Twins send down Milone, Thielbar to Class AAA

On Monday, Tommy Milone was in the Twins rotation. On Thursday, he was in their bullpen. On Saturday, he will join their top minor league team.

Rough week.

Milone was sent to Class AAA Rochester after Friday night's 1-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox to make room for Ricky Nolasco, who will start Saturday's game after missing more than three weeks because of elbow inflammation. And Milone isn't the only lefthander headed down — with Brian Duensing also returning from an intercostal strain, Caleb Thielbar was returned to the Red Wings, too.

The move restructures the Twins bullpen, which added righthanders Michael Tonkin and Ryan Pressly this week, and allows Milone to remain a starter as he waits for another opportunity to emerge in the Twins rotation.

"I understand what they're trying to do. They feel they have the best five starters here," said Milone, who added that he was "shocked" by the news. "For me to get work as a starter, it's better for me to go down there than to stay here and toil around in the bullpen."

Milone, 28, won the spring competition for the fifth spot in the rotation, and turned in a gem in his first start, shutting out the White Sox on two hits over 7⅔ innings. But he has given up 12 runs over 15 innings in three starts since then, and has been outpitched by Mike Pelfrey and Trevor May, leading to his demotion.

Meanwhile, Pressly, who had a 4.50 ERA at Rochester, joined the bullpen when righthander Tim Stauffer was placed on the disabled list Friday because of a sore intercostal muscle on the right side of his rib cage.

Stauffer, a major disappointment after signing a $2.2 million contract, has been pitching injured, Molitor said. "It's one of those situations where a guy has tried to pitch through an injury," Molitor said. "I don't feel the results are there, he knows that."

Stauffer has an 8.38 ERA in eight appearances, and his fastball velocity has mostly been below 90 miles per hour.

"I think your mind has a tendency to protect your body," Molitor said, "and if you're not able to fully extend, and you're kind of cutting off your pitches, even if it's subconscious, it potentially can affect not only your velocity, but how you finish your breaking stuff, too."

Hughes good to go

The pitching staff is in flux these days, but the Twins can still count on Phil Hughes.

The righthander, who has yet to miss a start since signing last year, tested the hip flexor that limited him to five innings in his last start, and after pitching his normal between-starts bullpen session, pronounced himself healthy on Friday. He will make his next start, Monday against Oakland, on schedule.

"I asked him, walking off the field after he got done throwing. 'Yep, I aired it out, tried not to think about it, and I'm good to go,' " Molitor quoted Hughes as telling him. "I'm going to trust in that."

The Twins haven't lost any trust in Hughes despite his 0-4 start to the season, and Molitor said he was relieved that the team's No. 1 starter apparently will avoid the disabled list.

Etc.

• For a St. Paul native and former Gophers player, getting to pose with Floyd of Rosedale and the Little Brown Jug was something of a thrill, Molitor said. The trophies, won by the Gophers football team in games against Iowa and Michigan last fall, were at Target Field as part of Friday's University of Minnesota Night promotion. "I have a tremendous amount of allegiance to the university, [for] the opportunity they presented to me a long time ago," said Molitor, who attended the school from 1974 to '77. "I like getting out there for the basketball games, football games every now and then. But to have the jug and the pig here in the office today, it's a pretty good thing."

• Nolasco, who has made three rehab starts in Cedar Rapids in the past nine months: "As much as it's been good to me — there are nice people down there who treated me well — I definitely don't ever want to go back."