Young starts despite sore ankle

Ben Margot, Associated Press

Delmon Young

By LA VELLE E. NEAL III, Star Tribune

Last update: May 14, 2008 - 8:03 AM

Delmon Young tested his left ankle before the game and was cleared to start Tuesday night's game against Toronto. The Twins left fielder turned the ankle in the eighth inning Monday vs. Boston.

So Young appeared in his 203rd consecutive game, the second-longest streak in the majors. He went 0-for-4 in the 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays. Atlanta outfielder Jeff Francoeur leads the majors with 365 consecutive games played.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was asked before the game if he was worried that a player would try to conceal an injury in order to keep a streak alive.

"I told him to be honest, go out there and if you can run that's fine. If you can play that's fine," Gardenhire said, "but if you're going to be limping around out there I'll take you off the field.

"I don't need Superman out there. We need healthy players out there. I don't need to have something lingering because you want to set some kind of record. You are not Cal Ripken. I hope he plays every game, but if he's hurt, he's hurt."

Reyes' new pitch

Twins lefthander Dennys Reyes has added a split-fingered fastball to his arsenal and has enjoyed the results. He gave up his first earned run of the season Tuesday night following 11 1/3 scoreless innings, as his combination of a splitter, slider and fastball has been effective.

"I worked on it during the offseason, and it has been very good so far," Reyes said.

In 2006, Reyes was 5-0 with a 0.89 ERA for the Twins -- his ninth major league team -- earning him a two-year, $2 million contract. In 2007, he dropped to 2-1 with a 3.99 ERA while spending two stints on the disabled list, the second stint costing him the final six weeks of the season because of a sore left elbow.

Reyes is healthy this season. But he believed he needed another pitch after American League Central opponents had seen him for two seasons. So he tinkered with the pitch while in Mexico during the offseason.

He is comfortable throwing it against lefthanded and righthanded batters and is happy to have another pitch for hitters to worry about.

"I didn't know how it was going to be because I hadn't thrown it in a game," Reyes said. "I threw it in spring training and it worked pretty good, so I decided to use it."

Baker update

Righthander Scott Baker, on the 15-day disabled list because of a right groin muscle strain, threw in the bullpen in tennis shoes and continues to experience some discomfort in the area.

"Until he doesn't feel anything, he won't be on any kind of rehab [assignment] or things like that," Gardenhire said.

Baker is eligible to come off the disabled list Monday, but won't.

Etc.

• One thing the Twins watch out for with righthander Juan Rincon is when he rushes his delivery and loses command of his pitches. Monday, the Twins saw Rincon rush through a pitch only once during two strong innings vs. the Red Sox. "If he can throw like that, he can eat up a lot of innings," Gardenhire said.

• This could be a tough series for Twins lefthanded hitters. The Blue Jays have four lefties in their bullpen, three of whom pitched Tuesday: Jesse Carlson, Scott Downs and closer B.J. Ryan.

• Craig Monroe started at designated hitter for the second game in a row against a righthanded starter, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Jason Kubel pinch hit in the eighth inning and homered off Armando Benitez, ending Kubel's 0-for-15 slide, and Gardenhire said Kubel would start tonight.

Recent Twins stories

Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon wants to come back, but will explore other options - May 14, 2008

Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon wants to come back, but will explore other options - Johnny Damon soaked it all in as he shared a float with first-timers Nick Swisher and Jerry Hairston Jr. for the New York Yankees' championship parade through the Canyon of Heroes on Friday. The whole scene made him a little wistful. More