Twins notes: Gardenhire wants four-man bench for trip

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire would like to have one more bench player for the upcoming interleague trip to San Diego and San Francisco. So, after Sunday's game, the Twins will send a pitcher to Class AAA Rochester and call up a position player. That will give Gardenhire a four-man bench.

One possibility is catcher-outfielder Chris Herrmann, who was sent to Rochester on May 8 when he was batting .128. He entered Saturday batting .429 in 10 games with the Red Wings, including three, three-hit games.

"That's exactly what you're looking for when you send a guy down and he goes down and plays every day," said Rob Antony, the Twins' assistant general manager. "Go down there, don't hang your head. Swing the bat. They said he called a good game."

Oswaldo Arcia won't be the one called up because he has to remain in the minors for 10 days after being optioned, and he officially was optioned to Rochester on Wednesday. Unless there's an injury, the earliest he could be called up is Saturday.

Because Arcia had a setback with his right wrist last week, the Twins want to see the outfielder get through a stretch of games before they call him up. But Arcia did hit a home run for the Red Wings on Friday and is batting .314 in 15 games.

"He'll be back up here," Gardenhire said, "if he keeps getting these at-bats and he plays pain-free for the rest of the time. Once we get through this road trip, I'm sure we'll make a move to get him back up here."

The Twins on Sunday will honor longtime Star Tribune columnist Sid Hartman before the game against Seattle. The first 10,000 fans 18 and older will receive a coffee mug that includes famous Hartman quotes through the years. Hartman will be interviewed on the field before the game and will throw out the first pitch to Gardenhire.

Matt Hoy, the Twins' senior vice president in charge of operations, was at Gate 29 before Saturday's game. He said the average wait time to enter the park was 12 to 13 minutes.

"I'd like it to be five to eight minutes, but I don't know whether that is practical when everyone comes at once," he said.

Hoy said the longest lines are at Gate 29, where 64 percent of all fans enter the park. He suggests that fans either plan to arrive a few minutes earlier or enter the park through another gate, where sometimes there's no waiting.

Gardenhire has been pleased with how Aaron Hicks has responded to their meeting on Tuesday when the manager challenged the outfielder to work harder. Hicks had two hits Friday and made all the plays in the field.

"He's out early [to work]," Gardenhire said. "He's always got a bat in his hands. He's going out to the cage, hitting off the tees. He's doing what he's supposed to be doing. He's here early, working on being a baseball player."