Twins play 2, debut 2

After getting rained out last night, the Twins had to play the Indians twice today. As a result of the twinbill, the roster size expanded by one. The Twins sent new addition Dietrich Enns back to Rochester, and called up Aaron Slegers and Glen Perkins. Both of these pitchers came to the Twins MLB roster with a great deal of fanfare.

Perkins appeared first, coming on in relief in game 1, his first game in over a year.  After working only 2 innings in all of 2016, he worked a third of an inning today after an accelerated rehab stint through the minor leagues, and h looked like a guy who hasn’t seen the majors for a while, as opposed to a former all star closer. He was already showing signs of a decline in 2015, but Perkins is so popular, and has had such a tough road to get back that it would be a shame if he doesn’t pitch a little bit better the rest of the way. It would be nice if he could sort things out and be a contributor next year.

The starter for the second game was Slegers, a guy that has earned good results in the minors, despite an inability to strike too many people out. The numbers give fans a reason to clamor for his promotion, while his peripherals and seeming lack of raw skill gave the front office reason to keep him in Rochester. If first impressions mean anything, then in the case, it was the fans who called for his promotion that were correct. Slegers went 6 1/3 innings, allowing only 2 hits, 2 runs and striking out 3.

The Twins also swapped Buddy Boshers for Nik Turley, just so they could have fresh arms for the heavy slate of games, likely an indication that Slegers will be going right back down to Rochester when the roster needs to go back to 25. With that kind of performance, I am sure the team has learned its lesson, and he will be back soon.

(LATE BREAKING NEWS: Robbie Grossman broke his thumb during the news. He is being replaced by top catching prospect Mitch Garver, which doesn’t sound like good news for long time relief pitcher Chris Gimenez.)