ANAHEIM, Calif. — Even before driving in the game-winning run with a ninth-inning sacrifice fly in Friday night’s 5-4 comeback win, Twins catcher Bobby Wilson had a productive visit to Orange County.
The former Los Angeles Angels backup visited South Coast Plaza on Wednesday’s off day to have his watch cleaned and adjusted. This isn’t just any watch, mind you, but a gift from former Angels teammate Ervin Santana to commemorate the no-hitter on which they collaborated on July 27, 2011, a Wednesday afternoon in Cleveland.
“It was such a nice gesture on Ervin’s part,” Wilson said of his current Twins teammate, who is eyeing an early June return after undergoing finger surgery on Feb. 4. “He took my wife and me out to dinner, too, and he gave me a watch that I wear every day. It’s a nice-looking watch, too.”
A silver Chanel model with a row of diamonds embedded on a black face, the watch includes a personalized engraving on the back that reads: “Bobby Wilson Caught No-Hitter 7-27-11.”
Wilson, now 35, had already caught Sean O’Sullivan’s nine-inning no-hitter in Triple-A in 2009 when he hooked up with Santana for one of their 35 starts from 2010-12. Only Jeff Mathis and Mike Napoli have caught more of Santana’s starts.
“Just a special day,” Wilson recalled. “I remember the first hitter (Ezequiel Carrera) in the first inning got on by error, stole second. Then they got him over and he scored on a wild pitch. That was the one run scored, and from that point on Ervin was as dominant as I’ve seen a pitcher.”
Santana’s fastball was humming in the mid- to upper-90s, and his signature slider “was as good as it’s ever been,” Wilson said. Santana finished with 10 strikeouts and just one walk (Lonnie Chisenhall with one out in the eighth) in a 105-pitch gem, but the no-hitter kind of snuck up on everybody.
“Honestly I really didn’t know until the ninth inning,” Wilson said. “You’re just thinking, ‘Let’s get the win first.’ Then you get to the ninth, and it kind of started settling in then. I didn’t feel any pressure that day. I don’t know why.”
Wilson, who came within three outs of a third professional no-hitter with former Texas Rangers right-hander Colby Lewis in June 2016 at Oakland, remembers the final out on a Michael Brantley fly ball to Peter Bourjos in center.
“I just remember running towards Ervin and seeing (Angels teammates) Mark Trumbo and Erik Aybar there,” Wilson said. “They almost somehow beat me to the mound, which I guess with my speed is not that shocking. I got there.”
The postgame celebration was a bit rushed as the Angels had to fly to Detroit right after the game.
“It was kind of a weird day,” Wilson said. “We didn’t really get a chance to celebrate that much, but it was a nice flight.”
After the game, Wilson got a congratulatory text from then-Twins catcher Drew Butera.
“I was like, ‘Thanks, Drew. Now go get yourself one,’ ” Wilson said. “I wasn’t even thinking. I was just so caught up in the moment, I didn’t realize he had already caught one (Francisco Liriano’s in Chicago that May 3).”
Butera gave him a gentle reminder: “I already got one.”
Wilson gladly apologized. He was just happy to join the club.
CASTRO’S KNEE
Catcher Jason Castro, eligible to come off the 10-day disabled list on Tuesday, instead will visit knee specialist Dr. Robert LaPrade on Monday in Vail, Colo.
Out with a torn meniscus in his right knee, Castro had hoped a cortisone injection would calm the issue down enough for him to return quickly without surgery, but Twins manager Paul Molitor said Saturday the knee “is probably not progressing as much as we had hoped.”
Castro, hitting just .143 with 26 strikeouts in 74 plate appearances, missed all of 2011 with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and also had arthroscopic surgery on the same knee in September 2013.
“Given his history, we want to make sure we do this thing right,” Molitor said.
BRIEFLY
Santana (finger) threw a 50-pitch bullpen session on Thursday that included 8-10 sliders and plans to throw to hitters on Monday and Thursday in Fort Myers, Fla. If that goes well, he will make a start in extended spring training on May 21 with a rehab outing of four innings or 60 pitches on May 26. He can’t come off the 60-day disabled list until May 28.
Miguel Sano (hamstring) scaled back his on-field workouts a bit Saturday and appears to need more time before heading out on a rehab assignment.
Trevor May (elbow surgery) worked three scoreless innings on Saturday for Class A Fort Myers in his first rehab start. May allowed a hit and three walks while striking out five in his 58-pitch outing.
