Notes, quotes and comment

Jorge Polanco won the runoff election and is the starting shortstop for the American League in the All Star game. He becomes the first Twin elected to the starting lineup since Joe Mauer in 2013.

And good for him. I wouldn't go so far as to claim he's the best shortstop in the league -- put him on the same team as Francisco Lindor or Carlos Correa, and Polanco is playing a different position -- but he's obviously having a great season, without the injuries of the other two. If you think the All-Star Game is for the guys having the best first half, he belongs.

I expect to expound on this subject for the Monday print column, but in my mind Polanco has established himself as the best homegrown shortstop in Minnesota Twins history. That's a low bar to clear, and there may be better shortstops coming through the system, but Polanco is certainly no slouch.

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Rough loss on Thursday: 18 innings, the entire bullpen deployed, and probably a roster move or two ahead. 

Luis Arraez was in left field with Eddie Rosario sidelined by his ankle sprain, and I suspect that Rosario would have caught the second-inning double that brought in the first Tampa Bay run. Catch that ball, and who knows what the final outcome is.

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Outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. was indeed called up in the wake of Rosario's injury. But it wasn't Rosario who went on the injured list.

It was La Tortuga, Willians Astudillo, with a strained oblique. It's his second stint on the IL.

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Some news about an #OldFriend and one of the most beloved Twins in recent years, Eduardo Escobar:

On Wednesday, Escobar went 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBI in the Diamondbacks’ win over the Dodgers in Phoenix. After the game he got on a private plane provided by the Dbacks team owners and flew 1,972 miles to Miami. The reason: his two sons, 11-year-old Eduardo Escobar Jr., and 8-year-old Raul Escobar had an immigration hearing in Miami yesterday morning in which each of them were granted their green cards.

One successful hearing and, presumably, a lot of family hugs later, Escobar got back on the plane and flew 2,585 miles to San Francisco. He made it back by game time, entered the game as a replacement at third base in the sixth inning and went 1-for-2, singling in a run in the ninth inning.

Escobar has 18 homers so far this year for the D'backs with a .284 batting average. It's not like the Twins are in need of his power, but he's having a good season, and he's Eduardo Escobar, and I miss rooting for him. I'm glad he's got his kids in the States.

Running low on outfielders

The Twins won again Wednesday, and they won with a makeshift outfield for much of the game.

After Eddie Rosario -- playing center with Byron Buxton on the IL and Max Kepler sidelined by a swollen elbow -- sprained his ankle on first base, they sported an outfield of Luis Arraez in left, Jake Cave in center and Willians Astudillo in right. (Late in the game Kepler came in to play center, with Arraez returning to third base, Astudillo moving to left and Cave to right.)

While in right field, Astudillo made a savvy throw behind the runner to help mute a Tampa Bay threat. Man can play some baseball.

Still, things are desperate enough that Nelson Cruz was reminding the manager that he still has his glove. I'm pretty sure that Rocco Baldelli wants to avoid that, however.

All of which led to this early morning -- it is a nooner today, after all -- tweet from a national reporter:

LaMonte Wade called up by first-place #MNTwins

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 27, 2019

No word at that point on how the roster spot was being opened. My guess: Either Rosario is going on the injured list or they're dropping back to 12 pitchers. 

Baldelli downplayed Rosario's injury immediately after the game, and if the Twins really think he'll be good to go in a day or two, they would want to avoid sidelining him. But it's more likely that they will take their time and let the ankle heal rather than push him and risk a more severe second sprain. 

More like it

When the Twins defeated Tampa Bay on June 2, Minnesota was 40-19.

A bit more than three weeks later, the Twins beat Tampa Bay again. Minnesota's record is now 51-27.

When 11-8 is what passes for a slump, that's a sign of a pretty solid team. That's a .578 winning percentage. That translates into 93 wins over the course of 162 games. In a slump.

The Twins still have the AL's best record. They still have the largest divisional lead. They still have not lost more than two games in a row.

Yes, the past three weeks have been a bit of a struggle compared to the first two months. Forty-and-19 is a pretty high standard.

In my estimation, the fall-off has been more about the lineup than the pitching. The "bombas" aren't as common and there have been a few games in which the fielding has been erratic. And yes, there have been a few clunkers from the pitching staff.

But Tuesday's win was encouraging. The Twins racked up last year's Cy Young winner, Blake Snell. Kyle Gibson ate some innings. Word was that Byron Buxton's wrist is progessing, and the Twins are simply a much better team with him in the lineup.

The one downside is that Max Kepler left after getting hit by a pitch. With Buxton and Marwin Gonzalez already on the IL, this raises the possibility of a few days of an outfield of Eddie Rosario, Jake Cave and Willians Astudillo.

I love me some La Tortuga, but not as an outfield staple.

The Cody Allen signing

The Twins over the weekend agreed to a minor-league deal with Cody Allen, who not that long ago was the closer for the Cleveland Indians, and a good one: Allen is the franchise's all-time saves leader.

But last year his ERA mushroomed to 4.70, and the Tribe made no real attempt to retain him in free agency. He signed a one-year, $8 million deal with the Angels, and pitched so poorly there that the Halos released him a week ago.

Supposedly the Twins have some ideas to fix Allen. Off his numbers this year, there's a lot to fix. He pitched 23 innings for the Angels, with nine homers allowed and 20 walks. Twenty!

He also struck out 29 in those 23 innings. That suggests to me that he still has his accustomed velocity and movement; he "just" doesn't the command of it. Too many pitches out of the strike zone, too many in the fat part of the strike zone. And, by process of elimination, not nearly enough on the edges of the strike zone, where the outs are.

