UPDATE: Right-handed reliever Michael Tonkin is headed to Minnesota and will rejoin the Twins' bullpen.
The move likely means that Casey Fien, who left Wednesday's game with soreness in his pitching shoulder, is headed for the disabled list.
Tonkin, who owns a 3.26 ERA in 34 career games with the Twins, has allowed two runs in 7 1/3 innings this season for the Class AAA affiliate.
Fien allowed three runs on five hits on Wednesday, including a home run to Miguel Cabrera, before leaving mid-inning with soreness in his shoulder. Manager Paul Molitor said afterward that "Casey's shoulder still a little bit tender. We're going to make sure we are on top of that. We're going to get it checked out."
Three extras after a bizarre Twins loss to Detroit:
— There was a "Molitor's going to be mad" feeling in the press box when the Twins turned James McCann's long fly ball into an inside-the-park home run Wednesday, not because of the freakish play itself — the ball bounced off the wall, hit Jordan Schafer's leg and rolled along the warning track toward right field — but because more than one person said, "Where was Arcia?" It looked like the right fielder didn't move over to help in case the ball got past Schafer. But Paul Molitor defended Arcia after the game, and pointed out that nobody could have predicted the ball would wind up where it did.
"He was moving," the Twins' manager said. "You want both your corners to close the gap. If you're going over there, you're expecting more of a carom back to the middle of the field than you are back to the right-field side. But I think he was moving in the right direction."
More than that, Molitor said, "He's working. … He knows he has to play defense if he wants to play."
— Tim Stauffer faced five batters and allowed two of them, Miguel Cabrera and J.D. Martinez, to hit the ball out of the park. Molitor said the righthander "is trying to get himself going," and sounded optimistic that he's getting better, despite his 8.38 ERA. "His velocity may be a tick better," Molitor said of Stauffer, whose fastball topped out at 90 mph. "Today, he just got a couple of balls up, and they made him pay."
— It was an eventful day for Trevor Plouffe, who homered for the first time since his walk-off blast against Cleveland 10 days ago. This one was an accident, Plouffe said. "I was just trying to put the ball in play. I got down 0-2, we had a runner on third base, so iIwanted to put the ball in play, get that run in," he said. "I think [Tigers starter Shane Greene] was trying to go away with that pitch, but he hung it."
That home run was overshadowed by a popup that Plouffe called for, but didn't catch, a hit that turned into the game-winning run. "To be honest, I didn't really see it," he said. "It got in the sun there, I tried to get around it to get a good view of it, but by the time I did see it, I called for it and I was in no position to catch it."
