Twins

6/20 PREGAME NOTES: Santana vs. Holland, Berrios' Curve and Hughes to the Bullpen?

Photo credit: Brian Curski, Cumulus Media

Greetings from Target Field, where it is 70 and sunny. It’s supposed to be like that all game — a perfect day for baseball.

The Minnesota Twins are trying to shake off a four-game sweep at the hands of the AL Central-leading Cleveland Indians following a cherished off-day on Monday.

Ervin Santana (R, 8-4, 2.56 ERA) takes the mound against Derek Holland (L, 5-6, 3.79) and the Chicago White Sox.

“We’re always encouraged when Ervin’s taking the mound, and look for a strong start,” said manager Paul Molitor.

“Bigger picture is we got a tough run here from now until the All-Star Break, with 21 games in 20 days, and so we’ll probably find out a lot over the next few weeks of how things are gonna unfold, at least potentially. But it would be a nice way to get back on track with a solid start from Ervin tonight, for sure.”

Brian Dozier will be leading off for the Twins, with Miguel Sano, Robbie Grossman and Joe Mauer occupying the middle of the lineup.

“It looks better when he’s up there,” Molitor said of Dozier. “I think he’s very comfortable being our guy at the top. We have people that we can plug in there from time to time if he misses a couple games, had the ankle, but it just gives us a better flow overall.

“It goes how Brian goes sometimes, and so obviously it’s good to have him back in there today.”

Chicago counters with Melky Cabrera, Jose Abreu and Todd Frazier batting behind Adam Engel.

This is in the ninth of 19 meetings with the Sox. Minnesota has gone 1-2 at home this year and 4-1 on the South Side. That record is a microcosm of Minnesota’s poor home/road splits. They are 20-9 on the road this year, but 14-24 at home.

“I don’t know what came first, the magnification of the story, or the pressing, or vice versa,” said Molitor. “But the more it gets talked about, you can’t help but be aware that that’s kind of one of the themes being spoke about our team.

“I understand that our record at home is not indicative of what a team needs to do if they want to hang in the race of any shape or form.”

Hughes and Santiago updates

Hughes was in the locker room briefly today before he heads down to Triple-A Rochester for his rehab stint.

Hughes may join the bullpen if he returns, rather than pitch in the starting rotation.

“His concern, and maybe his willingness to potentially accept bullpen usage is the fact that we’re not totally sure how the longer outings will be, in terms of symptomatically having to deal with some things that put him on the DL in the first place,” said Molitor. Hughes was sent to the DL with shoulder soreness and has seen his velocity drop dramatically this year.

“At least for now we’re gonna try him out there, and try to get him accustomed to getting up during a game, and maybe a couple times back-to-back later this weekend. As far as long-term, how we’re gonna get him stretched out — that’s still a little bit of a question for us. But in the short-term, we had the chance for him to help us in shorter stints.”

As for Santiago, he’s going to pitch four innings tomorrow, with his pitch count capped at 60.

“He feels really good,” said Moltior. “He and I communicated last night, and he’s anxious to get out there, and I know he’d like to get back here sooner than later too.”

Jose Berrios will go tomorrow, with Nik Turley taking the mound Thursday, then birthday-boy Adalberto Mejia (24), Kyle Gibson and Santana on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Berrios’ curve

Berrios’ curveball is getting national attention, and rightfully so. The thing is downright nasty:

“It’s been fun to watch him develop confidence in that pitch,” said Molitor. “When he throws it, and he stays behind it, and doesn’t get too side-to-side, and more over the top, he can really make it do a lot of things. He can change the shape on it a little bit.”

It’s been a huge factor in his turnaround from a 3-7, 8.02 ERA (53 ERA+) season last year to his 6-1, 2.74 ERA (161 ERA+) record this year.

“Last year there was just a problem of getting out front, and his arm would trail, and he would spin that thing and it would hang or back up or hit the right-handed hitter,” said Molitor.

“But it just seems like now that he’s getting it out to where he needs to get it most of the time, he can throw it over to get back into counts, he can use it as a chase pitch with two strikes.

“When you got his fastball, and his changeup, and you can add that third quality pitch, it’s a really nice combination when he’s going well.”

I’ll be covering today and Thursday. Brandon’s got tomorrow.

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Photo credit: Brian Curski, Cumulus Media

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