Update: The Twins recalled catcher Willians Astudillo from Class Rochester this morning after Bobby Wilson was injured in Thursday's victory over the A's. Wilson goes on the 10-day disabled list.
The Twins are hoping he won't have to pitch, as he did during his last stint with the big club. Anyway, here are three thoughts from LEN3 following the Twins victory over Oakland: WILSON DOWN: Wilson was catching Kohl Stewart in the fourth inning on Thursday when Ramon Laureano hit a grounder to shortstop Jorge Polanco with a runner on first. The catcher usually backs up first base, and that's where Wilson was headed - before he stepped on Laureano's bat and tumbled, twisting his ankle. "X-rays are negative," Twins manager Paul Molitor said, "but still need to do an MRI to test the tendon. Potential damage … I think he rolled it .. it was one of those weird things that you go to back up first and don't catch sight of the bat and just rolled his ankle right when he stepped up on it." Wilson was able to remain in the game for the rest of the inning. But, back in the dugout, he told Molitor he couldn't go any more. "I didn't want to come out in that situation," said Wilson, batting .178 on the season. "I still felt like I could catch, but getting off the field didn't feel good. Just one of those freak things that happened. I'll try to get the swelling out here as fast as I possibly can, so hopefully I can get back on the field quick." He was asked if he could avoid the disabled list. "I don't know," he said. "That's not my decision to make. I know it's pretty swollen right now. I don't know what the timetable is. I don't know what the protocol for it is. I'm just trying to take care of what I can take care of." WILLIANS UP: Astudillo is on his way from Class AAA Rochester, where he's batting .276. with 12 home runs and 37 RBI. This will be Astudillo's second stint with the team, the first one coming during the the Twins' death march through Guaranteed Rate Field, Wrigley Field and Miller Park. He was up for about two weeks, batting .263. He's supposed to primarily be a catcher, but played left, center, third and second during his first stint. He'll have to catch now. I like him because he violates the new Three True Outcomes in baseball: He doesn't walk. He doesn't strike out. Well, he does hit an occasional home run, but I like that his at bats won't take long. MORE GARV SAUCE : This means that Mitch Garver will get more playing time, which isn't a bad thing. Bobby Wilson has more savvy behind the plate than Garver, and he played about as much as he could handle once Jason Castro went down with a knee injury. But Garver has gotten better as the season has progressed, and I have been told that he's gained more trust from the pitching staff. Now he can take the experience he's picked up and run with it. I still think his catching technique behind the plate needs work. And that can only come with game action. So let's see it. I did like that he tried to deke Matt Olson before tagging him out at home in the fifth inning. It was a weird play. Marcus Semien dumped a single to left, and Olson had rounded third by the time Eddie Rosario got to the ball. But it was in short left, and Rosario got off a strong throw. Garver stood at plate like nothing was going on, but caught the ball at the last moment before tagging Olson. "That's kind of what I do. I like deking runners," he said. "I want to make sure that the guy who's helping the runner, he has to be sure the throw is coming in and telling him to get down. So it's just one of the things I do, and I think it gave us a chance to get that out, just because if he would've slid earlier, he would've stayed below the tag. So he slid a little late, and I was able to get the ball down enough to get him in the helmet." Molitor noticed it, too. "It unfolded kind of strangely in that Semien dumped that breaking ball out there to left," Molitor said. "I really didn't think we were going to have a chance with two strikes and the guy getting a good jump off second. But Mitch did his best he could to kind of decoy. I'm not sure if it affected the slide or anything. Rosie, little bit high, but at least it was online. That's a huge out in that situation." And that might be the only time this season the entire postgame blog centers around three catchers.
