Matt Wallner may be tearing up Triple-A pitching, but don’t expect the Twins to tear up their carefully constructed plans for his rehab schedule to bring him back any sooner.
Wallner, who has been on the injured list with a strained hamstring since mid-April, hit two home runs on Thursday in his first rehab game and had another three hits and three RBIs on Friday. He played right field once and designated hitter the next day.
Saturday was a scheduled day off for him before he gets back into rehab action on Sunday. Wallner said he expected to play a couple games with the Saints next week, too, though he didn’t know how much longer his rehab assignment would last.
“We don’t change the medical staff’s plans because a guy has two or three hits in a few games,” Baldelli said. “When he comes back, he has to play. He’s going to have to be on his feet. … He’s going to have to play in the outfield, more than a couple days in a row. And you don’t just skip all of those steps and have guys do that in the big leagues. That’s how you end up back on the IL with further issues.”
Before his return, the Twins would like to see him play more in the outfield. After doing that once, Wallner said he felt a little more tired than he normally would, but otherwise good.
And he sure looks good at the plate.
“Just trying to feel somewhat decent at the plate is the goal, and then to be able to get results, that’s great,” Wallner said.
And while Carlos Correa returned Friday, Wallner is nearing a return and Byron Buxton, who is on the concussion injured list, is progressing towards one of his own, Baldelli isn’t yet allowing himself to imagine what it might be like to have his entire position player group healthy, which could happen for the first time all season fairly soon.
“If I thought it would help at all, then I would spend a lot of time thinking about it, but we get the players that are healthy and able to play, and we try to win with those guys,” Baldelli said. “I don’t spend too much time daydreaming.”
Fan reception “means a lot” to Lewis
In the hours before Saturday’s game, scores of fans waited outside the ballpark, hoping to get their hands on a Royce Lewis bobblehead. Lewis didn’t have any input on the figurine’s design, which depicts him in the Twins’ City Connect jersey, but he said the Twins did a good job incorporating two features that were important to him.
“I think it’s really cool,” he said. “I love the eye black, the goatee. That’s all I ask. I’m very basic. Those two things are a must and it was awesome.”
Though Lewis has had bobbleheads made of his likeness in the past, this, in a way, is his first in the majors because last year’s went only to season-ticket holders and was not passed to the larger audience. Even Lewis himself does not have one.
This time around, he had two boxes full of them and planned to give them to his mom, whom he said would disperse them to friends and family.
“It means a lot, just because these people really care about how I play the game and that means a lot,” Lewis said of fans waiting to get the bobblehead. “This game’s so hard so when you’re going through a tough stretch, it’s nice to see that people still care about you and they enjoy watching you play.”
Briefly
Hall of Famer Tony Oliva and Twins legend Kent Hrbek were both back at the ballpark on Saturday as the Twins held Stroke Awareness Day. Hrbek had a stroke after a knee surgery in April and Oliva suffered a “series of mini strokes.” It was the first time back at the ballpark for each. … Bailey Ober will start the series finale for the Twins on Sunday. His last start was cut short because of rain on Monday. … Correa was out of the starting lineup on Saturday a day after returning from the concussion injured list and collecting two hits. It was a planned day off as they ease him back in and he appeared later in the game, drawing a walk in the ninth inning.
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