MINNEAPOLIS -- As the final batting practice group wrapped up before Tuesday¡¯s game against the Angels, Kyle Farmer signed a few autographs and bantered with three reporters at the end of the dugout, as he often does. But then, before disappearing down the tunnel into the clubhouse, he gestured at a small cardboard box stuffed with thick plastic on top of the bat rack.

¡°Guess what¡¯s in there?¡± Farmer asked.

The media generally doesn¡¯t like to touch items in the dugout, but that felt like it amounted to an invitation, so upon lifting the mess of plastic ¡­ there it was, in all its glory, back to help its team.

Welcome back, Rally Sausage.

(This is the part where you stop reading if you have a weak stomach.)

Based on the pinkish-brown slime that appeared to coat the old Cloverdale Tangy friend, it looked to be the original one that got the Twins out of their season-opening slump back in April. Whether or not it had been properly stored since then, it looked like it still had that same magic, bringing the bats roaring back to life in a needed 10-5 rout of the Angels at Target Field.

¡°No one can kill it,¡± manager Rocco Baldelli said. ¡°It's probably going to be around for long after all of us.¡±

Looks like Brat Summer isn¡¯t over yet -- or Summer Sausage Summer, or whatever -- as the Twins maintained their three-game lead in the AL Wild Card standings over the Tigers and stayed within six games of the AL Central-leading Guardians.

Given that it was Farmer who had originally brought in the sausage and all its glorious microbiota and Ryan Jeffers who had been the meat¡¯s unofficial travel agent and spokesman back in April, it¡¯s only fair that they were the ones to break the seal in the second inning, when Jeffers lifted a broken-bat RBI single and Farmer crushed a three-run blast for an early lead.

That¡¯s when Rally Sausage made its triumphant return, spotted for the first time in months while clutched in Farmer¡¯s right hand as he made his way down the dugout high-five line. When Matt Wallner crushed a Statcast-projected 444-foot solo blast in the third inning, he mimicked taking a bite out of the thrown sausage before Jeffers¡¯ sac fly pushed the Twins to their highest run total since Aug. 27.

Nobody was willing to fess up to being the one to bring the sausage back into the dugout, and nobody seemed to have much of an idea of where that thing had been gathering dust, and mold, and God only knows what else, for the last four months.

One coach noted that he might have seen it in the fridge in the coaches¡¯ locker room, and the name of run production coordinator Danny-David Linahan was brought up in passing, too.

All that¡¯s known to rookie DaShawn Keirsey Jr., who notched his first big league hit in the eighth inning, is that he watched from the on-deck circle as hitting coach David Popkins pulled out the fabled sausage he¡¯d heard so much about while in Triple-A St. Paul.

¡°It¡¯s just all disgusting and nasty, and my first thought was, ¡®What is that?¡¯¡± Keirsey said. ¡°I was thinking, ¡®If I get any closer to this, I might get sick.¡¯¡±

The Twins had scored five or fewer runs in 12 consecutive games, and they hadn¡¯t had a three-homer game as a team since Aug. 24, until Carlos Santana helped the Twins respond to a four-run Angels rally in the fifth with his team-leading 21st homer of the season, a two-run shot.

Since the media couldn¡¯t sense any odor upon being confronted by the Rally Sausage in the dugout, the plastic packaging still looked to be intact. But it¡¯s a good thing that the Twins finally seemed to have found some extra wrapping for it, because seemingly nothing had worked to spark the Minnesota offense until this admittedly somewhat silly gambit made its return.

But at this point, the Twins will take it.

Hoping for a big hit to come wasn¡¯t working. Baldelli tearing into his team after Sunday¡¯s game hadn¡¯t immediately worked.

So, why not turn to this dumb block of cured meat, which helped the Twins turn a 7-13 start to their season around with a 12-game winning streak in April?

¡°You realize how weird baseball players are,¡± Farmer said.

¡°We've got to come back tomorrow and do it again,¡± Baldelli said. ¡°I wouldn't mind seeing that thing again.¡±