Edouard Julien adjusting to new role and new position with Twins after shifting to first base

Edouard Julien didn’t expect to see his name in the lineup Thursday, not with Tigers lefty Tarik Skubal on the mound.

Julien, a lefthanded hitter, typically doesn’t start many games against lefty pitchers. He had only 20 plate appearances against lefties, but the Twins’ current roster is heavy on lefty batters and it created an opening.

All Julien did against Skubal, the reigning American League Cy Young winner and a top candidate to win again this year, was crush a 410-foot homer to right field in the third inning. It was the first homer Skubal allowed to a lefty batter all year. Julien added a single off Skubal in the fourth inning and flew out in the seventh.

“The odds that lefties get hits off these guys are pretty hard,” Julien said. “I don’t try to look at it like that, but I just like that they’re giving me a chance to play. I just have to look at it that way instead of not looking down at myself.

“I want to get more opportunities. I just have to take the chance that I have and play well with it.”

Julien, 26, had a breakout rookie season in 2023, but he has yet to reclaim that form in the batter’s box. He is out of minor league options next year, so these next six weeks are an important evaluation for where he fits in the organization.

He was passed over at second base, where he badly struggled defensively, by Luke Keaschall, and he’s started his last six games at first base.

Pablo López threw around 35 pitches at Target Field on Friday, simulating two innings while facing hitters Austin Martin, Ryan Fitzgerald and Julien.

“Everything felt normal,” López said.

Well, almost everything. There was a threat of rain after López completed his first simulated inning, throwing 18 pitches. The Target Field grounds crew prepared to roll out the tarp, but rain held off until López finished his final simulated inning.

Rain postponed the rest of pregame batting practice Friday, and caused a delay of the scheduled first pitch.

“I told [pitching coach Pete] Maki, ‘We’re finishing this,’” said López, who was sitting 93-95 mph with his fastball. “Like, ‘Let’s pretend this guy had a four-pitch inning.’”

Roden initially jammed his thumb when he made a running catch into a left-field side wall last Sunday. He was pulled from that game when he had trouble swinging with his injured thumb, and he sat out one additional game.

He aggravated the injury Thursday when he did a headfirst slide at the plate in the 10th inning, and he left the clubhouse for an MRI exam on Friday afternoon.

“There wasn’t any major concern when he left [Thursday] — his thumb actually seemed all right,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I think the adrenaline probably wore off a little bit when he got home. It swelled on him a little bit. He came in today, and it just didn’t feel good.”

Simeon Woods Richardson, who underwent a procedure to remove a parasite from his digestive tract earlier this month, pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts in a Class AAA rehab start Friday in Omaha.

Woods Richardson lost weight battling the illness and was subsequently placed on the 15-day injured list. He is expected to make multiple rehab starts for the St. Paul Saints.

* Twins pitching prospect Charlee Soto will miss the rest of the season after he underwent surgery to remove a partially detached bone spur in his elbow. The timeline to return to pitching is around two months, so he should be fine for spring training next year. Soto, a 19-year-old righthander, was the No. 34 overall pick in the 2023 MLB amateur draft.