Video (01:54) : Twins rookie Mitch Garver says "my parents were thrilled, my wife was in tears" after he was summoned to the major leagues Thursday night.
U Mitch Garver is here, ready to become the 11th Twin to make his major-league debut, tying the franchise record for a single season. (There were 11 in 1999, too.)
It might come tonight, but not necessarily — Garver isn’t in the starting lineup. He’s also primarily a catcher, too, and manager Paul Molitor said, “I don’t envision catching being a big need for us right now.”
But Garver has played 14 games in left field at Class AAA Rochester this season, and five at first base, and Molitor said he would feel comfortable playing him at either spot. He also likes having a right-handed bat off the bench, something the Twins have lacked this year. Garver was batting .291 when he got the call last night, and has a career-high 17 home runs, too.
“I’m happy that we’ve taken the road that kind of increases his versatility,” Molitor said. “We’ll see how he gets mixed in.”
The Twins are trying to get on a roll again, something that was derailed by the Cleveland Indians and wet weather. They’ll face the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend, with Ron Gardenhire looking on from the visitor’s dugout. The D-Backs’ bench coach says he’s cancer-free, is enjoying his new role with one of the National League’s better teams, and is looking forward to witnessing Michael Cuddyer and Andy MacPhail being inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame the next couple of days.
Here are the lineups for Game 1 of the three-game interleague series (Update: J.D. Martinez was scratched. Brandon Drury is now the DH. Here is updated lineup:)
DIAMONDBACKS
Peralta RF
Pollock CF
Lamb 3B
Goldschmidt 1B
Descalso 2B
Iannetta C
Drury DH
Marte SS
Blanco LF
Godley RHP
TWINS
Dozier 2B
Kepler RF
Mauer 1B
Sano 3B
Rosario LF
Escobar DH
Buxton CF
Polanco SS
Castro C
Santana RHP
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La Velle E. Neal III has covered baseball for the Star Tribune since 1998 (the post-Knoblauch era). Born and raised in Chicago, he grew up following the White Sox and hating the Cubs. He attended both the University of Illinois and Illinois-Chicago and began his baseball writing career at the Kansas City Star. He can be heard occasionally on KFAN radio, lending his great baseball mind to Paul Allen and other hosts.
Phil Miller covered three seasons of Twins baseball, but that was at a different ballpark for a different newspaper. Now Miller returns to the baseball beat after joining the Star Tribune as the Gopher football writer in 2010, and he won't miss the dingy dome for a minute. In addition to the Twins and Gophers, Miller covered the Utah Jazz and the NBA for six years at The Salt Lake Tribune.
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