The Twins improved to 8-4 after they took the series from the Chicago White Sox, winning Tuesday 4-3 on a walk-off throwing error, then beat them again on Wednesday, 3-1, in a game that was marred by a serious injury to infielder Kyle Farmer.
Farmer was hit in the face by a pitch from White Sox starter Lucas Giolito that sent the Twins player crumpling to the ground. He was helped to his feet and then slowly escorted off the field. MLB.com is reporting that Farmer will now need oral surgery to repair four teeth and a cut to his face.
It’s a terrible situation for Farmer, but also for the Twins as the injury list continues to grow. Farmer now joins Max Kepler, Joey Gallo and Carlos Correa as players either on the list or who are dealing with day-to-day issues.
Correa is expected back soon, which is great because the Twins now head to the Bronx to play the New York Yankees, which, as every Twins fan knows, is pure kryptonite when it comes to the team from Minnesota. Joe Ryan gets the ball Thursday.
Extra innings …
-White Sox pitcher Giolito reacted with genuine horror after he hit Farmer in the face. Still, I was pleased to see Twins reliever Jorge Lopez put a White Sox player on his keister in the seventh inning with a little chin music.
-Twins starter Sonny Gray is now 2-0 on the season with a 0.53 ERA.
-The Twins have called up French Canadian ballplayer Edouard Julien to play second base. He was rated as the No. 4 prospect in the Twins organization, according to MLB.com.
-Are you ready for a season of constantly comparing the performance of Pablo Lopez to Luis Arraez and which team, the Twins or the Marlins, got the better deal in the offseason trade? Well, the comparisons are off and running after Arraez hit for the cycle — the first cycle in Marlins history — on Tuesday, while Lopez struck out 10 over seven-plus innings on the same day to keep the Twins very much in the game until they could win it 4-3 over the South Siders.
-Arraez, the defending American League batting champion when he was with the Twins, went 4-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI on Tuesday. We are almost to mid-April and yet Arraez is still hitting .500.
-Farmer’s injury silenced the Target Field crowd, but so, too, did Byron Buxton’s collision at second base on Wednesday, which caused the fleet of foot outfielder to fall awkwardly to the ground. To the horror of everyone, he stayed down for a moment, then slowly got up and walked off the field. I guess he is OK.