Twins' Rosario one HR away from joining elite company

Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano might be the players Minnesota Twins fans were buzzing about before the season (and, again, now), but it is another rookie -- Eddie Rosario -- who could be joining some elite company.

Rosario made history, of sorts, earlier this year when he homered on the first pitch he saw in the majors. But he hasn't stopped there.

One more home run this year will give him 10 on the season. He also has 10 or more doubles, triples and steals. That has been done by a rookie only four other times since 1975: Philadelphia's Juan Samuel in 1984, Boston's Nomar Garciaparra in 1977, Philadelphia's Jimmy Rollins in 2001 and Florida's Hanley Ramirez in 2006.

Not bad for a guy who was an afterthought in Minnesota's outfield before the season.

Speaking of that other rookie, Sano, he is tied for the second-most home runs in the majors since Aug. 17 with eight. Only Toronto's Edwin Encarnacion (9) has more, and he hit three in one game.

Perhaps not-so-coincidentally, the Twins have been one of baseball's hottest teams.

BEST RECORD SINCE AUG. 20

Other notes:

-- Houston has allowed seven or more runs in three of its last four games. The Astros had done that just three times in their previous 48 games.

-- The Astros are 12-17 vs. the AL Central and 61-44 against the rest of MLB.

-- Houston's Carlos Correa is one of two players (Baltimore's Manny Machado is the other) to have 15 or more home runs and 10 or more steals since June 1.

Statistics courtesy STATS Inc.