Notes: OF depth tested; Maeda has sore arm

MINNEAPOLIS -- Here's where the Twins' center-field depth stands at the moment: Rob Refsnyder.

That's it.

The Twins placed Max Kepler on the 10-day injured list on Sunday after he aggravated his strained left hamstring in the second inning of Saturday's game; he joins Byron Buxton and Jake Cave on IL. So, without their top three center-field options and with no room to spare on the 40-man roster, the Twins are essentially at the stage of hoping nothing will force their hand.

"We’re going to ride Rob Refsnyder out there probably every day when possible, and when we get to a day when we can’t, if we have to make a move of any kind, maybe we will at that point," manager Rocco Baldelli said.

Minnesota still does have four healthy outfielders on its roster -- Refsnyder, Alex Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach and Kyle Garlick -- and is fortunate that all four have been playing well, with top prospects Kirilloff and Larnach manning the corners in a possible preview of the next half-decade of Twins baseball.

With that in mind, the Twins recalled catcher Ben Rortvedt -- and not another outfielder -- from Triple-A St. Paul on Sunday, freeing Willians Astudillo back into his super-utility role.

Rortvedt made an immediate contribution, hitting his first homer of the season in the finale against the Royals.

"Our young corner outfielders have been playing well; they've been playing confidently," Baldelli said. "I've really liked what I've seen from them both offensively and defensively, and the work they're putting in defensively, especially. All that being said, no, we're going to let those guys play and see what they can do."

The Twins will just have to hope that this roster configuration will last them until either Buxton or Kepler is able to return. Baldelli noted that Kepler shouldn't need much more than the minimum 10 days on the IL, while Buxton was originally expected to begin a rehab assignment over the weekend, but his recovery didn't proceed on schedule.

Otherwise, Baldelli said that the Twins could start to "test drive" backup infielder Nick Gordon as a center field option, but indicated that wasn't likely. Keon Broxton (Triple-A St. Paul), Aaron Whitefield (Double-A Wichita) and Gilberto Celestino (Double-A Wichita) are the other options in the organization, if needed.

Maeda dealing with arm soreness
Kenta Maeda's right adductor strain in his groin area has largely resolved itself, but Baldelli said Sunday that the right-hander is still dealing with general arm soreness that has temporarily halted his progress toward returning to the field.

Maeda could now take longer to return than the original timetable of 10-14 days that the Twins suggested when he first went on the IL.

Baldelli said that the Twins asked Maeda to take a few days away from throwing after his last bullpen session and hope to have him start playing catch again next week. He also indicated that Maeda has been pitching through that arm soreness this season; the 2020 AL Cy Young Award runner-up has a 5.27 ERA through nine starts.

"It's something that we want to make sure that we get rid of," Baldelli said. "We don't want to be looking at this for the next four months. We want to make sure that this is something that while we're taking this IL stint, that we're able to shake."

Garver to see upped playing time in immediate future
The Twins have tried a variety of different catcher alignments with Mitch Garver over the last two years -- platoons with Jason Castro in 2019 and Alex Avila in '20, a straight timeshare with Ryan Jeffers to begin this season -- but they appear to have finally settled into a rhythm with Garver starting nearly every day.

It looks like that's how things will stay for the foreseeable future, especially with Garver entering Sunday with a career-high eight-game hitting streak and an .839 OPS for the season.

"I think it’s just made sense that Mitch has picked up a few more games here and played," Baldelli said. "The way he’s played, it’s made it hard to not want to put him out there a little more."

With Jeffers back in Triple-A St. Paul to see more consistent playing time, the Twins have resorted to using both Rortvedt and Astudillo as true backup catchers, with Garver having started seven of the last nine games entering Sunday.

"I’m really comfortable with how we’re operating right now and how our guys are playing, but we’ll see how it goes going forward and, hopefully, our guys feel good, continue to feel good, and play good," Baldelli said.