I don't expect anything from this signing, but I didn't expect anything out of Martin Perez, and he's been a pretty servicable back-of-the-rotation guy. Signing Allen to a minor league deal is different than signing him as the Angels did. If he finds his old form in Pensacola, great. If not, no damage done.

Thoughts from the weekend

The Twins merely split with the Royals on the road. It wasn't a losing road trip, but the Royals are not a strong club, and going 2-2 against them is mildly disappointing.

So yes, the Twins continue to be in a slump, and Cleveland has narrowed the margin to eight games. It's worth noting that

• Minnesota still has the best record in the American League and
• An eight-game lead before July is pretty substantial.

If this is the worst stretch of baseball the Twins have this year, they'll be fine.

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The Monday print column is on a piece of Twins bullpen history from my teens and early 20s -- Gene Mauch and his eagerness to lay a lot of innings on a single relief pitcher.

A lot of that was Mike Marshall, who pitched for Mauch in Montreal and in Minnesota. Marshall bounced around a lot -- if he wasn't going good, teams were quick to decide life was easier without him around -- and he really only had success with two managers, Mauch and Walter Alston in Los Angeles.

There's a story about Marshall and Alston ... The Dodgers traded for Marshall, and he shows up for spring training, and Alston sits down with Marshall to discuss how to use him. Marshall was or had been a grad student at Michigan State -- his career introduced a lot of fans to the word "kineisology," the study of body movement -- and Marshall started giving Alston a lecture on pitching and why he could pitch everyday. Alston halted him.

"You're talking over my head," Alston supposedly said. "Let's leave it at this: You tell me when you can't pitch, and I'll use you any other day."

Marshall pitched 106 times and threw 208 innings. There have been a few relievers who won MVP awards. Marshall in 1974 might have been the only one who really deserved it.

But that was a different era. I'll guarantee you: Mike Marshall didn't throw a mid-90s fastball, as Taylor Rogers does.

A team slump

The Twins still have not lost more than two in a row, but there is no denying that they are in a bit of a slump right now. Lose two, win one, lose two -- that's not high-quality ball.

The #MNTwins look like a team still feeling the effects of 17 innings two nights ago. They trail 4-1 in B7, 2 outs, in KC.

— Dan Hayes (@DanHayesMLB) June 21, 2019

Yes, that's probably a factor. But Kyle Gibson and Jake Odorizzi didn't participate in that 17-inning affair, and they both had short, bullpen-sapping starts.

Speaking of which, Sean Poppen, who picked up most of the innings Gibson didn't on Wednesday, was sent back to Rochester on Thursday. Kohl Stewart took the roster spot and had to work four innings Thursday, so he'll be gone soon too.

At least the primary relievers are rested after that Tuesday marathon. Ryne Harper threw two-thirds of an inning on Wednesday, and that's it. Poppen and Stewart handled the rest of the bullpen chores.

Meanwhile  ... Mitch Garver, who caught all 17 innings Tuesday, left Thursday's game early. The Twins announced it as a heel problem, but Garver sounded postgame like it's the ankle -- the same one that put him on the injured list a few weeks ago. I think it's reasonable to connect the dots. 

Notes, quotes and comment

The Twins roster continues to churn:

• IF-OF Marwin Gonzalez goes on the IL with a strained hamstring
• RHP Blake Parker goes on the family emergency list
• LHP Aldaberto Mejia goes on the 60-day injured list, which removes him from the 40-man roster.

• C-IF-OF Willians Astudillo is recalled
• RHP Sean Poppen has his contract selected and is brought up.

Poppen, a starter who has split 2019 between Double A Penascola and Triple A Rochester and been pretty dominating in Triple A, wound up pitching four innings Wednesday night, throwing 70 pitches. Three were scoreless; the other was ... not. He showed good stuff, but command and control were obvious issues. At least he ate innings and saved the rest of the bullpen after the Tuesday marathon,

If there was an obvious bullpen arm to call up I would expect the Twins to do so, because Poppen's not going to be available for a while.

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It was a weird lineup Rocco Baldelli threw out there Wednesday, almost certainly because the Tuesday game was so long.

Luis Arraez played shortstop. Astudillo played second. Jake Cave was in center, with Max Kepler in right. And, of course, Mitch Garver was nowhere to be seen after catching 17 innings.

The outfield alignment prompted some pregame Twitter back-and-forth between Aaron Gleeman and me until I broke it off to get back to the job I was getting paid to do. We agree that Kepler is the superior centerfielder, and Gleeman noted that Baldelli had treated him as such in the few previous game in which one started in center and the other in right.

I think the difference is fatigue, or perhaps more accurately the prevention of fatigue. Kepler was supposed to get a day off on Tuesday, but he wound up getting four at-bats after the Gonzalez injury. Right field is easier than center.

My sense of the Wednesday lineup was that the priority was: Let's not cripple anybody. Baldelli's own playing career ran aground on unique fatigue issues, and one of his managerial themes has been conservation of energy.

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Arraez continues to impress in his limited major league exposure. On Wednesday he went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and played a clean game at short, by which I mean no errors.

He's no shortstop, of course; he was there because Jorge Polanco played 17 innings the night before and both Ehire Adrianza and Gonzalez are on the injured list.

LaVelle Neal predicted on Twitter during that game that Arraez would be the second baseman and leadoff hitter next season. I think he's more likely to be traded in the next few weeks for pitching help. If he isn't, he might be the second baseman by August, considering how Jonathan Schoop appears to have lost his command as a hitter of the strike zone.