By Brandon Warne
Prior to Monday night’s game — the opening of an 11-game homestand that ranks as the longest of the season — Twins assistant general manager Rob Antony provided injury updates on the pair of pitchers currently residing on the club’s disabled list, as well as an update on Trevor May:
Reliever Brian Duensing (strained right intercostal) threw a 30-pitch bullpen session, and it is expected that he’ll throw live to hitters before Thursday afternoon’s game.
Starter Ricky Nolasco (right elbow inflammation) came out of Sunday’s rehab start in Cedar Rapids — 5 IP, 5 K, 0 BB, 1 R (0 ER) — feeling good. “He had good velocity,” Antony said. “The breaking ball was good. He had good command and control, and the reports we got (from Cedar Rapids officials) said that he threw the ball well.” Like Nolasco, it’s unclear whether the next step with Duensing will take place with the big league team — skipping a rehab stint for Duensing in that case — or down on the farm.
May (right elbow contusion) was basically business as usual a mere two days after taking a 100-plus mph line drive to what he called a “weird spot” near his right elbow. All told May considered himself lucky, given the number of different spots he could have been hit in the area that would have been far more catastrophic, and it doesn’t appear that May has any ill effects or massive scarring or bruising.
The hope, at least in May’s mind, is that he’ll make his next scheduled start, which is slated to come against the White Sox on Thursday against Chris Sale. “I feel like everything is OK,” May said of the aftereffects. “I feel like I can (make the next start). I don’t think any definite decision has been made either way yet. I feel good.”
May admitted he felt “blown away” with how fast the pain went away, and compared the remaining pain to as if he had “banged it against a door.” Sale will be a tough draw for May, who is no doubt pitching for his rotation future as Nolasco nears a return.
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Speaking of May, it’s interesting to note how far he has come in a short time command-wise. Even in a very small sampling, May has 13 strikeouts and just one unintentional walk through three starts spanning 14.2 innings. For a guy who walked 4.3 batters per nine innings last year in his cup of coffee, and roughly the same number in 775 minor league innings, that change of pace is a pleasant surprise.
Antony suggested it was a confidence thing, perhaps brought on by a much better September stretch last year than when he first came up, among other things.
“I think a lot of it has to do with confidence,” Antony noted. “I think also the biggest difference last year to this year is that in the start before his last, he had two outs and gave up three hits before getting out of it. Then he got right back on track. I think he’s managing those situations much better, and he has the confidence but also the ability to avoid the blowup inning.”
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Manager Paul Molitor made an interesting move in the finale of the road trip in Seattle. In the 11th inning, the manager brought in Jordan Schafer as a defensive replacement, shifting Shane Robinson to right field while lifting Oswaldo Arcia from the game with Glen Perkins entering to protect a 4-2 lead. On the surface that isn’t all that intriguing, until one sees that Arcia was lifted instead of Eduardo Escobar, who probably technically cannot be called a converted infielder. He basically is an infielder who can hack it in the outfield.
And whether that means Arcia is in the doghouse a bit — he didn’t pinch hit when a couple opportunities arose, including one in favor of Escobar late Monday — or he isn’t seeing the ball, or perhaps could be hurt, it’s still interesting that he was lifted in favor of Escobar, who is absolutely learning on the job. Escobar came into Monday with 65.2 big league innings in the outfield and none in the minors.
To Escobar’s credit, he seems to have impressed Molitor enough out there to have the skipper’s endorsement. “I just thought he was having a good game,” Molitor said Monday evening. “I think every time he goes out there, he looks a little bit better, and I was comfortable leaving him in the game playing defensively with the lead at the end.”
For a somewhat-converted infielder, that’s a pretty good endorsement.
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Trivia Question
Joe Mauer has homered against two pitchers who are currently in the Twins organization. Any guesses?
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By The Numbers
57.1 percent – Aaron Thompson’s slider usage so far this season via Fangraphs’ PITCHf/x data. Of the 172 pitchers in baseball who have thrown at least 10 innings this season, this ranks as the highest slider usage. Next highest? Colorado starter Tyler Matzek at 43.3 percent. In his short MLB career, his slider usage overall is 43.6 percent.
158 – Number of balls — non strikes — Kyle Gibson has thrown this year, which ranks fourth-highest among 103 ‘qualified’ starters. Gibson has thrown strikes 59.6 percent of the time this season, down from 61.2 percent last season.
4 – Oswaldo Arcia has four intentional walks, tying him with Miguel Cabrera and Houston’s Jed Lowrie for third in all of baseball. Joe Mauer is right behind him with three, as the pair has accounted for seven of the Twins’ nine intentional walks. That ranks fourth in baseball, with Detroit (11) leading the way. That’s pretty wild for a team that came into Monday hitting just .226/.290/.318.
0.68 – Phil Hughes groundball/fly ball rate ranks as the fourth-lowest among qualified starters. Hughes’ groundball percentage right now is 28.7 percent. His career rate is 34 percent, and he’s never had a mark under 30.8 percent as a major leaguer.
12-11 – The Twins’ record a year ago at this time. Interestingly, the Twins had an unplanned hiatus last year at this time, as the team didn’t play from April 27-29, as an off day on the 28th was sandwiched between postponements against the Tigers on a Sunday and the Dodgers on a Tuesday.
3 – The number of career hits for Torii Hunter off new bullpen coach Eddie Guardado. Hunter went 3-for-5 with a double against his former teammate.
Other notables:
Mauer – .429 (3-for-7, all singles)
Justin Morneau – 0-for-5 with a walk
Michael Cuddyer – 1-for-4 with a walk, single
Jacque Jones – 0-for-5
Corey Koskie – 1-for-2
Doug Mientkiewicz – 0-for-1
Cristian Guzman – 1-for-2
A.J. Pierzynski – 1-for-4
Interestingly, Guardado absolutely owned Jim Thome (.182/.229/.242 with 20 strikeouts in 33 at bats) and had a heck of a time retiring Juan Gonzalez (7-for-12, three home runs, two doubles).
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Trivia Answer:
Mauer has homered off Ervin Santana and Stephen Pryor.