kelly (72), Miguel Angel Jimenez (69) and Tim Petrovic (70) by a stroke. Toms scored when he knew he needed to, he said. He certainly counting on success at the 17th, a 530-yard par-4.

I was going to make a birdie, it had to happen on Toms said. put it right in the Putting frustrated the entire field. Kelly led after the first three rounds but finished the tournament without making a putt over 12 feet. ASSOCIATED PRESS Toms takes Senior Open Toms POTOMAC, MD. Francesco Molinari delivered a record performance to win the final edition of the PGA Quicken Loans National.

Molinari holed a 50-foot eagle putt to start the back nine, and he stop until he turned the final round into a runaway Sunday at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. The Italian closed with an 8-under 62 for an eight-shot victory, matching the largest margin this year on the PGA Tour. Molinari followed that eagle putt with an approach to 2 feet on No. 11, where only one other birdie was made in the final round. He made three more birdies and ended his round by missing a birdie putt from 8 feet.

No matter. He finished at 21-under 259, breaking the tournament record by seven shots. was a lot easier than I Molinari said with a wide grin. played great. The start of the back nine was Tiger Woods closed with a 66, his lowest final round in more than five years, and he was never close.

Woods tied for fourth, his best result since a runner-up finish at the Valspar Championship three months ago, though he was 10 shots behind. thought that maybe if I got on the back nine, I shot 30 maybe 29 that would be Woods said. I would have to shoot 24 on the back ASSOCIATED PRESS 62 makes it a rout NICK WASS Associated Press Francesco Molinari won by eight strokes and broke the tournament record by seven. C2 STAR TRIBUNE SPORTS MONDAY, JULY 2, 2018.