Rookie Brent Rooker has an adventurous first day with Twins

Allie Rooker flew to the Twin Cities on Friday so she could watch her husband on TV. At least he put on a good show.

Brent Rooker, a power-hitting outfielder and the 35th player chosen in the 2017 draft, was hit by a pitch in his first major league plate appearance Friday; tried to make a spectacular (if unfortunate) diving catch in the outfield; and lined a single to left field to collect his first hit and first RBI on the same swing.

"It's truly something special, and it's something not a lot of people get to do," the 25-year-old Mississippi State product said. "I wanted to think about how the 12-year-old version of me would have reacted."

Rooker got his chance when Max Kepler went on the injured list because of a strained left groin, and the call he got from Twins farm director Alex Hassan on Thursday night was a moment he will never forget. He abruptly quit the "Call of Duty" video game he was playing — "I apologize to [his teammates] for making them lose that game, but I don't regret it at all," he joked — and made some thrilling calls to his wife and parents.

"I had to wake them up to tell them, which was really, really cool. Just knowing all the sacrifices they made, all the time spent, all the money spent on my baseball career," Rooker said. "It was really awesome to be able to deliver that news."

It would have been even better if they could have witnessed it in person, but that's not how baseball is played in 2020. Allie Rooker flew to Minnesota anyway, just to share the thrill with her husband, who arrived at Target Field from St. Paul and discovered he was in the starting lineup for both games, including his first-ever start in right field.

"When you dream about it as a kid, you just want them to be there. It's kind of a surreal moment," he said. "Not really expecting it to happen, but that's what I've been waiting for."

Kepler's groin injury is minor, Baldelli said, so minor that he probably wouldn't be going on the injured list if the Twins didn't have so many other players working their way back from injury. But Baldelli is already giving Byron Buxton, Josh Donaldson and Luis Arraez limited playing time, and the schedule gets crowded this weekend.

Besides, caution is the Twins' first priority even under normal circumstances, Baldelli said.

"With a muscle injury, even a very minor muscle injury, the last thing we're going to do is rush any of our guys back out there to play with something that could potentially get worse," the manager said of Kepler, who strained his left adductor muscle while scoring from first base on a double Wednesday vs. the White Sox. "We figured, take the 10 days, knock it out, and I'm pretty sure that when the 10 days are up, Kep will be ready to go."

The injured list might be about to get longer, too. Alex Avila seemed to wrench his sore back while catching a popup during Friday's second game, and he was removed when the inning ended. If an injured list stint is warranted, and with Mitch Garver already out with strained ribs, it could open a spot for Willians Astudillo — who served as the extra player for Friday's doubleheader and made his season debut — to remain on the active roster.

Etc.

• Jake Odorizzi will throw to hitters at CHS Field on Saturday, the All-Star righthander's first live action since being hit by an Alex Gordon line drive at Kansas City on Aug. 21.

• This series with the Tigers ends on Labor Day, so Friday's doubleheader created a rare five-game series. It's the 44th five-gamer in Twins history, only the second since 2000, and the first in Minnesota since Aug. 12-14, 1985, when the Twins and A's made up two Oakland rainouts in the Metrodome.

• Friday was the start of a seven-games-in-five-days rush for the Twins, who play another doubleheader Tuesday at St. Louis. "It's a challenging spot, we know that," Baldelli said of a busy weekend that could stretch his pitching staff. "The more we spoke about it, the more we realized there's not going to be much wiggle room."