With the Twins back down to a 13-man pitching staff in the wake of Josh Donaldson's activation from the injured list on Wednesday, they freshened up their bullpen by optioning Cody Stashak to the alternate training site and recalling right-hander Shaun Anderson early Thursday morning.

Stashak led the Twins in appearances this season and had pitched in six of the club's first 12 games. Considering he had pitched on three of the last four days -- including each of the last two -- it was unlikely that he would have been available for Thursday's series finale against the Red Sox.

The 26-year-old right-hander allowed four earned runs in five innings, but he also struck out 12 of the 23 batters he faced in his first big league stint of 2021.

The pitching need was compounded by the fact that left-hander Brandon Waddell was also optioned to the alternate training site between the games of Wednesday's doubleheader and long-reliever Randy Dobnak threw 38 pitches on Tuesday.

Help arrived for the bullpen in the form of Anderson, who was acquired in the February trade that sent LaMonte Wade Jr. to the Giants. Anderson had a 5.17 ERA across 46 Major League appearances with San Francisco but has struggled with his command, as evidenced by his 88 strikeouts and 50 walks in 111 1/3 innings.

Buxton dons cleats, donates salary for Jackie Robinson Day
Byron Buxton was confused when he saw a box of cleats at his locker on Tuesday. He knew he hadn't ordered any new shoes, that's for sure, but was thrilled when he opened the box and found two pairs of special-edition cleats emblazoned with the number 42 waiting for him.

As he conducted an interview with MLB Network on Thursday morning, Buxton wore a pair of those cleats and a shirt printed with "Breaking Barriers" before he and the rest of the league prepared to honor Jackie Robinson, as they do every year, by wearing No. 42 jerseys to commemorate the anniversary of MLB's color barrier being broken.

"I got the original Griffeys, so just to be able to incorporate Griffey and Jackie Robinson into the day and put these shoes on, it means a lot," Buxton said. "We also got turfs. I got them on right now, but you probably can't see them. It's just one of those days where I'm just blessed and thankful."

As a member of The Players Alliance, Buxton also joined more than 100 players around the league in donating his salary from Thursday to support the nonprofit's efforts. The Players Alliance will make a financial commitment to the Jackie Robinson Foundation in support of the launch of a scholarship fund.

"It's just one of those things where we just got to keep taking Jackie's legacy and keep moving it forward," Buxton said. "It doesn't stop here. We're trying to keep moving and keep everything to get equal. Obviously, the world is not where it needs to be today.

"It's just one of those things where we've got to do our jobs to keep coming together to do what we're supposed to do to make this world a better place."

Maeda thrilled by Matsuyama's shout-out following Masters
When Hideki Matsuyama became the first Japanese-born golfer to win the Masters on Sunday, he wasn't able to name any golfing idols who had served as examples for him; instead, he said that he mainly drew inspiration from the baseball stars of his home country, like Yu Darvish, Kenta Maeda and Shohei Ohtani.

"The people that I admired were mainly baseball players," Matsuyama said. "As far as golf, not so much. Hopefully now others will be inspired for what happened here today and follow in my footsteps."

Maeda indicated after his start on Wednesday that he felt solidarity with Matsuyama in their shared experience in the athletic field, far from home, and was honored that the 29-year-old brought up his name in the moment of victory.

"I'm simply honored to have Hideki mention my name in his interview," Maeda said. "As another Japanese athlete grinding in the U.S., that’s really an honorable thing, to have my name mentioned. And I’ve met him a couple of times in [Los Angeles], on golf courses and restaurants. We’ve exchanged some words."