JT Riddle goes on COVID list before final game of Twins road trip

OAKLAND – The Twins will try to salvage the final game of a COVID-abbreviated four-game West Coast trip when they face the A's at Ring Central Coliseum (2:37 p.m., BSN).

Infielder JT Riddle, who was called up from the taxi squad Tuesday, is the latest player to go on the COVID Injury List. He did not test positive for COVID-19, manager Rocco Baldelli said, but Baldelli was a reluctant to say Riddle's inclusion on the list was because of contact tracing.

"There are a lot of different COVID protocols. J.T. falls within one of them," Baldelli said. "He'll be also traveling on his own back to Minneapolis where he'll quarantine there for a period of time, and then hopefully by the end of the week, we'll have this resolved with him."

Players can also end up on the COVID-19 IL for breaking some of the league's strict protocols and potentially exposing themselves to the virus, such as if they were to not wear a mask, fail to social distance or even go out to dinner or socialize with people outside the team bubble.

Riddle, who has been in four games this season, is replaced by the only member of the taxi squad who is left, catcher Tomas Telis. Telis, who spent the 2020 season at the alternate training site in St. Paul, has been in 122 major league games for Texas and Miami.

Max Kepler, Andrelton Simmons and Kyle Garlick tested positive previously and are also on the COVID Injury List, along with Caleb Thielbar, who had close contact with someone who tested positive. Kepler, Thielbar and Garlick are quarantined in an Anaheim hotel along with a staff member who tested positive.

Kenta Maeda (1-1, 3.07 ERA) pitches for the Twins against right hander Frankie Montas (2-1, 4.91).

The Twins were shut out 7-0 and 1-0 in Tuesday's doubleheader (both were seven inning games) and also lost first baseman Miguel Sano (hamstring) and DH Nelson Cruz (foot) to what apparently are short-term injuries. Cruz is in the lineup today, but Sano is not.

The shutouts were the first time the Twins were blanked in both games of a twinbill since their first season, when they lost to Cleveland 9-0 and 2-0 on May 21, 1961.

Maeda is making his first career appearance against Oakland, and that will leave two teams (Yankees, Dodgers) who he hasn't yet faced.

Twins lineup

Luis Arraez, 2B

Josh Donaldson, 3B

Nelson Cruz, DH

Byron Buxton, CF

Jorge Polanco, SS

Willians Astudillo, 1B

Jake Cave, LF

Brent Rooker, RF

Ryan Jeffers, C

A's lineup

Mark Canha, LF

Ramon Laureano, CF

Jed Lowrie, 2B

Matt Olson, 1B

Matt Chapman, 3B

Mitch Moreland, DH

Sean Murphy, C

Seth Brown, RF

Elvis Andrus, SS