It’s sunny and cool with a tinge of October in the air as the Minnesota Twins prepare for the season-ending series against the Detroit Tigers. It’s Fan Appreciation Weekend, and to get that underway, the Twins will send righty Kyle Gibson (5.02 ERA, 4.86 FIP in 154.1 innings) to the mound, where he’ll be opposed by lefty Matt Boyd (5.12 ERA, 4.36 FIP in 130 innings).
More on that in a bit.
The biggest news buzzing around Target Field came about an hour before the clubhouse opened, as the Twins activated third baseman Miguel Sano from the disabled list. Sano isn’t in the lineup Friday, but could get in there to hit late or perhaps make a start or two over the weekend at DH.
Ultimately, it’s all up in the air leading up to Tuesday, though Molitor said that Sano could even be on the postseason roster but not start that game.
“I worked hard,” Sano said. “I worked hard, coming here every day early in the morning to do what I needed to do in terms of rehabbing in order to do to be at this point.”
Sano said he’s been doing his normal rehab lately, and that includes some pool work and some work with a bone stimulator.
“I’m super excited,” Sano said. “The team is going to the playoffs. We’re playing one game and we have to play 100 percent and have all the tools necessary to win the game. I’m excited.”
“There’s really no downside (in activating Sano),” manager Paul Molitor said. “There’s really nowhere for him to go to try play or rehab. He had a couple good days yesterday and today. I think he’s finally at a point where some of the apprehension about risk of playing has subsided. He hit quite a bit today. He ran a bit today.”
Molitor followed that with a cold splash of water, however.
“The reality is, it’s encouraging to some degree, but we have to keep perspective,” Molitor said. “I mean, it was what, Aug. 19 (he last played)? That’s a long time not to face major-league pitching.”
“There’s a possibility I’ll try to get him an at-bat tonight somewhere in the game. We’ll see how he responds to all the work he did today and how he feels tomorrow, and whether we’ll be able to get a chance to use him as a DH over the next couple days. But it’s just kind of wait and see.”
Sano’s on-field work, with the bat at least, was impressive though, Molitor did note.
“It’ll be fun to see him out on the field taking some swings,” Molitor said. “His batting practice looked really good today, considering he hasn’t hit a ton — over the past couple of weeks in particular. We’ll just have to measure it day-by-day through the weekend. Unfortunately, we’ve been compressed into a small time window to have to make a decision about moving forward after this weekend.”
Molitor also wouldn’t rule out a simulated game for Sano to replicate some live swings against pitching to help get him up to speed.
“I’ve thought about it some,” Molitor said. “I still haven’t excluded it. Again, I think how he feels after today — with the most extensive action he’s in the last six weeks, roughly — and how he responds and moves around (will dictate it). I will toy with that, but if he feels good, I might just stick him in the game tomorrow.”
One sticking point for Molitor regarding a simulated game is that he’d have to get one of his pitchers to throw it — thereby rendering that pitcher unavailable for at least that day if not the rest of the weekend.
What does Sano have to show Molitor the rest of the way to get a chance on Tuesday?
“I don’t know how to quantify what I need to see,” Molitor said. “I’m going to be looking for timing, pitch recognition and those types of things. Is it fair to try do that in whether it’s five or eight at-bats or whatever it is? It’s going to be a tough call. But we’re going to have to decide. There’s something about having Sano available that I think is very appealing.”
Here’s how the Twins will line up against Boyd:
Here’s how the Tigers will counter against Gibson:
Gibson has been terrific of late, though it’s obviously not reflected as much in his season stats. Since July 22 — when he moved on the rubber more toward the third base side — he’s posted the following numbers: 3.36 ERA, .669 OPS, 58-18 K/BB ratio in 67 innings and an 11 percent swinging-strike rate.
Ironically, that first start of this stretch came against Detroit at home. His last start came against Detroit at Comerica Park one week ago. This start is against the Tigers. Everything’s coming up Milhouse!
We got the lowdown on Boyd from Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press, an old friend that ardent Midwest Swing listeners will listen from previous times the Tigers were in town:
Rest is best?
This is the first and only series of the season with no real implications for the Twins, but don’t expect Molitor to take his foot off the gas too much. He’s getting rest for Jason Castro, Joe Mauer and Jorge Polanco against a lefty in Friday’s game, but for the most part it should be all systems go all weekend.
“Compete…try to win,” Molitor said when asked what his goals were for the weekend. “That part doesn’t change. You should have some edge in what you do when you go out on a baseball field. It’s a little fortunate for our team that we got the benefit of the loss by the Angels the other night where we were able to get guys a little bit of rest. I’m not too big on that. Obviously to back off a couple guys a little bit makes sense, but I want to keep these guys playing and staying in the fold for the most part throughout the weekend.”
Weekend Rotation
Molitor’s weekend rotation is (mostly) firmed up, though he did say that Gibson will likely be followed by Jose Berrios in relief in Friday’s game.
- Friday – Gibson
- Saturday – Aaron Slegers
- Sunday – TBD (most likely Bartolo Colon)
Molitor said Sunday is still up in the air, but as of Friday afternoon was leaning toward keeping Colon on his regular schedule for Sunday’s season finale. It’s pretty easy to connect the dots, but this relief appearance is almost certainly to set up Berrios to potentially work after Santana in relief on Tuesday in the game that will most likely be played at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees have not been officially eliminated from the AL East race, but the magic number is one. The Yankees kept hopes alive with a 4-0 win over the Blue Jays on Friday afternoon, however.
Playoff roster
The conversations about who will and will not be on the postseason roster have already started, Molitor said. That includes talking to players individually about their roles in October — be it on the roster or as a spectator.
“We had some discussions prior to the other night and more extensively leading into today, including this afternoon for quite a bit,” Molitor said. “It’s communication about a lot of different things involving roster and who will or won’t travel. You want to err on over-communicating those things. Some have already happened; some will continue to happen over the course of today and tomorrow.”
Molitor said they’re difficult conversations. “A lot of people have contributed,” he said. “Not everyone will get a chance to be a part of it. That’s just the way it is.”
Notes and Quotes
- The Twins come into this series 13-13 in September and 39-39 at Target Field.
- The Twins’ 83rd win of the season cemented their improvement from 2016 — plus-24 wins — as the highest jump from one year to the next in team history. The previous most was 23 wins from 1964 to ’65.
- The next win for the Twins will mark 4,500 since moving to Minneapolis.
- The Twins have scored 802 runs this season — fifth-most in team history. They have an outside shot at the No. 3 spot, which is 829 runs by the 2008 team. The 2009 team is fourth with 817 runs.
- Brian Dozier’s next stolen base will be the 90th of his career, tying him with Denard Span for 10th in team history.
- The Twins announced that they’ll be hosting a free Wild Card game viewing party at Target Field on Tuesday evening. The stadium will open at 6:00 p.m. for the 7:09 first pitch, and the event will be held in the Delta Sky 360 club. Gates 6 and 29 will be open for entry, and there’ll be a live DJ, between innings entertainment on the big board, food and playoff gear for purchase and yard games as well. The Target Field Station seating area will also have the game on.
- Molitor on if Castro’s experience beating the Yankees in a Wild Card game (with the Astros in 2015) provides any discernible benefit: “He knows what it’s like. I don’t know how much he can shed light in terms of for our other guys. But just sharing the experience of being a part of that might be something that plants a positive seed for somebody. Different team and people, but you gotta go in there and win one game. I think we’re more than capable.”
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