BOSTON — Even before Kenta Maeda was struck by a batted ball in Thursday’s game, putting his availability in the near-future in question, the Twins’ pitching plans had some moving pieces. The team was already planning on calling up a starter from Triple-A to make a start, possibly this weekend, breaking up a stretch of 13 games in 13 days to give their starting pitchers some extra rest.
Now, the Twins will wait to see how Maeda feels but will need bullpen reinforcements in the coming days. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said based on how Thursday’s game went and their desire to give some guys an extra day, he was expecting some roster movement.
“It may be Kenta-related or other, but we’re kind of in a little bit of a long run here and now we’ve kind of burnt up and now we have a guy go down with an injury,” Baldelli said. “We’ll see what the coming days look like.”
Maeda aside, the Twins have not yet announced a starter for Sunday’s game, which would be Sonny Gray’s day to start. If the Twins wanted to insert a starter there, that day would also line up with Bailey Ober’s scheduled day.
In Ober’s last two starts with the Saints — one lasting six innings, the other five — he hasn’t allowed a run, and Baldelli said the right-hander has “put himself in a good position to help us.”
“There’s going to be plenty of times where our guys are just going to go on regular five-day rest and pitch. We know that,” Baldelli said before the game. “But we need to keep our guys going for a full year and we have good guys that we can call up and pitch and if we can help our guys in a 13-day stretch not have to go five, five, five, just keep going, we’ll do it. We’ll do it because we can and I think it’s helpful.”
The Twins have also been making contingency plans in the event that weather in the Twin Cities over the weekend interrupts their scheduled series against the Nationals. Temperatures Friday and Saturday at game time are forecasted to be in the 30s, which could cause potential issues.
Farmer progressing
While the team was in Boston, infielder Kyle Farmer was back at Target Field on Thursday, getting a workout in.
Though he wasn’t yet swinging, the infielder, who was hit by a pitch in the jaw last Wednesday, requiring emergency surgery, has been progressing well.
“I hear he’s got a lot of jokes. Normally people act the way they feel, and I think he’s really beginning to feel better and better,” Baldelli said.
Farmer had surgery to reset four of his bottom teeth and suture lacerations on his lip. Baldelli said Farmer was still dealing with some swelling, though that has been improving.
When the Twins return to Minnesota, they’ll have a better chance to assess exactly how he’s doing, but the fact that Farmer avoided a situation where he needed his jaw wired shut has gone a long way in shortening the recovery period.
“It’s just going to be on how he feels. This isn’t something that we’re going to be pushing him on,” Baldelli said. “This is going to be something where he is going to have to almost let us know and convince us that he is good and that’s when we’re going to move forward.”
Castro gets the ball
With two outs in the eighth inning on Thursday and the Twins trailing big, Baldelli turned the game over to a position player — but it wasn’t Nick Gordon, who has become Minnesota’s default pitcher in these types of situations.
Instead, it was Willi Castro who was called upon to record the final out.
Why?
“I was highly impressed by his bullpen session in Fort Myers,” Baldelli said. “… I watched him pitch at least 10 eephus pitches in a row and the catcher’s glove didn’t move. And I thought, ‘I’ve never seen someone be able to do that before.’ ”
Castro, who went 2 for 4 with a home run, two RBIs and two runs, threw five pitches in his outing, four of which did not top 45 miles per hour. The utilityman said he was throwing cutters, then added in a fastball to surprise the batter, Kiké Hernández. Hernández then grounded out on a cutter.
Castro, who pitched in Little League, said he threw two bullpens in spring of about 20 pitches each.
“I was hitting the ball pretty good today. You know, I haven’t been playing much, but I’ll always be prepared when I have the opportunity to play,” Castro said. “Just help my team win. That’s what we all want. And cheer everybody up. Today was a good day. I made my debut pitching today. It was pretty nice.”
Briefly
Second baseman Jorge Polanco (knee) potentially could be ready to return as soon as this weekend. Polanco has been rehabbing with the Triple-A Saints and Baldelli said he was “getting real close.”
