Hector Santiago will make his sixth start since joining the Twins at the trade deadline, and is still looking for his first win with his new team. He last outing was encouraging, as he tossed 6.1 shutout innings at the Indians on Monday in a game the Twins eventually lost 1-0. He walked four batters but gave up just three hits.
The thumb that has bothered for a chunk of the season has improved, so there is hope that Santiago's September will be much better than his August, when he went 0-4 with an 8.17 ERA.
John Ryan Murphy has arrived and will be thrown into the mix at catcher with Kurt Suzuki and Juan Centeno. Twins manger Paul Molitor said that having three catchers will allow him to pinch hit for them late in games if he needs to.
Murphy batted .075 in 11 games with the Twins before being sent down to Class AAA Rochester. He ended up batting .236 with three home runs and 39 RBI in 83 games with the Red Wings. He did bat .323 over his last 19 games there, so he's coming in hot.
It's worth watching what Murphy does when he gets the chance to play. The catching situation is up in the air after the season, with Suzuki a free agent and Centeno not appearing to be ready for an everyday role.
Both Tommy Milone and Trevor May threw in the bullpen today, so the next step should be to have them pitch in a simulated game before activating them from the DL.
Sounds like any more callups from Rochester will take place once the Red Wings season ends on Labor Day.
The Twins have released their schedule for the Florida Instructional League, which begins Sept. 15 and ends Oct. 11. Former manager Ron Gardenhire is listed as an instructor.
