BOSTON — Somehow, Kenta Maeda got up, scrambled to the ball and made an on-target throw to first base to get the out. And then he crumpled into a heap near the Fenway Park mound, the result of being struck on the left ankle by a batted ball traveling at 111.6 miles per hour.
A group of players and staff quickly gathered around Maeda, who, after staying down on the ground for a couple minutes, gingerly walked off the field with what the Twins called a left ankle contusion. X-rays did not reveal a break, a stroke of good fortune for the Twins and the veteran pitcher, on a tough day — the Twins lost 11-5 to the Red Sox.
“He got hit squarely,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You’re really hoping not to get a really bad result, like a broken ankle or something like that. We were fearful, to be honest, watching him on the ground out there.”
But for as scary as the moment was, the Twins (11-8) seem to have avoided the worst with Maeda, who said after the game that he didn’t expect to be out for a very long time. While the early feedback has been positive, the Twins will wait to make any judgments on the veteran’s status.
“There’s no damage to the bone, so that’s good news,” Maeda said through interpreter Daichi Sekizaki. “We’ll just take it day by day and see how I feel tomorrow. Swelling is expected as time goes by. We’ll see how I feel (Friday).”
Maeda’s second-inning injury forced the Twins’ bullpen into action early, an endeavor made even more difficult considering long reliever Brent Headrick threw three innings a day earlier.
The Red Sox (10-10) inflicted even more pain on the Twins in the third inning, when reliever Emilio Pagán gave up six runs, plunging the Twins into an unsurmountable hole. Much of the third-inning damage against Pagán was done with two outs: after getting Justin Turner to pop up, the next five batters reached via hit as the inning spiraled away from Pagán and the Twins.
“It’s frustrating. You do everything that we preach and get ahead of batters, early contact,” Pagán said. “Especially in that situation, I’m trying to get quick outs and trying to get as many quick innings under my belt as I can. They just found holes today. It’s unfortunate.”
In total, Pagán gave up seven hits in the inning. He returned for the beginning of the fourth, but after 42 pitches — a new Twins high for him — he was pulled to make way for Jorge Alcala, who gave up three runs of his own in 2 1/3 innings. Jovani Moran and utilityman Willi Castro covered the final two innings of the game.
With Pagán (42), Alcala (41) and Jovani Moran (44) each throwing more than 40 pitches and Maeda dealing now with an injury, roster moves are almost certainly on the way as the Twins, mired in a stretch of 13 games in 13 days, will need to bring in some fresh arms.
“I would assume, based on how today’s game went, based on our desire to give a few of our guys an extra day if possible, we could see some movement,” Baldelli said. “ … We’ll see what the coming days look like, but that’s when you look to your other starters to go out there and give you a good start and that’s what we’ll look for from our guys.”
