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Streaky Twins hold players-only meeting after 7th straight loss

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Streaky Twins hold players-only meeting after 7th straight loss


Eight days ago, the Minnesota Twins were baseball’s hottest team and winners of 17 of 20 games.

After Monday night’s 12-3 loss at the Washington Nationals, the same club was mired in a seven-game slide so miserable that it sparked a players-only meeting.

“It’s easy to be a fun guy to be around when things are going good and when everything you’re hitting is falling and you’re just winning games,” Twins shortstop and two-time All-Star Carlos Correa said. “But when the tough times come, that’s when you know who people are. And it’s helpful to talk.”

Correa hit a two-run homer, the bright spot in another sluggish outing for an offense that has been the primary culprit, scoring only 12 runs during Minnesota’s free fall to within a game of the .500 mark.

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Against soft-tossing Nats starter Mitchell Parker, manager Rocco Baldelli said the Twins (24-23) simply weren’t reacting.

“The guy just stood out there and threw off-speed pitches for four innings, and we didn’t do anything about it,” Baldelli said. “We continued to kind of wave at them and look for fastballs. Which today, they weren’t coming. Especially for the first five, six innings. And in this stretch of games where we’ve been struggling, that’s been a common theme.”

Baldelli said he’s held two or three postgame talks already during a year that also included an earlier five-game slide, and is hesitant to conduct more because “it starts to get drowned out.” He approved of the players’ decision.

“I don’t know what was said. I have no idea,” Baldelli said. “I think it was the right thing to do at the right time. And hopefully we get something out of it.”

In his sixth season in charge, he’s a little in awe of how quickly things have turned. Again.

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“You start to forget some of the things that you’ve experienced when you flip it. I mean we’ve flipped the season completely around multiple times already,” Baldelli said. “I’ve seen a lot of streaky baseball, we all have. This is next-level stuff.”

Pablo López, Monday’s losing starter, expressed disappointment he couldn’t be the stopper but hoped the meeting would make a difference.

“Externalizing gives you the sense of relief,” López said. “When you say things out loud, when you hear things being said out loud, it puts things in perspective. So I think we said things that maybe we were thinking but weren’t saying out loud.”

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

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Utah Mammoth take down Minnesota 5-2 to end the Wild’s winning streak at 6

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Utah Mammoth take down Minnesota 5-2 to end the Wild’s winning streak at 6



The Wild were taken down by the Utah Mammoth 5-2 on Friday night to end Minnesota’s winning streak at six games. 

Lawson Crouse scored twice and U.S. Olympian Clayton Keller had a goal and two assists for Utah.

Logan Cooley and Barrett Hayton also scored and Karel Vejmelka made 21 saves to help the Mammoth rebound from a 4-2 home loss to NHL-leading Colorado on Wednesday night in their return from the Olympic break. Utah began the night in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

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U.S. Olympian Matt Boldy scored and assisted on Kirill Kaprizov’s goal for Minnesota. Second behind Central Division-rival Colorado in the West, the Wild are 9-2-1 in their last 12. They beat the Avalanche 5-2 on Thursday night in Denver.

Cooley opened the scoring with a short-handed goal with 6:37 left in the first period. The former University of Minnesota star got the puck on the right side off a deflection and put a shot between Wallstedt’s legs for his 15th goal.

Keller scored his 18th at 4:26 of the second. Nick Schmaltz forced a turnover on a forecheck and fed Keller on the right side.

Crouse made it 3-0 at 7:49 of the second. He came down the middle, took a pass from Keller and beat Wallstedt with a backhander.

Kaprizov countered for Minnesota on a power play with 5:57 left in the second. He has 33 goals this season.

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Hayton made it 4-1 on a power play at 1:19 of the third, and Crouse added his 16th of the season on a tip with 7:12 to go.

Boldy got his 35th of the season with 5:57 remaining.

Up next

Wild: Host St. Louis on Sunday.

Mammoth: Host Chicago on Sunday.

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Shorthanded Clippers can’t keep pace with Anthony Edwards and Minnesota

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Shorthanded Clippers can’t keep pace with Anthony Edwards and Minnesota


Anthony Edwards scored 31 points, Donte DiVincenzo added 18 and the surging Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Clippers 94-88 on Thursday night.

Jaden McDaniels and Ayo Dosunmu each scored 12 points and Rudy Gobert had 13 rebounds to help the Timberwolves improve to 5-1 since Feb. 9 and 3-1 since the All-Star break.

