Duran, Correa hope to return during Twins’ upcoming road trip

If it's up to a couple of their injured players, the Twins' roster will have a different look during the road trip that starts this weekend in California.

Jhoan Duran, fresh off a shaky but encouraging debut to the 2024 season Tuesday night in St. Paul, expressed hope on Wednesday that "maybe I need [to pitch] Friday and that's it."

Meanwhile, Carlos Correa did a light defensive workout on the field Wednesday and said he feels great, nearly two weeks after suffering an intercostal strain. "I'd like to come back on the road trip, without a rehab [assignment]," the Twins shortstop said.

But the Twins' front office and medical staff will make those decisions, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. Speaking of Duran, Baldelli said he "doesn't have a hard timeline" for a return to the major-league team. "We want to get him feeling good. We just want to get him throwing the ball well."

Duran threw 27 pitches in his one-inning debut for the Class AAA Saints, allowing two runs on four hits but recording three strikeouts.

"I tried to throw everything in the zone. If you can hit it, hit it. I don't care," Duran said of his mindset as he returned from an oblique strain suffered during spring training. "I don't feel pain. That's the most important thing."

For Correa, the past week has included hitting in the batting cages and moving around on a daily basis. He's been on the injured list three previous times with the Twins, but the team has never sent him on a rehab assignment upon his return.

Different kinds of strain

A day after he was knocked out of his start by a 38-pitch inning, Pablo López said he felt no physical effects of the marathon effort. No, the discomfort he felt was mental.

"It was disappointing. If you start picking at the zone, trying to hit the perfect spot, you're going to find yourself in those long at-bats, full counts, walking people," López said of his four-inning start against the White Sox. "It's less than ideal."

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Especially since it convinced Baldelli to remove López from the game after only four innings. Lopez's four-seam fastball was registering 94-95 mph when the game began, but as the fourth inning went on and López faced seven batters — three runs scored on Eloy Jiménez's home run — and went to 3-2 counts on three of them, the fastball was hitting just 91-92 mph.

Still, he struck out the final three hitters of the inning.

"In-game, you can feel it. If I had gone out there for the fifth inning, I would definitely have been able to tell I had thrown almost 40 pitches the inning before," López said. "I've got to put myself in better situations, so I'm not forced to throw the pitch in the zone where they're expecting it."

Getting the call

After Wednesday's game, the Twins announced that Simeon Woods Richardson will be called up Thursday morning and start the 12:10 p.m. series finale. Richardson takes the rotation spot of Louie Varland, who was optioned to Class AAA St. Paul earlier in the week.

The move means Bailey Ober, who had been scheduled to start, will be pushed back until Friday night's series opener against the Angels in Anaheim.

Ronny Henriquez, who allowed two hits and a walk but no runs over two innings against the White Sox on Monday, was returned to the Saints to make room for Woods Richardson.

Tinkering with batting order

Ryan Jeffers made his first career start as a leadoff hitter on Wednesday, with Byron Buxton batting second, as Baldelli searches for a combination that will spark a little more offense from the Twins' lineup.

"Just getting Jeffers and Buxton up there as much as possible. That's all. Pretty straightforward," Baldelli said. "I have no concern about changing our lineup around every day based on who's playing."

That's certainly true. Wednesday's lineup was the 23rd different batting order that Baldelli has used in the Twins' 23 games.

Etc.

• The Saints struck out three times in a row with the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday night to fall 7-5 to the Rochester Red Wings at home. Jair Camargo had three hits and four RBI for the Saints (9-13).