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Twins notebook, 6/17
Mauer back behind dish and batting third
MINNEAPOLIS — Joe Mauer was put right back in a familiar spot in the Twins lineup for the first time since April 12, batting third and playing catcher.
That still didn’t keep the 2009 American League MVP from feeling a little nervous.
“It’s been a long time since I stepped in the box,” Mauer said. “I tried to keep it simple tonight. A pretty tough lefty [was] out there tonight and I just tried to use the whole field and stay up the middle.”
Mauer didn’t waste much time getting his first hit in two months, either.
With a runner on and one out, Mauer hit a 92-mph fastball back up the middle, scoring Alexi Casilla from second base for his fifth RBI of the season.
“It was awesome,” Mauer said. “It was a good night.”
His other three at-bats did not go so well — Mauer finished 1-for-4 — but it still was a successful return for the St. Paul native as the Twins picked up the 6-5 victory.
Mauer said it felt good to be back in the lineup and behind the plate. Left-handed starter Brian Duensing said he and Mauer didn’t miss a beat.
“It felt the same,” Duensing said. “Seeing him back there just kind of felt like he’s been back there for a while. So it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.”
Even with his offense playing so well lately, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said he had no hesitation about putting the four-time All-Star in his usual spot in the order right away.
“You get the people you started with, and if we get them healthy and on the field, we expect to win with that group,” Gardenhire said. “That’s what we’re trying to do, is get all of our healthy guys back on.”
For Mauer, it was his 710th career start batting in the three hole. He has just 96 combined starts in any of the other eight spots in the order, with 67 of those coming in the No. 2 hole.
Mauer had been batting second before hitting the disabled list two months ago, mainly due to the absence of Tsuyoshi Nishioka at the top of the order. Now, with Ben Revere leading off and Casilla swinging a hot bat in the two spot, Mauer is back in the three spot.
In nine games before going on the DL, Mauer batted .235, with a .289 OBP and .265 slugging, with a double and four RBIs. Mauer went 6-for-23 in seven rehab games with Class-A Advanced Fort Myers. He had two doubles, a home run and six RBIs for the Miracle.
Gardenhire put out his 64th different batting order Friday due to all of the Twins’ injuries. He has not used any one batting order more than twice this season, and the Opening Day lineup has not taken the field at home yet this season. But getting Mauer and Nishioka back should begin to make things easier on his filling out the lineup card.
“It’s not easy, but you just have to kind of ad lib a little bit,” Gardenhire said. “Kind of break the lineup up a bit and see what happens.”
Gardenhire: Perkins ready to go as setup man
MINNEAPOLIS — Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said he would have no problem using lefty Glen Perkins in the eighth inning Friday night. He stuck to that, calling on Perkins to preserve a 6-5 lead against the Padres.
“It’s like I never left,” Perkins said. “That was good. Get right in there and get thrown in the fire, I like that.”
Perkins showed there was no need for him to be eased back in at all, pitching an impressive scoreless inning. After giving up a leadoff single, Perkins retired the last three batters he faced, two of them on strikeouts.
Before being sidelined by a strained right oblique, Perkins was the Twins’ most effective reliever in April and for the first three weeks of May.
He showed no sign of doing anything different in his return, lowering his ERA to 1.52 in 23 2/3 innings of work. Perkins has 24 strikeouts in 23 appearances.
“His fastball was jumping,” Gardenhire said. “He had a couple nice breaking balls, but the fastball was coming out of his hand, that was evident. The last guy he threw to, he really just let it fly, and said ‘Here it is.’ The ball was jumping out of his hand pretty good.”
Reliever Joe Nathan (elbow soreness) is scheduled to begin a rehab stint on Saturday with Triple-A Rochester, and could come off the disabled list as soon as next Friday in Milwaukee.
Gardenhire said he wants Nathan to pitch three times for the Red Wings in the next week, with the latter two being on back-to-back days.
Gardenhire suggested a potential schedule of Nathan making his first appearance Sunday, followed by back-to-back outings on Tuesday and Wednesday, with an off-day Thursday before returning Friday.
“He said he feels great, the arm feels as good as it could feel,” Gardenhire said. “We get three games out there, that’d be great. And then we’ll see where we’re at with him.”
