Split Twins squad splits Sunday spring training games

FORT MYERS, FLA. – Jose Miranda's shoulder is too sore, at the moment, for him to make the long throw from third base. But at the plate? The pain is on the pitchers' part.

Miranda clubbed a pair of home runs on Sunday, each of them more than 400 feet. But the rest of the Twins' split-squad lineup of young players managed only four singles, and Minnesota lost to Pittsburgh 5-2 in Bradenton, Fla.

Meanwhile, at Hammond Stadium, Joey Gallo went 3-for-3 with his first home runs of the spring, and Max Kepler added a double and a home run as the more veteran Twins lineup rallied for a 6-2 victory over Detroit.

Tyler Mahle, Caleb Thielbar, Jhoan Duran and Jorge Alcala each pitched one or two innings of shutout relief behind starter Pablo Lopez.

"[Mahle] seems like he's throwing the ball well. He threw more sliders than normal today," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "He's been spending some time on it. It's something he wants to sharpen up and take into the games as much as he can."

Trevor Larnach will return to the Twins lineup on Tuesday, Baldelli said, after missing most of last week because of a minor groin strain.

"I just sat out a few days to make sure I stay healthy, and about four or five days later, I'm ready to go," said the third-year outfielder, who missed the final three months last season because of a core-muscle injury that required surgery. "No sense trying to play through something that could become a pull. Just being smart. But I faced live [pitching] yesterday and the day before, so I'm ready."

The injury has been diagnosed as a sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament, so "he's not even going to be swinging right now," Baldelli said. "We're not going to see him doing anything but conditioning. He's not going to be doing any throwing or swinging for a period of time."

Mahle was charged with a time-clock violation before he even threw a pitch Sunday, but said it was the result of miscommunication with umpire Erich Bacchus. Pitchers must be done with their between-innings warmup with 30 seconds remaining on the clock, and Mahle said he stopped throwing as the count got close.

But Bacchus, he said, held up one finger as Mahle stood on the mound, a signal the pitcher took as permission to throw another warmup pitch. When he did, though, the umpire waved his arms and signaled "ball one."

"I didn't know what he was signaling," Mahle said with a shrug. "But it was no big deal."

The Twins got the benefit of a clock violation, too. In the fifth inning, Tigers pitcher Jose Cisnero fell behind 3-1 while facing Twins second baseman Donovan Solano, and held on to the ball as he gathered himself. The clock hit zero before Cisnero could release his next pitch, and Solano was awarded a walk.