31 March 2024
The Saints opened the season under sunny skies on Saturday before an announced crowd of 4,052 at CHS Field, but an 8-1 win over the Columbus Clippers was clouded by the absence of a handful of regulars due to injury.
Four players began the season on the seven-day injured list, including No. 1 prospect Brooks Lee. The 23-year-old shortstop is sidelined due to lower back pain.
Outfielder Trevor Larnach (turf toe), right-handed reliever Austin Schulfer (forearm strain) and right-handed pitcher Matt Canterino (rotator cuff strain) also will miss at least the first week of the season.
Right-handed reliever Jovani Moran recently underwent Tommy John surgery and will miss the entire season.
“Coming out of spring training there were a lot of guys in the last week or so who went down,” Saints manager Toby Gardenhire said. “It’s just something you deal with.”
In some instances, the amount of time out of the lineup will be longer than seven days.
“They said a couple weeks for Brooks,” Gardenhire said. “We’re not sure on Larnach yet; we have to wait for a diagnosis. It’s definitely going to take a little time.”
Meanwhile, infielder Jose Miranda, on the rebound from injury, had a big game, collecting a double and a home run. Miranda, who was limited to 40 games with the Twins last season due to a right shoulder injury that eventually led to surgery, hit .320 in spring training (8 for 28).
“It feels pretty good,” Miranda said, “especially to be back on the field doing the things I love the most — playing baseball and hitting. So it’s fun to be back.”
Miranda, who played first base on Saturday, declared himself 100 percent physically, and said he’s ready to play third base without his shoulder being an issue. With Twins third baseman Royce Lewis sidelined for at least a month, Miranda could be back in a Twins uniform sooner than later, especially if his bat stays hot.
“We know what Jose can do,” Gardenhire said. “We’ve seen it. We’ve just got to keep him rolling like that, and he should be back up there helping the big-league team soon. That was a great swing he had up there tonight.
“And he just missed a couple of other ones. I thought he was on the ball all night, just like he was all spring.”
The Saints got three-run home runs from a pair of outfielders making their Saints debut, Alex Isola in the second inning and Yoyner Fajardo in the fourth.
The 25-year-old Isola, a 29th-round pick in the 2019 draft out of TCU, hit 29 home runs with 58 runs batted in last season for Wichita. Fajardo, 24, hit nine home runs and drove in 53 for Wichita in 2023.
“Fajardo had a great year last year,” Gardenhire said. “He put up good numbers in Double-A, and Isola did the same thing. You never know what they’re going to do once they get out there, but they both had great games,
“It’s always fun when the new guys contribute like that.”
Right-hander David Festa got the start for the Saints and pitched three shutout innings, allowing one hit, before giving way to Randy Dobnak, who pitched four innings to earn the win.
The 24-year-old Festa, the No. 5 prospect in the Twins organization, according to MLB Pipeline, spent the majority of last season at Double-A Wichita, where he went 3-3 in 19 starts, with an earned-run average of 4.39. He was 1-1 in three starts for the Saints last season.
Briefly
Left-hander Brent Headrick will start for the Saints on Sunday in the final game of the abbreviated series with Columbus. The Saints begin a six-game series in Nashville on Tuesday.
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