Twins pitcher Kenta Maeda, feeling lingering soreness, on board with plan to skip start

NEW YORK — Kenta Maeda expected the Twins would skip his start from time to time this season as he comes back from the Tommy John surgery that wiped out all of his 2022 season.

The right-handed pitcher just didn’t know when it would be.

“Did I expect it to be this early? No, but it just happened to be,” Maeda said through interpreter Daichi Sekizaki.

It happened to be this early — Maeda originally was supposed to pitch on Saturday but the Twins skipped him, called up Minnesota native Louie Varland to pitch Friday and pushed Tyler Mahle back a day — because of some lingering soreness after his last start.

Maeda left his first start in Miami in the sixth inning after shaking out his arm and the Twins said at the time that he was fatigued. His stuff was slightly down in his last start, which came on April 10, and he said there’s some “general soreness, tightness” since then.

“It was a collective decision,” Maeda said of skipping his start. “I was very involved. I spoke with (manager) Rocco (Baldelli) and I’ve pitched two games so far and there was some fatigue that I just never got rid of … and the team was able to give me an extra couple of days to rest, and the timing was right.”

Maeda said he’s feeling better and better each day. Given all the extra time, he expressed confidence that he would be good to go by the time his next start came around, which is why the Twins have opted to leave him on the roster rather than place him on the injured list.

“I guess it’s part of coming off of a Tommy John (surgery) to feel more soreness or lingering tightness than usual, so at some point, I knew this was going to happen, for the team to give me an extra couple of days,” Maeda said.

Taylor shows pop

The Twins’ center fielder led the team in home runs last year, so it’s not altogether a surprise that in the early going of this season, a center fielder is leading the team again.

Except it’s not the one you’d guess: Michael A. Taylor is now tied with Joey Gallo, who is currently on the injured list, for the team lead with three home runs.

“Yes, he’s an elite defender and all that, but I will never sit here and go, ‘Well, he’s just out here for his defense.’ I will never say that,” Baldelli said. “He has good quickness in his bat and his wrists and he can snap a ball out there at any time, and he’s been spending a lot of time with the boys on the hitting side, and we’re seeing that work paying off. He’s having some good at-bats.”

Taylor, a Gold Glover who has taken over primary center field duties while Byron Buxton serves as the team’s designated hitter, hit two two-run homers in the Twins’ blowout win over the Yankees on Thursday in the Bronx.

“I’m slowly, I think, getting there. Still don’t feel like I’ve slowed the ball down, talking to guys here,” Taylor said. “Just trying to get consistent with my timing, I think, will improve how I’m seeing the ball, and every day I’m trying to get closer to that.”

Briefly

Mahle will face off against Domingo Germán in the third game of the series, which will start at 12:05 p.m. CT Saturday. … Joey Gallo (intercostal) began a rehab assignment with the Triple-A Saints on Friday. … Reliever Cole Sands was optioned to Triple-A to make room on the roster for Varland. … Twins starting pitchers entered Friday night’s game with a 2.31 earned-run average, second in the majors to the Tampa Bay Rays. They led the league in batting average against, WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) and strikeouts.

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