The Twins could be faced with having to shut down hot-hitting rookie Alex Kirilloff for an undetermined amount of time.
Manager Rocco Baldelli said after the Twins’ 6-3, 10-inning loss on Tuesday at Target Field that Kirilloff is “dealing with a wrist issue,” and was unavailable for the game. Kirilloff underwent “some imaging” on the wrist on Tuesday, according to Baldelli, and will see a hand and wrist specialist on Wednesday. “What we’re going to do is have an update for everybody, a more thorough update, tomorrow,” Baldelli said.
Baldelli did not sound hopeful that the injury is minor.
“It doesn’t appear to be the most minor of things,” he said. “If it was just minor soreness, he would have been available to play today. He would have worked through it and got some treatment and so on. We wanted to get some pictures of his wrist and we’re going to hopefully know more once we talk to the specialist.”
Kirilloff had some issues with the wrist on Monday, but was able to play through it, according to Baldelli. “He showed up to the ballpark today significantly more stiff and sore and really unable to do a ton baseball wise,” Baldelli said. ” … He wasn’t able to tell us exactly when it happened. … He slid into second base, I believe on a double, and then after that at some point mentioned it.”
Kirilloff doubled in the second inning of the Twins’ 6-5 victory.
After a rocky start, the lefthanded-hitting Kirilloff began crushing the ball last weekend against Kansas City. He was hitting .375/.389/1.250 with four homers and 10 RBIs in the four games before his injury. The Twins took two of three from the Royals and beat Texas in the opener of a four-game series. Kirilloff has played seven games in left field, one right and five at first base in place of the injured Miguel Sano (hamstring).
Kirilloff, who struggled in spring training and did not begin the season with the Twins, was summoned from the team’s alternate site in St. Paul for a doubleheader against the Red Sox on April 14 and then brought back for what appeared to be a permanent promotion on April 23. Kirilloff’s late arrival meant he could not accrue a season of service time for 2021. He was the second-ranked prospect in the Twins’ system by MLB.com, behind shortstop Royce Lewis. Lewis is out for the season after undergoing ACL surgery in February.
In 12 games with the Twins, Kirilloff is slashing .214/.227/.571 with four home runs and 11 RBIs. He has walked once and struck out 13 times. Kirilloff is hitting .231/.244/.615 with four homers and 11 RBIs in 10 games since his latest promotion.
Tuesday’s loss dropped the Twins to 11-17 on the season.