Twins players had a hard time masking their disappointment Monday after General Manager Terry Ryan traded second baseman Luis Castillo to the New York Mets for two minor leaguers.
"When you lose a guy like that, it's kind of a tough message to send to us," closer Joe Nathan said. "So, hopefully it wakes us up. Hopefully guys take it personally and step up their game."
For one night, that's what the Twins did, as Scott Baker outdueled Gil Meche in a 3-1 victory at the Metrodome.
Baker gave up two hits over eight innings, and Joe Mauer went 2-for-4 with all three RBI as the Twins held on for their third victory in a row, pulling within six games of Cleveland for the wild-card lead and seven games of AL Central leader Detroit.
They will try to make up that gap without Castillo, their veteran leadoff hitter. In return the Twins received Class AA catcher Drew Butera and Class A center fielder Dustin Martin.
The trade was not exactly the move Twins players had in mind with the non-waiver deadline coming today at 3 p.m.
"This is one of the obvious ones that's not a positive," Nathan said. "You know, I don't think there's one guy in this clubhouse that looks at the move as something that helped our team."
The Twins saved about $2 million that Castillo was owed on the remainder of his contract.
"These guys might have a plan, you never know," center fielder Torii Hunter said. "I don't think they've just given up. You probably have to lose one guy to make something happen.
"And [today], if nothing [else] happens, I guess it was a bad deal."
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire spent several moments staring at his office ceiling, in obvious disappointment, while the Castillo trade was being finalized. Besides being a talented second baseman, Castillo was very well-liked. By game's end, however, Gardenhire had come to grips with Ryan's decision.
"He's already talking about other players, going and taking a look at them, another bat," Gardenhire said. "So he's not dumping. He's rearranging maybe, and trying to find somebody who might help us."
After a gruesome five-game losing streak dropped their record to .500, the Twins (54-51) have been bolstered by starts from Johan Santana, Matt Garza and Baker, who have combined to give up four runs in 21 innings over the past three games.
Baker (5-4) finished with seven strikeouts and no walks. His performance was critical because after getting a two-run double from Mauer in the first inning, the Twins didn't score again until Mauer hit an RBI single in the eighth.
Meche (7-8), Kansas City's $55 million free-agent acquisition last offseason, held the Twins to two runs on seven hits over seven innings, but Baker was even better on a night when the team was already missing Castillo.
"It was tough," Baker said. "I think we'd be lying if we didn't say the morale was down a little bit."
Joe Christensen • jchristensen@startribune.com
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