DETROIT — A small injury is having a big impact on the Twins rotation.
The knuckle on the middle finger of Randy Dobnak's right hand, which has experienced "pretty severe soreness," according to Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, hasn't improved much since Dobnak stopped pitching a month ago. So the Twins are giving Dobnak at least another month off.
Dobnak was moved to the 60-day injured list Saturday, partly because the Twins needed a roster spot in order to add another relief pitcher, but also in facing the reality that the finger is still hampering a pitcher who relies on his breaking pitches.
Dobnak threw a bullpen session recently to test the injury, and "it didn't go terribly, but it definitely didn't go at the best end of the spectrum," Baldelli said. The manager expressed hope when Dobnak was placed on the injured list on June 24 that it would be a quick-healing injury, "but we know that this is going to be a little while."
The 60-day injured list now includes four young Twins pitchers: Dobnak, Edwar Colina, Cody Stashak and, as of Saturday, lefthander Devin Smeltzer, too.
Smeltzer was originally sidelined because of elbow irritation, but during his rehab, he injured his back and neck, too. "He's been dealing with a lot of things. His recovery hasn't been as smooth as we wished," Baldelli said.
In addition, the Twins placed righthander Derek Law on the 10-day injured list because of an impingement in his right shoulder. A magnetic resonance imaging exam this week found no ligament tears, but he is too sore to pitch right now, Baldelli said.
The moves enabled the Twins to add reliever Juan Minaya and Game 1 starter Charlie Barnes to the 40-man roster, and both were called up for Saturday's doubleheader. Minaya had appeared in four games for the Twins this season, but was outrighted to Class AAA St. Paul in early June.
Righthander Beau Burrows, already on the 40-man after being claimed off waivers in May, was called up as well, because Danny Coulombe remains in Texas, where his wife gave birth this week. Coulombe, on the paternity list this weekend, is expected to rejoin the team in Chicago, perhaps as soon as Monday.
Burrows and Barnes are the 47th and 48th players to wear a Twins uniform this season, increasing the likelihood that the team will break the franchise record — 54 players used in 2018 — later this season.
Rain, rain, go away
For the third time this season, a Twins game was postponed due to rain on Friday — despite the fact that it wasn't raining at gametime. "I don't know much of anything anymore, when it comes to weather," Baldelli conceded.
This rainout was understandable, though, since the Twins and Tigers were scheduled to play a doubleheader starting in the afternoon, in order to make up a rainout in May. It was indeed raining heavily when that game would have been played, and forecasts anticipated those showers persisting into the night. It wouldn't have made sense for the teams to sit around all day just to find out whether the rain would unexpectedly stop by the 7:10 p.m. second game — which it did, actually.
"Not as heavy as we were anticipating," Baldelli said. "All the reports, though, were pointing in the same direction."
Crossing the border
The Twins' first games ever in Buffalo, N.Y., probably won't happen.
The Blue Jays on Friday were granted a "national interest exemption" from pandemic restrictions that have closed Canada's borders and forced the team to relocate its home games to the homes of their minor league affiliates in Buffalo and, for the first two months of this season, Dunedin, Fla.
But as long as they follow "robust health and safety protocols," the Blue Jays later this month will be allowed to begin playing their games at Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto again, including the Twins' visit scheduled for Sept. 17-19.
Players will be subject to frequent tests for COVID-19, and unvaccinated players — there are believed to be a handful on the Twins — "will have to undergo a modified quarantine, not be permitted to go anywhere but the hotel and stadium, and have no interaction with the general public," according to the announcement from the Canadian government.
