Twins' Alex Kirilloff win first American League player of the week honor

When Alex Kirilloff stepped to the plate in the ninth inning Sunday, he probably didn't realize what was at stake.

Well, he knew that the game likely rested on his at-bat, given that the Twins trailed by a run with only one out left, sure. And he delivered, lining a double down the left-field line to score Willi Castro and send the game to extra innings.

But on Monday he learned that that clutch hit had helped earn him AL player of the week honors, the first Twins player selected since Byron Buxton 13 months earlier.

"It's definitely cool, definitely an honor," Kirilloff said of his big week, in which he hit .345 (10-for-29) with three home runs, two doubles and a triple. Most importantly, he drove in 10 runs — largely because rookie Edouard Julien, hitting in front of him in the Twins lineup, batted .423.

"You think about how many players there are in the American League and how many special talents we have in the game right now — the game is arguably the most exciting to watch as it's been in a long time. There's a lot of good characters, good energy, so to be recognized among that group is pretty special."

That said, Kirilloff isn't going to celebrate much. He's well known for his stoic, unemotional demeanor, which he believes helps him as a ballplayer — and as a father, too.

"I try not to get too high or low. I have a family at home, I have kids at home, so when you have stretches of failure, it's not something you want to get hung up on," he said. "Training your mind and putting your attention and focus on other things that you know normally helps you get good results has been a big thing for me."

Kirilloff is one of five current Twins to have won the award, joining Buxton (twice), Max Kepler (twice, most recently in 2019), Carlos Correa (three times with the Astros, most recently in 2017), Joey Gallo (with Texas in 2019) and Sonny Gray (with Oakland in 2015).

Not only did Bailey Ober turn in his seventh consecutive quality start (six or more innings, three or fewer runs allowed) on Sunday, but he passed a personal milestone as well. His six innings against the White Sox give him 94⅔ for the Twins this season — and 112⅓ on the year, counting his four starts for the St. Paul Saints.

That's a career high for Ober, surpassing the combined 108⅓ innings he pitched in 2021. It's also 40 more innings than he pitched during an injury-interrupted 2022.

Some teams are leery of too quickly increasing a pitcher's workload one year to the next, but manager Rocco Baldelli said the Twins have no plans to put any limits on Ober over the final two months.

"He's going to keep pitching. Maybe five years ago, I would have answered that question a little differently. But he's healthy, he's doing good and we're going to keep pitching him," Baldelli said. "We'll just keep monitoring him. A few of his outings here and there, we'll watch him and we may not stretch him to 100 pitches."

Ober isn't interested in time off. "I'm ready to go the whole year. Definitely," the 28-year-old said. He is aware that the inning are piling up, he said, and has discussed it with Pablo López, whose 180 innings last season for Miami were 35 more than he had ever thrown.

"Pablo gave me some tips about what he learned about how to control workload," Ober said. "Managing throws between starts, managing lifts between starts, running. Pulling back on certain things."

• Buxton became a father for the third time early Monday, when his son Baire was born to his wife, Lindsey, in Minneapolis. The Twins placed Buxton, father of Brixton, 9, and Blaze, 3, on the paternity list, and he's allowed to miss three days with pay to be with his family.

• The Twins have until 4 p.m. Tuesday to sign first-round pick Walker Jenkins, the lone first-rounder still unsigned. As the fifth overall pick, the 18-year-old outfielder from South Brunswick High in Southport, N.C., can expect a bonus of $7.139 million, according to MLB's draft-slot system, though his agent, Scott Boras, is believed to be seeking more.

• Caleb Thielbar will pitch an inning for the Class AAA Saints on Tuesday, his first rehab appearance as he returns from an oblique re-injury, and Jorge Polanco will play all nine innings at third base for the first time.