Sanó working through 'tough time' at plate

Miguel Sanó has already begun the transition to a platoon role against left-handed pitchers, but following an 0-for-5 showing with four strikeouts (two with bases loaded) against the White Sox on Thursday, it’s tough to say that’s been much of a success for him, either.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli mentioned on Friday that, when discussing the “trials and tribulations” that baseball players go through, there isn’t always a focus on what exactly those trials and tribulations look like.

Sanó’s struggles, then, provide a more specific example.

“I think this is an example of a tough time,” Baldelli said before the series opener against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. “A time where he's probably searching, and that's OK. I think that's actually the right thing to do, to keep working and focusing on what he can control. That's not always easy, but it's definitely right.”

Sanó was out of the lineup on Friday for the fifth time in Minnesota’s last seven games.

With his slash line down to .190/.274/.424 and with just two extra-base hits in his last 11 games, it’s hard to argue that the seventh-year slugger deserves more playing time. But with a 37 percent career strikeout rate, a platoon role hardly suits who Sanó is as a hitter.

"It's tough. Especially [because] he's a slugger, a power hitter,” Nelson Cruz said. “To come off the bench, be off two days, then play. For any hitter it is difficult, especially for a slugger. So he's in a really tough situation.”

Sanó's problems at the plate haven’t affected his approach, at least. Baldelli said Sanó still comes to the ballpark and puts the hard work in as if his role hasn’t changed, as if he’s going to be a bat that’s relied on each and every game.

With the emergence of rookies Alex Kiriloff and Trevor Larnach on the left side of the plate, it could take a complete resurgence for Sanó to move him back into an everyday gig. While the Twins wait and see if the wait-and-see approach pays dividends, Baldelli said the club will have to keep pushing Sanó along in hopes that success comes along with it.

“He has people here that are there for him. I know Nelson has been, in particular, someone that Miguel has relied on in a lot of ways,” Baldelli said. “None of this means it's easy. It hasn't been easy, but he has not shied away from any of it. He hasn't made excuses at all at any point, and he keeps working. So that's what we're gonna do, and we'll see what happens going forward.”

Pineda good after rehab start

Michael Pineda’s rehab outing with Triple-A St. Paul didn’t exactly go according to plan, at least not as far as numbers go.

Pineda gave up five runs (four earned) on four hits and three walks over four innings on Thursday against Omaha, taking the loss in his first rehab start as he works his way back from right elbow inflammation that landed him on the 10-day injured list on June 14. But while the box score wasn’t good, Baldelli said it was a successful outing in that Pineda threw 75 pitches and left the game feeling well physically.

“It's really the reason why we do have our guys make rehab starts,” Baldelli said. “Some of it's getting the touch and feel back, the performance side of it, on-field side of it. Some of it's the health side of it. There's a lot of reasons for it.

“He went out. It was a successful start in a lot of ways. Obviously, he's gonna want to have success and come out of it feeling good with some confidence, but we got a lot out of what we were trying to.”

Baldelli hadn’t determined yet whether Pineda will come off IL or make a second rehab start, instead saying he would speak with Pineda and pitching coach Wes Johnson before they make a plan for the right-hander's next steps.

He said it

“We try to put a lineup out there the night before when we can for our guys, but just kind of reassessing -- one day Andrelton [Simmons] was going to get off this week, and just kind of assessing where we were for the week, I basically just decided that today was going to be the day. We were going to get our left-handed-heavy lineup out there for today's game. Andrelton's fully available. If we need him later on in the day, he will be in there to help out and come in, and he should be ready to go for tomorrow, too.” -- Baldelli, on Simmons’ late scratch on Friday