Worth noting

• The Twins were off on Thursday and spent the day in Chicago, but they still said it was a bit odd to start a series with a Friday day game, as part of the split doubleheader.

"I don't remember ever doing this on a Friday, to tell you the truth," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "That's the day they set up radio talk shows. I do those on Fridays. We don't usually do baseball on Fridays. But back in the day, we used to have doubleheaders -- you get rained out, you play a doubleheader -- normally it would start out 4, 5 o'clock, and you play a regular doubleheader. These split doubleheaders are long days. I understand there's a lot of money involved for the gate, but it sure does make for a long day for everybody involved. ... It's a lot of baseball, and if you like that sort of thing, you're in the right place."

• With Ryan Doumit being placed on the DL, assistant general manager Rob Antony noted that the team has always kept close tabs on fellow catcher Joe Mauer over the years about the issue of concussions.

"They do baseline testing so that when something happens, if you're concerned about it at all, you can test it and see if it matches up to his baseline," Antony said. "If he does, then you're pretty confident you don't have a situation. But again, you have to rely on the player to come to you and say, 'That foul tip got me pretty good.' But to my knowledge, Joe's never said anything to the point where, 'I'm a little concerned.' And I think he would. He's a bright guy. All these guys should be looking out for themselves, and that's what we ask from all our players."