Back from pink eye, Twins’ Joey Gallo starts first game in center field
Joey Gallo didn’t think much of it when he awoke on Friday morning and his eye was red. Jokingly, after arriving at the ballpark, he told a team trainer he thought he might have pink eye.
When the trainer replied by telling him that teammate Willi Castro had, in fact, come in earlier that day with pink eye, Gallo realized it might not be a joke after all.
Gallo and Castro were inserted into the game late on Sunday, both playing an important role in the comeback win over the Chicago White Sox. Monday, they were both back in the starting lineup for the first time since their diagnosis, and Gallo, who has spent most of his season at first base or in the corner outfield spots, drew his first start of the year in center field.
Gallo was supposed to play center, where he has appeared just five times this season, on Friday before he was scratched just before game time.
Though he hadn’t made a start there as a Twin until Monday, he had played 61 games in center during his major league career, and Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said he might appear out there “maybe a little more often.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be an everyday thing, but he’s capable. He gets good reads and good jumps, and he’s a good instinctive outfielder,” Baldelli said of Gallo, a Gold Glover. “We could point to speed and things like that. He’s not as fast as he once was, but he knows what he’s doing when he’s out in the outfield. So I don’t have any concern about putting him out there. There are going to be some games and some games coming up where we are going to want to get as many left-handed hitters as we can in the lineup, and that’s one of the ways to do that.”
Buxtons welcome baby
The Twins gave Byron Buxton a couple days off last week in the midst of a slump, allowing him a chance to reset himself at the plate.
The designated hitter is getting a few more days off this week for a happier reason — Byron and Lindsey Buxton welcomed their third son, who joins older brothers Brixton and Blaze, early Monday morning.
Buxton was placed on the paternity list on Monday, where he may remain for up to three games. To fill his spot on the roster, the Twins called up outfielder Trevor Larnach, who hit .202 at St. Paul since June 16, when he was last optioned to Triple-A.
Larnach gives the Twins roster yet another left-handed corner outfielder. With a glut of those, the Twins pulled from that group to fill the designated hitter slot in Buxton’s absence on Monday. Matt Wallner filled the role on Monday, and Baldelli said he expects right fielder Max Kepler to slot in there in the coming days.
Briefly
Jorge Polanco, who is in the midst of a rehab assignment with St. Paul after suffering a hamstring strain, was in the Twins’ clubhouse on Monday. He is expected to play nine innings at third base, a new position to him, on Tuesday. He’ll be joined in St. Paul by pitcher Caleb Thielbar, who kicks off a rehab assignment on Tuesday. Thielbar threw live batting practice on Saturday, facing Wallner and Michael A. Taylor. … Alex Kirilloff was named the American League Player of the Week on Monday after going 10 for 29 (.345) with three home runs and a 1.187 OPS this week.
