A lopsided getaway day victory nearly turned “ugly” for the Minnesota Twins on Thursday afternoon.
Oft-injured shortstop Carlos Correa left the game in the seventh inning after being hit on the right wrist by a pitch from Arizona’s Bryce Jarvis.
X-rays were negative and Correa, who said his entire hand went numb after being hit and slammed his batting helmet on the bench when returning to the dugout, vowed to be ready Friday when the Twins open a three-game series at the American League West-leading Seattle Mariners.
“You think the worst right away, then when you get the good news you’ve very happy,” said Correa, who reached base five times on a single, two walks, catcher’s interference and a hit by pitch in the 13-6 road victory.
The Twins, who are chasing Cleveland in the AL Central, are in the thick of the league’s wild-card race. They can ill afford to lose Correa, who is batting .309 with an on base-plus-slugging percentage of .873.
“It looks like we’re going to be able to get past this,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It’s never what you want to see. Could have been ugly, but it was apparently not.”
Baldelli, however, wasn’t ready to pencil Correa’s name into the lineup against the Mariners.
“We’ll see how the swelling is and things like that, and that’ll probably decide what the next day or two look like, but it’s, relatively speaking, good news,” Baldelli said.
Byron Buxton added three hits, including a three-run home run, for the Twins, who built an 11-0 lead through 3 1/2 innings. He also was hit by a pitch.
“We had a very good approach,” said Baldelli, whose team has won four of its past five games. “You really can’t swing the bats too much better than we did today.”
Twins right-hander David Festa, making his major league debut, went five innings for the victory.
“It was an exciting moment to have my family and friends here,” Festa said. “It meant a lot to me. … The lineup put a lot of runs up early and made my job a lot easier.”
The Mariners had Thursday off after a 3-6 trip to Cleveland, Miami and Tampa Bay. They won the opening game against the Guardians and the finale against the Rays, dropping six of seven in between.
“We had a bad trip,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “It happens to the best teams in the league, and I do think we’re one of the best teams in the league.”
George Kirby allowed one run over six innings and Cal Raleigh hit a three-run homer in a 5-2 victory Wednesday.
“It’s just good to end the road trip on a good note,” Kirby said. “Happy flight.”
Friday’s series opener is scheduled to feature a pair of right-handers in Minnesota’s Bailey Ober (7-4, 4.50 ERA) and Seattle’s Logan Gilbert (5-4, 2.71).
Ober, who is coming off a complete-game victory at Oakland, is 2-0 with a 4.05 ERA in four career starts against the Mariners. He allowed two runs on three hits over five innings against Seattle May 7 in Minneapolis but didn’t get a decision in a 10-6 loss.
Gilbert, who has pitched eight scoreless innings in each of his past two starts, is 2-1 with a 4.95 ERA in four previous starts against the Twins. He had his worst start of the season May 9 at Minnesota in an 11-1 defeat, giving up eight runs over four innings.
–Field Level Media
