Kenta Maeda, Tyler Mahle Shut Down with Injuries; Kirilloff Firing Up

Well, we called this the deepest Minnesota Twins pitching rotation in recent history and they will have to show that in some form or another for a little while. On Friday, Rocco Baldelli told reporters that the team is “shutting down” both Kenta Maeda and Tyler Mahle.

Twins shutting down Kenta Maeda and Tyler Mahle

This isn’t a huge surprise, given that both pitchers had their previous starts cut short due to injuries. For Kenta Maeda, “shutting down” seems to mean something a bit more serious than what Mahle is dealing with.

According to the Twins’ certified athletic trainer, Kenta has a tricep strain and he’ll miss at least one start, possibly more. Mahle, on the other hand, has what the Twins are calling an “elbow impingement”. They’re hopeful he will respond well to anti-inflammatories over the next few days and won’t rule him out for his next appearance quite yet.

Triceps strain for Kenta Maeda. Shut down for 3-7 days til symptoms resolve. #MNTwins

Paparesta: "There's nothing that we've found that has any issues to do w/ his previous Tommy John ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction surgery. So we treat it just like a muscle strain."

— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) April 28, 2023

Tyler Mahle did not undergo imaging yesterday and met with Dr. Chris Camp, the team physician. They're calling it an impingement to the back of his elbow.

TBD on if it'll impact his next start. They'll get him on anti-inflammatories and see how it responds over 48-72 hours.

— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) April 28, 2023

Bailey Ober has already been called up to pitch on Saturday, in place of Maeda. Louie Varland’s place in the St. Paul AAA rotation happens to be in line with Mahle’s for the Twins. If he can’t go next week, I’d expect Varland to take his place.

Kirilloff Update

Alex Kirilloff will attempt to play back-to-back 9-inning games on Friday night, for the first time since starting his minor league rehab stint a few weeks ago. Should things go well, his return to the Twins lineup feels imminent.

The Twins trainer said as much on Friday, telling reporters that Kirilloff is pretty much cleared to play medically. That, soon enough, his return will be more about baseball than it will his health. And the baseball side of things is going pretty well. Alex is hitting .391 with 3 home runs and a 1.326 OPS in 6 games with the Saints.

Today is a big milestone for Alex Kirilloff, who will play the full nine innings on consecutive days for the first time in St. Paul.

Paparesta says with this, they've done what they've needed to do from a medical standpoint, and it just becomes a baseball decision soon.

— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) April 28, 2023

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan