Buxton, Sano, Polanco not in lineup against Rays

The Twins lost 5-2 on Friday as their record at home fell to 11-14. Now they will try to even the series with Adalberto Mejia on the mound

May 27, 2017 at 5:06PM
The Twins’ Miguel Sano, right, high-fived teammate Jorge Polanco after scoring on a sacrifice fly hit by Eduardo Escobar in the fifth inning against the Orioles on Monday.
Jorge Polanco and Miguel Sano on Monday in Baltimore. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Twins manager Paul Molitor looked at the calendar and decided that today would be a good day for some roster maintenance.

So he shook up the lineup to give a few players a day off. Or at least a start off.

Jorge Polanco, who has played well at short, is out of the lineup in favor of Ehire Adrianza.

"He's been one of our steadier guys," Molitor said. "Just going to try to keep him fresh as well."`

Byron Buxton, who struck out twice on Friday and is batting .184, is not in the lineup. By the way, Buxton is one of 13 players batting .200 or lower, a group that includes Kyle Schwarber, Alcides Escobar, Curtis Granderson and Alex Gordon.

And Miguel Sano is not in the lineup. Sano ran his strikeout streak to seven straight at-bats with four more on Friday. He looked to be overanxious and pulling off all the sliders Chris Archer fed him.

Sano also has played 43 of the Twins 44 games this season, missing only the game he served as a suspension following his kerfuffle with the Tigers.

With the Twins in a stretch of 45 games in 45 games, Molitor figured it was time to give some guys a break. In Sano's case, he probably needs to dial it back a day. It will be interesting to see how quickly Sano, who is one of the top offensive players in the AL, snaps out of his mini-funk.

"We'll find out," Molitor said. "Generally, you expect players the more they play to minimize the trends instead of extending through 10, 12, 14 ga mes. Hopefully they can get it back in a shorter span because they have more of a foundation of what they can go back to to get back on track."

Jake Odorizzi has only made three career starts against the Twins, but it seemed like the Twins faced him twice every spring training. So they know about him. He throws a split-fingered fastball for a change up, so the Twins have to be prepared for that.

Hunter Greene, indeed, will be in the Twin Cities on June 9 to work out in advance of the June 12 draft. Most of the workout will be for prospects from the area, but the Twins have been known to take a look at some top prospects too.

Keep in mind that the Twins worked out Carlos Correa the year they drafted Buxton, but had Buxton rated higher.

Rays

Tim Beckham, SS

Daniel Robertson, 2B

Evan Longoroia, 3B

Logan Morrison, 1B

Steven Souza Jr., RF

Kevin Kiermaier, CF

Rickie Weeks Jr., DH

Derek Norris, C

Peter Bourjos, LF

Jake Odorizzi, RHP

Twins

Brian Dozier, 2B

Joe Mauer, 1B

Robbie Grossman, LF

Max Kepler, CF

Kennys Vargas, DH

Eduardo Escobar, 3B

Chris Gimenez, C

Eddie Rosario, LF

Ehire Adrianza, SS

Adalberto Mejia, LHP

about the writer

La Velle E. Neal III

Columnist

La Velle E. Neal III is a sports columnist for the Star Tribune who previously covered the Twins for more than 20 years.

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