The white-hot Twins may be on the verge of adding a high-impact bat to their lineup.
Outfielder Matt Wallner -- sidelined since April 15 with a strained left hamstring -- smashed two home runs in his first rehab appearance with Triple-A St. Paul on Thursday night. He finished 2-for-4 while leading off and playing all seven innings in right field during Game 1 of a doubleheader.
Wallner’s third-inning home run sailed over the fence in right-center, traveling a projected 362 feet. His second homer -- a two-run shot in the seventh inning -- left the bat at 112.4 mph and sailed 409 feet to dead center field.
The performance made for an impressive return by Wallner, who was appearing in his first game in more than five weeks. Wallner first felt tightness in his hamstring while beating out an infield single on April 15; he was removed from that game and placed on the injured list two days later.
Wallner was hitting .263/.373/.474 through his first 18 games, emerging as one of Minnesota’s top hitters. His return would boost a lineup that entered play on Thursday having combined for a .696 OPS -- only the 20th-best mark in baseball -- especially with Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton both on the 7-day concussion IL.
It���s unclear how long Wallner’s rehab stint will last. On Wednesday, head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta told MLB.com Twins beat reporter Matthew Leach that they’d like to see Wallner play in back-to-back games before returning.