Duensing activated from paternity list; Tonkin optioned
CHICAGO -- Left-hander Brian Duensing rejoined the Twins before Thursday's game, as he was activated from the paternity list. Right-hander Michael Tonkin was optioned to Triple-A Rochester to make room for Duensing on the roster.
Duensing was originally placed on the paternity list on Monday after flying to Omaha on Sunday to attend the birth of his second child with his wife, Lisa. Boston Matthew Duensing was born at 9:19 a.m. on Monday, and weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces.
"It was great," Duensing said. "Everything went well. The baby is healthy and Lisa is healthy, so that's all you can ask for. I would've liked to have been here for Opening Day, but other things were a little bit more of a priority, so I went home to take care of it."
Duensing, who arrived in Chicago late Wednesday after his first flight was cancelled for maintenance issues, also explained the rationale for naming his first son Boston, saying he wasn't named after the city.
"It had nothing to do with that," Duensing said. "When we were dating and got serious, we came up with baby names and liked that. It has nothing to do with the city or team or anything like that."
Duensing was placed right into the action, relieving Anthony Swarzak in the sixth after he alllowed four runs, capped by Jose Abreu's three-run triple. Duensing stranded Abreu at third, striking out Adam Dunn and getting Avisail Garcia to ground out to end the inning before the Twins rallied for a 10-9 victory.
Tonkin, meanwhile, flew to Buffalo, with Rochester set to open its season there. Tonkin tossed a scoreless 10th inning in the Twins' eventual 7-6 loss to the White Sox in 11 innings on Wednesday, and remains the club's top reliever at Triple-A.
"We like Tonkin a lot," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He's going to be in the big leagues with us. We like his arm and his stuff. He wasn't overwhelmed yesterday in a big situation. So he's going to go down there and pitch for them, but he's available any time we need him."