Edgar Garcia recalled, giving Twins 14 pitchers and only three bench players

NEW YORK — When Edgar Garcia was optioned to St. Paul on Thursday, the news came with an unusual caveat: Stick around a day or two.

On Friday, he learned why. The righthander, technically a Saint for about 20 hours, was recalled as a replacement for Miguel Sano, who went to Minneapolis to be with his wife and newborn daughter for a few days.

The move gives the Twins a 14-man pitching staff this weekend, and leaves them with just three bench players — catcher Ryan Jeffers, infielder Willians Astudillo and outfielder Rob Refsnyder. But given the workload the bullpen has shouldered over the past few days, manager Rocco Baldelli said, there wasn't much choice.

"It makes everybody's availability a little more important, when you're down to three extra position players. But we always knew, especially this season, there would be times when we're going to have to carry an extra arm or two to get by, and this is one of them," Baldelli said. "It's important that we have that extra arm."

Ten of the 14 pitchers on the current roster weren't on the Opening Day roster.

One week after his most recent appearance at third base during a game, Josh Donaldson stood at his position Friday and fielded a series of ground balls. His lateral movement looked good, and he said he experienced no pain in his right hamstring.

"It hasn't hurt for the last four days, probably," Donaldson said. He's not sure when he might return to the field, but he's happy to still be in the Twins' lineup. That wouldn't have happened if Nelson Cruz was still on the roster, serving as the designated hitter.

"It's good. It's a good opportunity for me to help the team out and still stay on top of my strength and recovery," said Donaldson, who has batted .308 in six starts at DH since his last day in the field.

Donaldson is running only half-speed on routine grounders, though "he can run the bases fine," Baldelli said. "He may not be running 100 percent, but he is perfectly good to go hit in the middle of our lineup."

Donaldson hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning to score Minnesota's first runs.

Hurricane warnings were issued in New York and up the New England coast on Friday, and it's likely that Hurricane Henri will alter the Twins' schedule this weekend.

In fact, Baldelli said, the Yankees informed the Twins that moving Sunday afternoon's finale of the four-game series, scheduled amid what forecasters say could be heavy rain and winds, to a Saturday doubleheader was a possibility.

"Ultimately, the Yankees have the most say in what happens. So I don't think they're real concerned with what we're wanting to do," Baldelli said. "There are a lot of considerations that go well beyond anything that I'm thinking about in the clubhouse."

By late Friday, those considerations — a national telecast of Saturday's scheduled nine-inning game, the Yankees' desire to protect their big crowds this weekend, the possibility that there won't be time to play two games Saturday before rain hits — had apparently scrubbed the doubleheader plan. The teams will try to play Sunday, and if they cannot, the Twins will return to New York to make it up in September.

When Yankees manager Aaron Boone injured his left knee midway through the 2000 season, the Reds used a couple of other third baseman to fill his spot — including a September call-up named Mike Bell, who got his first and only big-league experience in Boone's place.

With the Twins in town, Boone marveled at that connection to the Twins' late bench coach, and all the commonalities that they shared.

"Our families in so many ways mirror each other. He and I are both the middle guys of the third generation of ballplayers. We were both third basemen. We played in the same organization together," and on the same fall league team, Boone said of Bell, who died of liver cancer in March. "I know [Mike's father] Buddy really well. [Bell's younger brother] Ricky is the same age as my little brother [Matt], taken in the same [1997] draft, both third-round picks. The comparisons between our families is startling."

Just as Bell's death at 46 was heartbreaking, Boone said.

"He was so well respected in this game. Just a great guy, and so sad to see him go early," Boone said. "But he certainly left his mark on this game and as a man and as a family man. He's missed."

There were no further COVID-19 positive tests among the Twins' staff on Friday, Baldelli said. Minor league athletic trainer Chad Jackson arrived from Fort Myers to help the Twins navigate an outbreak that has infected five staff members, but no players.