Edwards, returning to the site of the All-Star Game, where he was the MVP, was 12 for 24 from the floor and sealed the victory with a step-back three-pointer over two defenders for a 92-88 lead with 42.9 seconds left.

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Minnesota improved to 2-0 on a three-game trip.

Derrick Jones Jr. scored 18 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 14 for the Clippers, who struggled from the outset with a season-low 38 points in the first half. Kris Dunn had 11 points for the Clippers (27-31), who have lost three consecutive games for the first time since December.

The Clippers struggled on offense without star Kawhi Leonard, out because of ankle soreness. The Clippers shot 40.5% from the floor, including 18.2% (four for 22) in the second quarter. Minnesota shot 43.4% in the game.

The Timberwolves (37-23) scored just 15 points in the second quarter and still topped the Clippers, who had 11. Minnesota led 44-38 at halftime behind 12 points from DiVincenzo and 11 from Edwards.

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The Clippers led by six in the third quarter and were up 68-63 heading into the fourth. Edwards’ drive and reverse layup put the Timberwolves up for good at 76-74 with 7:40 remaining.

The Clippers pulled within one three times in the last 2½ minutes, but Edwards answered each time. He scored the Timberwolves’ last nine points.

Up next for Clippers: vs. New Orleans on Sunday night.

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Church congregant filed lawsuit against alleged Minnesota church protesters

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Church congregant filed lawsuit against alleged Minnesota church protesters


A St. Paul church member has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that a group of individuals, including journalist Don Lemon and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, unlawfully disrupted service last month as part of a coordinated political demonstration.

The complaint, filed by Ann Doucette in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, alleges that a Jan. 18 demonstration at Cities Church interfered with her ability to worship and caused her to suffer damages, including emotional distress and trauma.

In addition to the former CNN anchor and Armstrong, the complaint names journalist Georgia Fort and activists Will Kelly, Jerome Richardson, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy. It also names St. Paul school board member Chauntyll Allen.

Doucette and seven of the defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Doucette filed the complaint without the representation of an attorney. In an emailed statement to NBC News, Crews denied the lawsuit’s allegations “with empathy and compassion.”

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The lawsuit accuses the group of civil conspiracy, aiding and abetting, intentional infliction of emotional distress, interference with religious exercise and trespassing.

“As a result of Defendants’ actions, the worship service was disrupted, congregants experienced fear and distress, and Plaintiff’s ability to freely exercise her religion in a private place of worship was unlawfully interfered with,” the lawsuit states.

All eight defendants are also facing federal charges for conspiracy against the rights of religious freedom at a place of worship and for interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom. Lemon has pleaded not guilty to all charges, saying outside the court, “I wanted to say this isn’t just about me, this is about all journalists, especially in the United States.”

Fort, Crews and Lundy were released on bond and entered not guilty pleas, according to The Associated Press.

Don Lemon reporting from an anti-ICE demonstration at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minn.@TheDonLemonShow via YouTube

This is the latest legal action tied to protests in the Twin Cities, where tensions remain over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

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According to the lawsuit, the demonstrators engaged in “coordinated conduct” by organizing meetings ahead of the “Operation Pullup” protest and promoting it on social media.

The lawsuit alleges that on the morning of Jan. 18, a coordinated group of individuals entered Cities Church, halting the worship service, and chanting “‘ICE Out!’ and ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!’” while obstructing aisles. Protesters could allegedly be seen “confronting the pastor and congregants in a menacing manner,” the lawsuit says, noting that their chanting and “aggressive gestures” caused “severe emotional distress, fear, anxiety, and trauma” and caused children “terror.”

Demonstrators gathered at the church because they said its pastor, David Easterwood, was the acting director of an ICE field office in the city, the lawsuit says.

Lemon was arrested in January in California and accused of violating federal civil rights law after covering the protest on Jan. 18. He was released on a personal recognizance bond before a federal grand jury in Minnesota returned the indictment against Lemon and eight co-defendants, all of whom are also named in Doucette’s lawsuit.

Nekima Levy Armstrong, Cities Church protest arraignment, St. Paul, Minn., February 2026
Nekima Levy Armstrong in St. Paul, Minn., on Feb. 13.Carlos Gonzalez / Star Tribune via Getty Images

In the lawsuit, Doucette alleges that Lemon specifically livestreamed the protest, “noting congregants’ fear and distress, and appeared to take satisfaction in the disruption.”

Levy Armstrong, a Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney and activist, was also arrested for her participation in the St. Paul protest. Her arrest drew national attention after the White House shared on social media doctored photos where she appeared to be crying.

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