Brent Rooker will make his major league debut today in the Twins outfield as they play a doubleheader against Detroit, the start of a five-game series at Target Field.
Right fielder Max Kepler is going on the 10-day injured list because of a groin issue.
"With a muscle injury, even a very minor muscle injury, the last thing we're going to do is rush any of our guys back out there to play with something that could potentially get worse," manager Rocco Baldelli said. He expects Kepler to be fine after 10 days.
La Velle and RandBall have a pregame podcast here.
Rooker, 25, had 14 homers at Class AAA Rochester last season and was at the St. Paul site until today. He'll wear No. 50, bat seventh and play left field in the opener.
"He hits the ball very hard," Baldelli said. "He can hit the ball very far when he does it like he wants."
Byron Buxton and Luis Arraez are sitting out the opener. Buxton will be out his second consecutive game after coming off the IL with a shoulder injury, and Arraez tweaked his left knee in Wednesday's game.
There will be 20 games in the major leagues on Friday, including five doubleheaders, and that's the most in a single day in 46 years.
It’ll be Randy Dobnak for the Twins against Detroit’s Matthew Boyd in Game 1, which starts at 1:10 p.m. (FSN). Game 2 will follow, with both teams expected to have bullpen games. Because of the 2020 COVID-19 rules in the 60-game season, the games will be scheduled for seven innings.
Because of last week's rainout at Comerica Park, the second game today will be a Tigers' home game.
With catcher Alex Avila (back) hurting, the 29th man for the Twins today will be Willians Astudillo. The fan favorite has yet to make his season debut after starting the truncated season sidelined because of a positive COVID-19 test.
Juan Minaya, the reliever waived earlier this week, cleared waivers and was assigned to the St. Paul site.
Game 1 lineups:
TIGERS
Victor Reyes, CF
Jonathan Schoop, 2B
Miguel Cabrera, DH
Jeimer Canderlario, 1B
Willi Castro, SS
Christin Stewart, LF
Travis Demeritte, RF
Austin Romine, C
Isaac Paredes, 3B
TWINS
Jorge Polanco, SS
Josh Donaldson, 3B
Nelson Cruz, DH
Miguel Sano, 1B
Marwin Gonzalez, RF
Ehire Adrianza, 2B
Brent Rooker, LF
Jake Cave, CF
Ryan Jeffers, C
Pregame reading:
La Velle's feature on Matt Wisler is here.
Jim Souhan's column on the bounceback ability of the Twins is here.
Patrick Reusse wrote about how the Tigers have recovered from a terrible season here.
Our most-read story yesterday was Patrick's Wednesday night column on Bert Blyleven. Randball followed up with a blog on Bert's replacement, Justin Morneau.
Sign up for our Twins newsletter to get all of the updates sent to you daily.
La Velle E. Neal III has covered baseball for the Star Tribune since 1998 (the post-Knoblauch era). Born and raised in Chicago, he grew up following the White Sox and hating the Cubs. He attended both the University of Illinois and Illinois-Chicago and began his baseball writing career at the Kansas City Star. He can be heard occasionally on KFAN radio, lending his great baseball mind to Paul Allen and other hosts.
Phil Miller covered three seasons of Twins baseball, but that was at a different ballpark for a different newspaper. Now Miller returns to the baseball beat after joining the Star Tribune as the Gopher football writer in 2010, and he won't miss the dingy dome for a minute. In addition to the Twins and Gophers, Miller covered the Utah Jazz and the NBA for six years at The Salt Lake Tribune.
Buxton on bench for Game 2; Kirilloff to make major league debut in right field
Rookie Kirilloff added to Twins playoff roster with Donaldson sidelined
Hill gets the start as Twins play for title, playoff position vs. Reds
Arraez returns to Twins lineup; Buxton, Donaldson won't play
