Twins starters Kenta Maeda, Tyler Mahle shut down with elbow injuries

Twins starting pitchers Kenta Maeda and Tyler Mahle will be shut down from throwing until their arm symptoms subside.

That likely will be longer for Maeda — as much as a week or more — than Mahle after both had their starts this week shortened by injury. Maeda was placed on the injured list, the Twins announced Saturday morning.

Maeda gave up 10 runs in three innings in Wednesday's 12-6 loss to the Yankees before he left the game citing arm soreness.

Mahle gave up one run in four innings during Thursday's 7-1 victory over Kansas City, but he departed after throwing only 66 pitches.

The team is recalling righthander Bailey Ober to pitch Saturday vs. the Royals, manager Rocco Baldelli said. Ober made his season debut last Sunday, beating Washington 3-1, but was sent back to Class AAA St. Paul afterward.

Head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta said a magnetic resonance imaging exam on Maeda's arm diagnosed a triceps strain at the back of his elbow that isn't related to the Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery that caused him to miss the entire 2022 season.

"So we treat it just like a muscle strain," Paparesta said. "Until the symptoms go away, we won't pick up a baseball or do any type of plyometric activity with him. Three days, five days, seven days, we just kind of have to play it day-by-day with him."

Paparesta said becoming symptom-free is the first step. The second is some throwing to see how he does.

Mahle's diagnosis is "posterior impingement" at the back of his elbow. He will take anti-inflammatories until his symptoms subside.

"We'll see how things go over the next 48, 72 hours," Paparesta said. "Will that affect his next start? We'll have to wait and see on that."

Baldelli said "Kenta is going to be shut down for a little while." He said Mahle will be a "day-to-day situation for a little while."

Paparesta said Mahle's symptoms aren't related "in any way, shape or form" to the arm issues he had after he was acquired from Cincinnati last August.

The Twins' options for starters at Class AAA St. Paul included Ober and Louie Varland, among others. Varland made one start in the majors this season, pitching six innings against the Yankees in New York on April 14.

"We knew we would have to look towards those guys," Baldelli said. "They've rewarded us for going to them because they've been ready and they've thrown the ball well so far. We always have a plan for what comes next and that plan is always changing.

"We're always reformulating. We're going to need even more guys likely this year. We're going to have to look beyond them for guys to start games."

Alex Kirilloff and his healing wrist were set Friday to play back-to-back, nine-inning games for the first time on his rehab assignment with the Saints.

"He's been taking all the swings that we've asked him to do to prepare himself for in-game competition," Paparesta said. "I'm kind of really excited because we're getting to where it becomes a baseball decision soon. Him going back-to-back is a little bit of a milestone I'm happy to see today."

Kirilloff went 0-for-3 with a walk in a 2-1 loss at Rochester on Friday, a game in which the Saints managed only two hits. Both starting pitchers — the Saints' Simeon Woods Richardson and the Red Wings' Cory Abbott — began the game with five no-hit innings.

• Closer Jhoan Duran pitched Thursday's ninth inning with a six-run lead to get some work before he left town early Friday morning to attend to immigration matters. Baldelli said he is not sure when Duran will return and wanted to get him some work before he left.

• Royce Lewis has played two Florida Complex League games on his road back from a second surgery to repair a torn knee ligament. The first overall pick in the 2017 draft is playing three innings every other day. He needs to build up innings, but Paparesta said he could go on a rehab assignment sometime in May.