CHICAGO -- The Twins designated right-hander Matt Shoemaker for assignment on Thursday, ending a brief and unsuccessful stint in Minnesota for the veteran free-agent acquisition who was signed to potentially stabilize the back of the rotation.

Shoemaker had an 8.06 ERA in 16 appearances for the Twins, including 11 starts. He allowed eight earned runs in 2 2/3 innings of relief in Wednesday's blowout loss to the White Sox, ballooning his ERA to the highest among all MLB pitchers with at least 60 innings pitched this season.

"It's, of course, a difficult and emotional time for any player, getting news like that," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "So it was hard. But Matt has been very professional from the day he came into the Twins' organization. He understands the game. This isn't a process he's gone through before. This was new to him, and obviously, hard."

The Twins selected the contract of Derek Law from Triple-A St. Paul in a corresponding move, pulling the veteran reliever up for his second stint of the season with Minnesota.

Shoemaker, 34, signed a one-year, $2 million deal during the offseason, joining the Minnesota pitching staff alongside J.A. Happ, Alex Colomé and Hansel Robles. Shoemaker made three quality starts in April and May, but otherwise never found his rhythm despite enjoying consistent health for the first time since 2016. He was moved to the bullpen in June following a tough start in Kansas City on June 4.

"He was very much understanding of what was going on, why it was going on," Baldelli said. "Again, he's not sitting here thinking that his career is -- this could be a blip on the radar, I think, is the point. He knows that, and he could go turn this around, turn his season around and go in a good direction from here. That was part of what we talked about."

Among Minnesota's free agent pitchers signed before this season, only Robles has panned out, rewarding the Twins' confidence in a bounceback campaign with a 3.63 ERA and seven saves through 35 relief appearances. Otherwise, Happ has pitched to a 5.83 ERA through 14 starts, while Colomé owns a 5.02 ERA from the bullpen and has been demoted out of high-leverage roles.

Nellie turns 41
The relentless sands of time stop for no one -- but that hasn't bothered Nelson Cruz just yet.

The elder statesman of the Twins' clubhouse celebrated his 41st birthday on Thursday, joining Rich Hill and Albert Pujols as the only active players of that age in Major League Baseball. Cruz will be the first 41-year-old player to appear for the Twins since Fernando Rodney pitched in Minnesota at age 41 during the 2018 season.

He sure hasn't played like it.

Entering Thursday, Cruz led all Twins regulars in OPS (.963), as he has in each of his two previous seasons with Minnesota, and leads the club in homers by a wide margin, with 18. He has smashed 34 homers in the last year, the 15th-most among all players in MLB history at age 40 or older.

"I think it’s always important to note the number and it gives you perspective as far as what he’s accomplishing and all the great things he’s doing," Baldelli said. "But when you’re around Nelson, you’re not really thinking about his age. You’re watching him perform. ... You forget all that stuff we’re talking about now, and you just kind of watch him and admire just everything that he does."

Cruz was hit by a pitch in the right wrist on May 20, and his performance suffered, causing some concern that time might finally have caught up to him -- but he's pushed away all doubts once again with a 1.216 OPS and eight homers in June.

At this point, the Twins have learned that it's never wise to doubt Cruz's resilience, as they saw at its extreme in 2019, when the slugger ruptured a tendon in his left wrist and was back on the field following only a short absence. He's been playing through that ruptured tendon ever since.

"I have stopped speculating on anything, really anything related to Nellie’s age and performance and anything like that," Baldelli said. "Once I saw something like that, once we all did, you’re almost of the mindset Nelson’s going to play this game as long as he’s comfortable, as long as he wants, and you deeply believe he’s going to have success until he decides it’s time to call it a day. That is not something that you normally see in any professional sport."