Right-hander Kevin Slowey (abdominal strain) was scheduled for long toss on Friday and Saturday, as well as a full bullpen session Sunday in Fort Myers.
“He’s pretty optimistic that he can start facing some hitters sometime in this next week,” said Twins head trainer Rick McWane.
Perkins eager to return to club
MINNEAPOLIS — When the Twins were in the middle of their worst struggles in late May, lefty reliever Glen Perkins remained dominant. That is, until he joined the long list of Twins to hit the disabled list this season.
Perkins went down with a strained right oblique after leaving his outing on May 21 in Arizona, having faced just one batter. In his absence, the Twins have gone 12-10 without Perkins, including a 10-3 mark in June.
He was activated from the disabled list after Thursday’s 1-0 win over the White Sox, and on Friday, he’ll get his chance to be a part of the Twins’ current success. Fellow left-hander Chuck James was optioned to Triple-A Rochester to make room for him on the 25-man roster.
“[Joe] Nathan and I’d sit there, look at each other and think, ‘Man, it’d be fun to be out there,'” Perkins said. “We were home for that 10-day road trip, we were here in the morning every day, and we’d talk about the game the night before and wish we were a part of it. So, I’m definitely looking forward to getting back out there [on Friday].”
After posting a 1.59 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 22 appearances in the middle of the Twins’ struggling bullpen, Perkins has been forced to sit and watch as the staff has dominated this month.
The Twins finished Thursday with a Major-League best 1.80 ERA in June, with the bullpen having allowed just three earned runs since June 1 — for a 0.94 ERA over 28 2/3 innings pitched.
“It [stunk],” Perkins said. “And it’s even harder when the team starts playing well that you don’t get to be a part of it.”
In two rehab appearances with Triple-A Rochester, Perkins did not allow a run, while giving up four hits and striking out two batters in three innings of work.
After throwing one inning in his first appearance with the Red Wings, Perkins pitched a strong seventh and eighth on Tuesday.
“I tested it good on Tuesday,” Perkins said. “I threw pretty much everything as hard as I could, just to make sure that it was going to be OK.”
Blackburn’s gem gives Twins series win
MINNEAPOLIS — A lot of people will tell you that good pitching, or hitting, can be contagious. Nick Blackburn is not one of them.
Over the last four games, the performance of the Twins’ pitching staff might suggest otherwise. It was another fast-paced pitchers’ duel at Target Field on Thursday — the fourth in a row — and once again, the Twins came out on top, with a 1-0 victory.
Thanks to a solo home run by Michael Cuddyer and eight shutout innings from Blackburn, the Twins swept the rain-shortened series against the White Sox. Twins closer Matt Capps also pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save since June 6 and his ninth of the season.
“Blackie was a great story today, threw the heck out of the ball,” said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. “Good sinker, slider, he had it all — changeup — working. … A heck of a game.”
Blackburn followed up dominant performances by Scott Baker, Francisco Liriano and Carl Pavano with one of his own. The right-hander scattered seven hits over eight scoreless innings of work, with one strikeout, a walk and a hit batter. He needed just 95 pitches to get through eight, before the Twins called upon the bullpen to close out the game.
One of the keys for Blackburn was the aggressiveness of the White Sox at the plate, which he used to his advantage.
“No one is up there trying to work the count too much, a lot of first-pitch swingers and guys who kind of put it into play early in the at-bat,” Blackburn said. “When everything’s coming out of my hand pretty well, that can sometimes play into my advantage.”
After Baker allowed one run in a complete game on Saturday, Liriano followed by giving up one run over eight innings while flirting with both a perfect game and no-hitter on Sunday. Pavano followed with another complete game on Wednesday night, and Blackburn continued the trend with his performance.
Over the last four games, Twins starters have allowed just three runs over 34 innings of work, posting a 4-0 record with a 0.79 ERA. Blackburn improved to 6-4 on the season, while lowering his own ERA to 3.16.
Minnesota entered the game with a Major League-leading 1.94 ERA in June, and lowered it to 1.80 with Thursday’s shutout of the White Sox.
“It kind of reminds you of ’06 — that run that we had in ’06 where you felt like you were going to win,” Cuddyer said. “You felt like, no matter what, you were going to win the game. And all that is, is just confidence.
