The press box windows are open and it’s shaping up to be a beautiful evening at Target Field as the Minnesota Twins are preparing to open a three-game weekend set against the Detroit Tigers. It’ll be lefty Hector Santiago going for the Twins against righty Justin Verlander for the Tigers. More on that in a bit.

It’s also Torii Hunter’s debut filling in for Bert Blyleven as the color commentator on the Fox Sports North telecast, so that should be fun.

Manager Paul Molitor teased that the team might be looking to make a roster move in the near future to go back to a four-man bench, which would mean the subtraction of a pitcher from the eight-man bullpen. Molitor said discussions have been heightened in recent days, but for now the Twins have yet to make a move this season. More on this in a bit as well.

The Twins dropped two of three earlier this season at Comerica Park, with a 2-1 loss to Matt Boyd on April 11 and a 5-3 loss the next day to Michael Fulmer. The Twins got to Jordan Zimmermann the next day in an 11-5 win, but will get a chance for revenge on the other two pitchers this series as the Tigers are slated to go Verlander-Boyd-Fulmer over the weekend. The Twins will send Santiago, Adalberto Mejia and Kyle Gibson over the weekend.  

Here’s how the Twins line up today against Verlander:

Here’s how the Tigers will counter:

Santiago is off to a solid start in his first full season with the Twins, with a 1.47 ERA (3.40 FIP), 5.4 K/9 and just 1.5 BB/9. According to PITCHf/x, Santiago has thrown five different pitches this season, primarily leaning on a sinker (61.8 percent) while mixing in a changeup (20.6 percent) along with a cutter, slider and curve. Santiago has altered the grip on his changeup, and so far it has paid dividends with a 14.6 percent whiff rate this season (9.5 percent career). Santiago’s sinker has held opposing batters to just a .135 batting average, while his changeup isn’t far behind at .200. Santiago has induced more grounders than usual this year (42.6 percent), but he stands to be a big beneficiary of the team’s outfield defense, especially in light of his career groundball rate of 33.7 percent — about 10 percent below the MLB average.

Verlander is coming off by far his worst outing of the season, as he was obliterated by the Cleveland Indians for 11 hits and nine earned runs — including three home runs — at Progressive Field on April 15. There has been some chatter about if he’s tipping his pitches, so that’ll be worth watching.

Verlander has shown good velocity this season (94.4 mph average fastball) while going mostly with a curve (19.3 percent) and slider (17.3 percent). He has also mixed in a changeup every now and then. The early results are good on the slider (15.4 percent whiff rate) in terms of swing-and-miss potential, while the curve has come out a bit flat (5.2 percent). The curve has also allowed an OPS against of 1.167, so if anything is hit hard against him, keep an eye on if it comes on the curveball.

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Max Kepler is batting second and looking to continue an eight-game hitting streak. His career-high is nine, and he said nothing changes for him when he hits second versus hitting lower in the order.

Through 16 games this season, here’s how Kepler’s starts have broken down in terms of batting order position:

• No. 2 – seven (counting this evening)
• No. 4 – two
• No. 5 – two
• No. 6 – one
• No. 7 – one
• No. 8 – one
• No. 9 – one

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Injury Updates

Left-handed reliever Ryan O’Rourke (elbow) was in the clubhouse prior to Friday’s game and will accompany the team on the upcoming road trip to Texas. There, he’ll see Dr. Keith Meister — the head team physician for the Texas Rangers and the doctor who Trevor May saw prior to needing Tommy John surgery.

“It’s always great to be here, except when you’re hurt,” O’Rourke told Cold Omaha prior to Friday’s game. “But I’m doing alright. I’m hanging in there.” O’Rourke isn’t presently throwing and remains without a timetable until after he sees the doctor. As of right now, the diagnosis is that O’Rourke has no structural damage to his elbow, including most notably the UCL, which in May’s case had become compromised. “I kind of started throwing and felt some tingling, or whatever you’d call the sensation,” O’Rourke said. “So we kind of backed off and got a second opinion. We’ll see where it goes from there.”

O’Rourke said the injury is like nothing he’s ever had before. “I think I’m a pretty decently tough person and I’ve pitched through a lot — as well as everyone in this locker room has — so I kind of knew when I couldn’t throw or when it originally happened that it was different,” O’Rourke said. “So I tried for a few days to push through, but I couldn’t even feel my hand. But not I have sensation and feeling back, so it’s just finding a way to get back to things going efficiently as possible.” O’Rourke added that he’s just tried to be as positive as possible. After meeting with Dr. Meister, O’Rourke anticipates meeting with the Twins training staff to formulate the plan for what’s next and moving forward.

Infielder Ehire Adrianza (oblique) is batting leadoff and playing shortstop for the Fort Myers Miracle on Friday night as he gets his rehab stint underway. It’s hard to say how long he’ll be on the stint for, but once activated he’ll have to be added to the 25-man roster or taken off the 40-man roster, as he’s out of options.

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Roster Move Forthcoming?

Speaking of possible roster moves with the Adrianza situation, Molitor mentioned that the team has held some more active discussions in recent days about going from a three- to a four-man bench, subtracting a pitcher from a 13-man staff in the process.

