MINNEAPOLIS -- Just as he hoped, Carlos Correa returned to the lineup Sunday after missing just one day with a sprained right ankle. Correa suffered the injury on Friday night when Tommy Pham’s helmet hit his right leg on a close play at second base.
He said at the time that he wanted to play Saturday but that the club had already decided to hold him out. By Sunday, though, Correa was cleared and back in the lineup. He went 2-for-4 in the 2-1 loss to the Pirates with a second-inning double.
“We had a good feeling that Carlos was going to be fine,” said manager Rocco Baldelli. “He was going to come out of that play that we had the other night in a good spot. He seemed pretty confident even that night after the game that he was going to be good to go. We weren’t going to put him in the lineup immediately. We wanted to test him out and make sure that he came out of it OK. But he was fine.”
Correa finished the first half with a .264/.304/.389 line in 83 games, and is fourth on the team with 322 plate appearances despite spending time on the concussion injured list and missing short amounts of time with a few other minor issues.
Matthews deals in rehab
Right-hander Zebby Matthews was extremely sharp in his first game action in a month, pitching four shutout innings for Triple-A St. Paul in the first game of a Minor League rehabilitation assignment. Matthews allowed one hit, no walks, and struck out nine for the Saints against the Iowa Cubs. He threw 56 pitches, 38 for strikes.
The next step for Matthews is not clear. He certainly could make another rehab start next weekend for St. Paul, but he also could conceivably join the Twins on their post-All-Star road trip to Denver and Los Angeles.
Although neither the hitters’ haven that is Coors Field nor the gauntlet that is the Dodgers lineup seems ideal for a first start back from injury, Baldelli said the club would not hesitate to use Matthews in one of those two series. That doesn’t necessarily mean they will, simply that the ballparks and opponents would not be a deterrent.
Rodriguez injured again
Emmanuel Rodriguez, the Twins’ No. 2 prospect and No. 45 in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100, has suffered another injury. Just back in Triple-A after missing time due to a hip injury, Rodriguez was removed from St. Paul’s game Saturday in the fourth inning due to an apparent side injury. The severity is not known at this time but any new injury is discouraging news for Rodriguez, who has played only 51 games this year.
Couple of scares, but everybody’s OK
Both Kody Clemens and Jhoan Duran appeared like they might have suffered injuries in Sunday’s game, but both players came through fine. Clemens got clipped by runner Isiah Kiner-Falefa when he jumped to catch a throw from Correa, and landed hard. Duran appeared to take an awkward step fielding a groundball from Oneil Cruz.
Clemens was examined by the training staff and stayed in the game. As for Duran, it seems he had an issue with one of his spikes. He waved off athletic trainer Masa Abe before Abe could get to the mound.
“Kody should be fine,” Baldelli said. “He’s a tough guy. I mean, even if he wasn’t fine, I might be the last person to know that because he’s not going to mention that to me. He’s going to try to stay in the game. I think he’s good. He got clipped, his feet went out from under him. But I think it’s going to take more than that to allow him to pull himself out of it.”
Opener
Cole Sands has served as the opener in both of the games where Travis Adams (Twins' No. 21 prospect) has been the Twins’ bulk pitcher (on July 5 and July 12), and it’s probably not the last time the right-hander gets that assignment. Baldelli said that Sands embraces the opportunity rather than resenting it. On top of that, Sands is one of the right-handers the Twins feel more comfortable using against left-handed hitters.
“He’s not a neutral guy, but he’s also got pitches that if he executes them, he can throw to different types of hitters,” Baldelli said. “So it allows you to think, hey, almost no matter how they set their lineup, Cole can go out there and get outs and compete.”