“You get that confidence and you start feeling like you can win every game, and that’s kind of how we feel right now.”
During that 2006 run, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen dubbed the Twins the “piranhas,” because they just kept coming after opposing teams again and again with bloopers and infield singles — with players like Jason Bartlett, Nick Punto and Luis Castillo.
Asked about what the 2011 Twins were, if the 2006 club was the piranhas, Guillen had a new label for the current Minnesota ballclub, which featured a speedy center fielder and two quick infielders batting 1-2-3 in Thursday’s lineup.
“These are the little sardines here,” Guillen said. “They are sardines … but they can play. That kid who is the leadoff guy … pretty good. When you’re missing [Justin] Morneau, [Joe] Mauer, [Jim] Thome and [Jason] Kubel and you’re still winning games, you have to give those guys credit.
“They never sit back and say ‘We’re missing the big boys.’ They continue to play. That’s the reason Gardy is the most underrated manager. … I think Gardy makes those guys play, and play right. He gets the most out of his players, and they will be in the pennant race.”
Shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka made his first start for the Twins since suffering a fractured left fibula on April 7 in New York, batting third behind Ben Revere and Alexi Casilla. Nishioka went 1-for-4 at the plate, singling in the eighth — while showing excellent range in the field and improved arm strength, though he was also credited with a sixth-inning error.
Leading off the bottom of the second inning, Cuddyer crushed a 2-2 fastball from lefty Mark Buehrle into the bullpen in left-center field. It was Cuddyer’s 10th home run of the season and his 27th RBI.
Buehrle gave up just the one run on three hits — two by Cuddyer — in seven innings, but took the loss.
In his career against Buehrle, Cuddyer is batting .344 with three home runs. His 33 hits are the most for Cuddyer against any pitcher. Cuddyer is batting .340 with five doubles, seven home runs, 22 RBIs and 11 walks in his last 28 games, dating back to May 14.
“I feel good right now,” Cuddyer said. “It’s all cyclical, you’ve got to ride those good times out. Right now is a good time — and fortunately, we were able to get wins to go along with it.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Twins notebook, 6/15
Mauer likely to start behind the plate Friday
MINNEAPOLIS — Joe Mauer could be back in the Twins lineup at catcher by Friday, manager Ron Gardenhire said before Wednesday’s game.
Mauer is scheduled to fly back to Minnesota on Thursday to rejoin the club. After being examined by team doctors, Mauer is expected to be activated from the 60-day disabled list on Friday in time to start at catcher against the Padres.
“We’ll probably have him for Friday,” Gardenhire said. “Good chance [he’ll catch Friday]. Really good chance.”
Mauer batted .261/.370/.849 in seven games with Class A Advanced Fort Myers, with two doubles, one home run, six RBIs and three walks.
He also took swings against Twins reliever Joe Nathan on Wednesday at the club’s Spring Training complex in Fort Myers.
“Everything went good,” Gardenhire said. “He took I don’t know how many at-bats off of Nathan. [He] swung the bat really good, hit the ball hard.”
Perkins expected to bolster bullpen on Friday
MINNEAPOLIS — Lefty reliever Glen Perkins is expected to be activated in time for Friday night against the Padres, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said on Wednesday.
Perkins worked the seventh and eighth innings on Tuesday for Triple-A Rochester, giving up three hits and striking out one in two scoreless innings. In two rehab appearances, Perkins tossed three shutout innings while giving up four hits and recording two strikeouts.
“Best-case scenario is, more than likely, activate him for Friday,” Gardenhire said. “Give him two days off after throwing two innings. Considering [Thursday] is a day game, if it were a night game, it might be a little different.”
Perkins will be checked out by Twins doctors and trainers once he rejoins the club in Minnesota, and if everything goes well, he will be activated.
When he returns, the Twins will be forced to send someone from the bullpen back to the Minors. It would likely be a lefty, unless Gardenhire decides to carry four lefty relievers.
“I haven’t really got into it yet,” Gardenhire said. “I know which way I was leaning, but if I tell you that, then you’ll know exactly where we’re at, and I’m not going to tell you that.”
Twins head trainer Rick McWane gave updates on other injured Twins players, with all of them making progress, but without a timetable for their returns.
