DETROIT — On Sunday morning, the Twins had two healthy shortstops on their roster. The current star was Carlos Correa, and the future, Royce Lewis, whom the twins also hope to turn into a star.
He had no one till Monday afternoon.
Lewis, who was recalled from Triple-A on Sunday, ran into the wall of the outfield while making a play at center field hours later and suffered what the twins are calling a bone injury to his right knee, which left him behind. Put on the injured list. Things went from bad to worse for the Twins on Monday, when Correa tested positive for COVID-19, something that manager Rocco Baldelli described as the Twins’ 7-5 loss to the Tigers at Comerica Park on Monday afternoon. found during
“We are not the only club dealing with this,” Baldelli said. “It sounds like it’s worse than you expected, but we’ll continue to handle it and watch other people until what our people feel is back.”
Correa became the fifth twin to test positive for COVID-19 last month, and will be joined by starter Joe Ryan and outfielder Gilberto Celestino at IL. Earlier in May, Luis Arrez and Dylan Bundy, who started in six innings on Monday and conceded four, tested positive in Baltimore along with Baldelli.
Baldelli said Correa, who is up to date with his vaccinations, is displaying few symptoms and was sent back to the team’s Detroit hotel to rest and recover.
Correa’s positive test makes an uphill road trip even more difficult for the twins, who are caught in a stretch of 18 games over 17 days. They have a scheduled doubleheader on Tuesday and when they head to Toronto later this week, they will lose a handful of players who should be placed on the banned list because they are without vaccinations and cannot enter Canada.
On top of that, Max Kepler is dealing with a quadriceps issue, though Baldelli remains hopeful he can return on Tuesday, and Sonny Gray on the injured list, as Sunday begins with less pain in his right pectoral. It was done
Without Correa, Kepler and Byron Buxton, who had the day off but came on for a pinch in the ninth inning, the Twins (29–20) scored five runs – the longest ball (Gary Sanchez, Jose Miranda and Gio Ursella) Through – but faltered defensively.
The Tigers (18–29) took the lead for good in the seventh inning when Spencer Torkelson hit a grounder towards Miranda, who went a long way to play, but then threw the ball past reliever Joe Smith. , who was running for cover first. The second-ranked runner broke the 4-4 draw to score the goal.
“We didn’t make plays, all of them, defensively,” Baldelli said. “We need to do that. … He did a good job of getting the ball into play and fighting in a lot of at-bats and spraying the ball all over the field, and that’s part of the game. Clearly it’s frustrating When it’s a somewhat soft hit, but then again, there’s nothing we’re going to do about it. We have to find a way out.”
Before Tuesday’s doubleheader, Bundy made several starts while facing the Tigers for the second time, throwing six innings and giving up a run in the third, two in the fourth and one in the fifth. Most of the contacts he left were soft, including a few shift-beating hits.
“It’s more than a chess game when you have to face them five days apart,” Bundy said. “That’s what makes it fun in your division, though. We have to win these games.”
And without his star shortstop, he just got a little tougher.
“It seems like one (COVID-19 positive) week one or one every other week or two every other week. It’s tough,” Bundy said. “We try, or try, our best to keep it out of here. But it’s still around and affects the team. But we can’t do anything about it, I guess. Show up tomorrow and Try to win two games.”
