Injuries continue to hit the infield of the Minnesota Twins, who will play the middle game of their three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis.
The Twins will be without second baseman Luke Keaschall for an extended period after the 22-year-old rookie suffered a non-displaced fracture in his right forearm in an 11-4 win over the Angels on Friday.
Keaschall had reached base safely 13 times with five stolen bases in his first six games with Minnesota before being hit by a pitch in the first inning. MLB Pipeline ranks him as the No. 57 overall prospect and Minnesota’s No. 3 prospect.
“Obviously that’s tough news,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He’s settling in really well here and doing a really nice job for us. He’ll get it right and he’ll be back. I have no doubt he’ll be running around the bases again soon.”
The news of Keaschall’s injury put a damper on Minnesota’s third win in its past four games. But Trevor Larnach and Byron Buxton combined for seven RBIs on Friday, while leadoff hitter Edouard Julien walked four times and scored three runs.
“If your leadoff hitter is just on base for the guys behind him to bring him around, you’re going to score a ton of runs,” Baldelli said. “He was sitting out there waiting for us to score some runs, so that’s going to work every time.”
The Twins will turn to right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson (1-2, 4.74 ERA) on Saturday. He pitched in a bullpen game against the Atlanta Braves last Saturday and allowed three runs over 4 1/3 innings in a 4-3 loss.
The 24-year-old Woods Richardson replaced opener Justin Topa at the start of the second inning. Woods Richardson is set to make his first career appearance against the Angels.
The Angels will counter with left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (0-3, 3.38 ERA), who is seeking his first victory despite allowing just one earned run over his past two starts.
The 33-year-old Kikuchi gave up one unearned run over 5 1/3 innings in a no-decision against the San Francisco Giants last Sunday. The Angels won 5-4.
Kikuchi is 1-2 with a 3.12 ERA in six career starts versus Minnesota.
The Angels have lost four of their past six games. Mike Trout provided the highlights with two hits — including his ninth homer of the season — in Friday’s loss. Logan O’Hoppe also went deep, hitting his seventh homer.
Los Angeles struck out 10 times and has struggled at the plate following a strong start to the season.
“We’re not where we want to be the last couple games,” O’Hoppe told The Athletic. “But we have over 100 (games) or whatever to go. You can’t put too much weight on one game here or there. We’re going to do what we can to turn it around, and it’s going to turn around.”
Angels infielder Kyren Paris is a prime example of how quickly things have changed for the Angels. The 23-year-old hit five homers in his first 10 games this season, but he enters Saturday’s contest hitless (0-for-21) in his past eight games.
“We’re in the midst of what I think every team goes through, you know what I mean? It’s just part of the game,” Angels hitting coach Johnny Washington told The Athletic. “We’ve got to grind through this storm. It’s been a really tough part of the storm. And I feel like the process is good, but we haven’t been on the other side of the results.”
–Field Level Media