Designated hitter Jim Thome (left quad strain) took batting practice on Wednesday in Fort Myers, Fla.
“He has yet to face [live pitching], but he is very close,” McWane said.
With a road trip to a pair of National League cities in San Francisco and Milwaukee coming up, Thome’s return becomes a bit more complicated than it otherwise would be.
Thome could be valuable in a late-inning pinch-hit role against NL clubs, but would not be able to start for an entire week.
“Jim Thome coming up could win a ballgame for you,” Gardenhire said. “It’s one at-bat per day. Can we do better for him and get him in a rehab situation and get him maybe three or four? Does he need that? Can he handle that? Those are all the things we’re talking about and trying to see which route we’re going to go.
“I like the idea of having him and walking him up to the plate in a big situation, but I want him healthy in the first place and I want to make sure it’s the right thing to do for him.”
Right-hander Kevin Slowey (abdominal strain) threw long toss on Wednesday with no problems.
Jason Kubel (left foot sprain) and Denard Span (concussion) are continuing to improve, though neither seems close to returning.
“They’re not ready to go yet,” McWane said. “We don’t have a timetable yet on them, but we’ll continue to progress them as they’re able.”
Twins turning it on with plenty of time left
MINNEAPOLIS — Heading into the month of June, the Twins were 20 games under .500 and 16 1/2 games out of first place. Injuries were piling up, and it was beginning to look like a lost season in Minnesota.
In just the past two weeks, the Twins have become one of the hottest teams in baseball. All of a sudden, the outlook in Minnesota is getting brighter, and there are certainly plenty of reasons for Twins fans to be excited.
“I think they’re going to be all right,” former Twins right-hander Jim Perry said. “I think if they go out and get these series and win three games in a series or win two out of three, they’ll be right back in the running.”
Shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka returned to the club on Wednesday, appearing in a Twins uniform for the first time in months after he suffered a fractured left fibula in early April. After putting in plenty of work at extended spring training and a seven-game Minor League rehab stint, Nishioka is expected to make his Target Field debut against the White Sox on Thursday.
Just one day after Nishioka’s return, All-Star catcher Joe Mauer will rejoin the Twins on Thursday after a seven-game rehab of his own. Mauer had been out nearly as long as Nishioka with bilateral leg weakness, leaving a big hole in the lineup.
With Mauer and Nishioka in the lineup together again, the Twins are getting closer to the roster they started with out of Spring Training.
“I think it’s exciting, yeah,” designated hitter Jim Thome said. “Especially with as hard as those guys have worked down there, Nishi and Joe, and the rest of the guys here obviously have done a great job lately. So it’s kind of exciting to see where our team could go.”
Thome should provide Twins fans with plenty of excitement over the summer himself.
While he’s been slowed by an oblique injury and, more recently, a strained quad, Thome remains just seven home runs away from 600 for his career. Thome would become the eighth player in Major League history to reach the milestone, and the first since Alex Rodriguez did last season.
Another individual honor worth tuning in for is the Hall of Fame induction of Twins broadcaster Bert Blyleven. A two-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion, Blyleven was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame this year in his 14th year of eligibility.
Blyleven will be inducted on July 24 in Cooperstown, N.Y.
On July 16, it will be Bert Blyleven Day at Target Field, as the Twins host the Royals. Blyleven will have his No. 28 jersey retired by the Twins in a pregame ceremony.
Minnesota’s current pitching staff is worth getting excited about as well, with the starting rotation entering Wednesday having gone 7-3 with a 2.38 ERA through the first 12 games of June. Over that stretch, Twins starters recorded 55 strikeouts with just 14 walks, while holding opponents to a .259 average and recorded eight quality starts.
This month has seen the pitching improve greatly from the first two months when Twins starters went 7-14 with a 4.97 ERA in April and 6-9 with a 4.17 ERA in May. As the starters have improved, the Twins have been in nearly every game this month into the late innings.
“It’s been great,” Cuddyer said. “These guys have been great, and that’s another reason why we’ve been winning over the last couple weeks.”
