Rich Hill struggles in return from injury

MINNEAPOLIS -- There was always the possibility of a letdown game after the big emotional high of Tuesday night, but the tough blows just kept coming on Wednesday for the Twins.

The evening didn’t start out well when Rich Hill struggled with wildness in the third inning -- a frame in which all nine Milwaukee batters stepped to the plate -- of his return from the injured list. Two innings later, the Brewers batted around again and halted some positive momentum from rookie Lewis Thorpe. As if that weren’t enough, a third strike landed during the sixth inning of the Twins’ 9-3 loss to Milwaukee, when starting catcher Mitch Garver exited with right side soreness.

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The Twins had been awaiting Hill’s recovery from left shoulder fatigue for three weeks, and the 40-year-old left-hander had been so eager to get back on the mound that he reportedly recruited teammates and staff members to lobby manager Rocco Baldelli on his behalf during his time on the injured list.

At first, Hill didn’t appear to have missed a beat from his five shutout frames during his Twins debut three weeks ago. He needed only 16 pitches to navigate his first six outs, but he ran into a heap of trouble in the third, when he got the first two outs in short order before issuing three walks and allowing three hits -- including a Ryan Braun two-run homer -- before he was pulled after 53 pitches, when Baldelli felt Hill’s pitch count in the inning had gotten out of control.

It marked the first time Hill was charged with four earned runs in a start since Sept. 15, 2018.

"It was just a poor outing,” Hill said. “Unfortunately, I put us in a really bad position today and lost the game for us. ... I think, just going out there and putting us in that position, is difficult. It's obviously hard for me to swallow. I need to do better than that. That's not acceptable.”

It was certainly a game that Hill and the Twins will hope to flush away as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the negative impact of the game could linger for some time in the form of Garver’s injury.

The slumping Garver showed an encouraging sign when he ripped a 107.8 mph single in the fourth inning, but he exited following his next at-bat, when he clutched at his right side and was slow to get up after swinging and missing for his second strikeout of the game. Garver had been 7-for-49 (.143) with 22 strikeouts entering Wednesday and any extended absence could further impede the reigning Silver Slugger Award winner’s ability to get back on track.

Baldelli didn’t have any specific updates regarding his catcher’s condition following the game, but he expressed some worry and indicated that roster moves might be necessary after the Twins continue their assessment over the next day or so.

“We have some concern,” Baldelli said. “We're going to kind of wait and assess it and figure out over the next 24 hours what we're dealing with. ... Obviously, a few things going on recently in the health department. We need to use this time to get straightened out and we may end up taking advantage of our depth in some ways.

“Those good quality at-bats, we're starting to see them more and more. I'm sure he's frustrated. Again, we're not really sure what we're dealing with. It's not something we want to get too far ahead on until we find out more.”

The game got out of hand in the fifth, when Thorpe allowed each of the first five batters to reach base, including a pair of two-run homers, as the Brewers again batted around and tacked on another four runs. Thorpe’s fastball velocity was up again for a second straight outing and he eventually settled in, but he was initially unable to build on his two scoreless innings from his previous appearance as he was hit hard for the third time in four games.

Fortunately for the Twins, he did settle down and allowed only two singles over his final three innings as he wrapped up a 72-pitch relief appearance, giving Minnesota some encouragement and allowing the team to rest a depleted bullpen on an otherwise tough evening at the park.

“He ended up picking up our group in a way that we definitely needed,” Baldelli said. “He was a guy we were going to lean on today, regardless, for length. The first inning that he came in, we weren’t sure eventually how that was going to end. If he wasn’t able to find his way through that -- and he didn’t work his way through it -- truthfully, we’d still be out there and it would probably look even worse than it did today.

“But he was able to figure it out and every inning he went out there, he did almost pick us up in a lot of ways.”