Greetings from Target Field, where it is 85 and sunny — a perfect day for baseball!
It’s Jose Berrios (R, 12-7, 3.94 ERA) vs. Brett Anderson (L, 3-3, 5.90) in the first game of the Minnesota Twins (76-69)’ four-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays (68-78). Minnesota currently occupies the second Wild Card spot; Toronto is all but out of it at this point.
“It’s fun,” said Twins manager Paul Molitor when asked about managing in the Wild Card race. “There’s a lot to try to put in the mixer when you go to a situation, and every game has a different challenge, whether it’s early, middle, trailing by a slim margin late — trying to hang on and give yourself a chance protecting leads.
“Some innings, obviously, it looks like you might have to go with four or five guys — that’s just the way it is. We have the luxury of having enough people to do that, but it’s fun to try and prepare for that and think through it the best way that you can.”
The Twins pitchers will have their hands full tonight. Even though Toronto is all but out of it, they still have Josh Donaldson, Justin Smoak and Jose Bautista occupying the 2- through 4-holes.
Berrios is tasked with keeping them at bay, and the Minnesota bats have had enough firepower recently to bail him out if he cannot.
Berrios’ pitch count down the stretch is worth noting, since he has thrown 130.1 innings (in the majors) so far this season (Ed. Note: He has thrown 39.2 in the minors as well)Â and has never thrown more than 170 in his career.
“You want to make sure he feels good enough to pitch,” said Molitor. “He said he feels great. He’ll tell you his arm doesn’t feel like it did in April.
“If there was anything that was kinda nagging, or he felt it on his flat ground the other day, we’re cutting down all these guys’ throwing in-between starts as best we can to try to protect them.”
Sano injury update
Sano has no timetable to return from his shin injury. He has a rest day today, hasn’t stood in for bullpens yet and has been running at 75 percent. He has not run the bases yet.
“He really hasn’t had a day to back off,” said Molitor, “and after the last couple days, we had talked about doing some more work today. But they’re just gonna kinda treat the leg today as opposed to getting out there and do anything.
“I’m gonna keep hoping that something turns this thing in the right direction at a little faster speed, but obviously the days are dwindling here.”
Irma-related delay of instructional league has complicated the rehab plan for Sano. With the expanded rosters in September, he could take live BP from pitchers that need the work.
“There’s no question that we can do some simulated stuff here with some people. We’ve already talked about having some of our guys maybe do some of that without Miguel, maybe, just to try to keep some guys sharp.”
I’m covering the game today and the two this weekend. Brandon is covering Friday. Follow us: @tschreier3, @Brandon_Warne.