Even the bullpen has been strong in June, allowing just three earned runs for the month entering Wednesday, posting a 0.98 ERA over 27 2/3 innings of work. Overall, the pitching staff had a Major League-best 2.02 ERA in June through 12 games, a full run better than any other team in the American League.
If the Twins continue to pitch as they get key parts of their offense back into the mix this month, their chances are good to continue riding their current hot streak.
While they’ve dug themselves into a bigger hole this season than in the past, the Twins have made a habit of improbable late-season comebacks. With the way things have been going lately, there’s plenty of reason for fans to think the Twins could make a run at the division title again in 2011.
“I don’t see why not,” Cuddyer said. “But right now, we’ve just got to go out there and continue to play each individual game and hopefully win.
“[But] we can’t have the mentality of going in there saying we’re chasing guys. We have to worry about winning each individual game. And if we do that, hopefully, when you look back at the whole thing, you are where you want to be.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Twins notebook, 6/14
Morneau tries to hit, placed on disabled list
MINNEAPOLIS — First baseman Justin Morneau is the latest in a long list of Twins to hit the disabled list this season.
Morneau was placed on the 15-day DL with a left wrist strain and will have his wrist immobilized for 10 days, Twins general manager Bill Smith said after Tuesday’s rainout. The move is retroactive to June 10.
“We’re looking at this as a short-term event, but we will put him on the DL,” Smith said. “Rest, and they believe it will come around in that 10 days, plus a few days to get his range of motion back.”
The Twins will make an additional roster move before Wednesday night’s game to replace Morneau on the 25-man roster.
Morneau, who has not played since Thursday to rest his sore left wrist, had the MRI on his wrist looked at by a specialist, Dr. Thomas Varecka, who recommended a cortisone shot. After getting the cortisone shot on Sunday, Morneau hit in the cage on Tuesday and didn’t feel good.
“He came in today, said he felt pretty good, went down to the cage, took about 20 swings, and it wasn’t as good as we had hoped,” Twins head trainer Rick McWane said.
After the session in the cage did not go well, Morneau was sent to see Varecka, and that meeting resulted in the decision to put Morneau on the DL.
Nishioka may rejoin Twins on Wednesday
MINNEAPOLIS — It’s not official yet, but Tsuyoshi Nishioka could be back in a Twins uniform as soon as Wednesday.
Nishioka played nine innings at shortstop on Tuesday in Toledo for Triple-A Rochester, and is scheduled to travel back to the Twins Cities on Wednesday.
“What we want to do is let the doctors and trainers see him,” said Twins general manager Bill Smith. “They haven’t seen him in a long time. He’s been down in Fort Myers for a long time. So we want to let them see him before we do anything further.”
Nishioka went 0-for-4 on Tuesday, and batted .333 in three games with the Red Wings, going 4-for-12 with a double, an RBI and a walk. In four games with Class A Advanced Fort Myers, Nishioka also was 4-for-12, with a double, an RBI, two walks and a stolen base.
Before fracturing his left fibula against the Yankees on April 7 in New York, Nishioka played six games at second base for the Twins. He batted .208/.269/.519 with a double, two RBIs, two walks and a stolen base.
Since going down to Fort Myers, Nishioka has been working on turning double plays at both shortstop and second base, even spending some time with Hall of Famer Paul Molitor.
“Molitor did a lot of work with him,” Gardenhire said. “I talked with Moli today, and he said he actually moved around really good both sides. He’s moving around very well at shortstop, arm strength’s a lot better than Moli saw in Spring Training.”
Gardenhire and the Twins have said they plan to move Nishioka to shortstop when he returns, in part due to the nature of his leg injury. At shortstop, Nishioka will have a better view of the runner coming at him during a double play, rather than facing away from the runner while awaiting the throw as the second baseman.
In addition to working on his play at shortstop, second base and around the bag on double plays, Molitor gave Nishioka some advice on recovering from injuries, having dealt with a few during his career himself.
Molitor said he really didn’t get to see much of Nishioka before the injury, but he does like what has seen during his rehab work in continuing to adjust to the differences between baseball in Japan and the Major Leagues.
“He’s done very, very well,” Molitor said. “How well he’ll do as he comes back from not only a disappointing injury but also acclimating to Major League Baseball, I couldn’t tell you. But I do believe that, in time, he’s going to be a very good player.”
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