“I don’t know when the last time was that we went this far into the season without having to make a change,” Molitor said of the Twins having the same 25-man roster they departed Spring Training with. “Something happens. Someone gets hurt or there’s a need. I don’t know how long it’ll go like that. We’ve had discussions — particularly here the last few days — about potential changes that we might want to consider. But I don’t really feel that much more stable because we haven’t made a change yet, because this is what we have and this is what makes the most sense right now.”

“I think we talk about the eight pitchers a lot compared to four bench players. I think that’s our biggest discussion, rather than changing things up,” Molitor said.

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#OldFriend Updates

The Rochester Red Wings were originally slated to face former Twins righty Mike Pelfrey in Charlotte on Friday evening, but word broke late in the afternoon that Big Pelf had been scratched for Chris Volstad, a pitcher of similar stature. Pelfrey had been hit hard through two starts with Charlotte: 7.50 ERA, 6.0 K/9, 4.5 BB/9, 2.17 WHIP and an opponents’ OPS of 1.009.

Former Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe is off to a slow start, as he’s hitting just .216/.293/.392 through 15 games with the Oakland A’s. He’s batting eighth against the Mariners on Friday night, and did hit a three-run home run in Thursday’s 9-6 win.  Plouffe isn’t the only former Twin on the A’s roster; former Twins starter Liam Hendriks has a 9.53 ERA (six earned runs in 5.2 innings) out of the A’s bullpen so far this season.   

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Notes and Quotes

• The Twins are just 1-5 on the current homestand, and at 7-8 have fallen under the .500 mark for the first time all season. They have lost four straight games.
• Per the game notes, the Twins are hitting .236 on the current homestand, including just 8-for-45 (.178) with runners in scoring position.
• The Twins have a 3.76 ERA on the homestand; parsed out, that’s 2.27 for starters and 6.52 for relievers.
• Here’s a good note from Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: The Twins and Arizona Diamondbacks are the only two MLB teams who haven’t made a roster move yet.
• The Twins offense still possesses MLB’s highest walk rate (11.7 percent). Just six teams are at 10 percent or higher.
• The Twins are expecting roughly 23,000 fans in the stands on Friday night.
• Molitor on approach against Verlander: “He’s done a bit more than just survived. He came back last year and was a big part of what they tried to do last year in the playoff push. He’s probably a bit of a different pitcher than he was when “power” was the first word that came to mind when you talked about him. I think that he’s probably learned how to use his pitches a little bit more. He’s not afraid to throw offspeed behind in the count and tries to prey on hitters’ aggressiveness — especially the young guys. So I think that’ll be the big challenge for us — especially the young guys — to try to slow the game down and don’t be intimidated by the big name on the mound. Just go out there and have good at-bats and try find a way to score some runs.”
• Molitor on Santiago’s changeup grip changing: “He’s had a good one here. I think last year at times we saw that pitch have a tendency to stay on plane a little bit too much. You’d rather see it have a little bit more north-south to it. So I think he’s tried to find a better way to keep his arm speed and change the direction. I think he has a lot of confidence in the pitch. That, combined with the fact that he’s been able to keep the curveball in the mix and some cutters at times, it’s a nice variety where guys can’t get locked into one thing, though we know he likes to throw the fastball.”
• Molitor on possible insight from Hunter as a broadcaster: “I asked him if he was nervous about it and he said no, he was excited about trying something new. Every time he comes around, he’s just one of those guys that makes his presence felt. Our players embrace when he has the opportunity to be around. It’ll be a little different. I’m kind of interested in how it will go up there tonight. Some of the knowledge he has — and the way he loves this game — I think it’ll be entertaining television.” Molitor said Hunter will fly back to Texas with the Twins, but couldn’t commit for sure if he’d be with the team.
• Molitor on how pitchers like Verlander might pitch following a rough outing: “Pitchers like him don’t have back-to-back poor outings very often. Part of it is that their stuff is that good; part of it is that they’re that competitive. Every once in awhile a guy might hit a bit of a skid where he’s lost feel for a pitch or command or something like that, but guys like that don’t falter — at least in a significant way — very often back-to-back. It’ll be challenging for us. He’s a guy, when he has a bad game and he has to live with that, I’m sure he gets anxious about when he gets the next chance to take the ball out there.”
• Molitor on the large early hitting contingent prior to regular batting practice on Friday: “It’s a combination of both (the offense scuffling and the first nice day in a long time). Generally early in the year, you get more guys that want to hit extra, especially early in the year on a nice day. We’ve had limited batting practice with weather as of late, so we haven’t been on the field much. We had a couple new guys out there that wanted to give it a go that you don’t usually see out there for early hitting except for cage work. I think some guys feel like if you put the work in, it might work to your advantage.”
• Molitor on if he buys into pitcher-versus-hitter numbers, particularly like Joe Mauer against Verlander: “I think good hitters are not foolish enough to think that they have too many people’s number. You might have comfortability against a certain guy, whether it’s stuff or how you see him or whatever it might be. I think when you do have a little bit of success on a track record, you’re aware of it and maybe the positive feeling about it, but things change. It’s one of those things that aren’t really tangible — what feeling you have against a certain guy.”

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Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne covers the Minnesota Twins for Zone Coverage and is also the site's senior editor. He hosts the Midwest Swing podcast for the site as well. He and his wife Amanda live in the outer Twin Cities suburbs with their daughter, Harper.

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