FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Twins paired off Friday to play catch, as they do every day. But this time was different.

This time, they stood in the players' parking lot at Hammond Stadium, behind lines painted 10 feet apart. Coaches Hank Conger and Jayce Tingler wore striped referee jerseys and whistles. Onlookers gathered to watch as the players eyed their target, wound up, and threw …

Eggs.

"We want to have some fun. That's what it really came down to," said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, the mastermind behind the Twins' first-ever egg toss. "It's something that no matter how old you are, you're going to have a good time while you're doing it."

So it seemed. The competition was rowdy and raucous, with teammates gleefully cheering when someone dropped or broke an egg, thus eliminating their two-man team, often with an emphatic ejection by one of the referees. The survivors backed up 5 more feet with every round, and the eliminated players crowded closer and closer as the field narrowed.

Finally, only three pairs were left: Jhoan Duran and Jorge Alcala, Kyle Garlick and Dennis Santana, and Jorge Lopez and Jose De Leon.

That's when Garlick made the play of the game, stretching to catch Santana's toss just off the ground. When the eggs broke in Lopez's and Alcala's hands on their next toss, the reserve outfielder, who arrived in camp only that morning, and his reliever partner were the winners.

Garlick "dominated the egg-toss event. That was fun, to see him out there doing that," Baldelli said. "He was pulling off one-legged, one-handed catches. I don't know where that came from. But I like it."

The winners received autographed Tony Oliva jerseys and a cash bonus, too. And Baldelli took note of the first team eliminated, too: pitchers Randy Dobnak and Austin Schulfer.

"I don't know what they were doing out there. We brought them out for the [winner's] picture, and rightfully so, and sat them down on the third tier, which was last place," Baldelli said. "They have some things to figure out."

Turn it down a notch

At the end of the second inning of the Twins' 4-2 victory Thursday over the Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, plate umpire Brennan Miller informed Baldelli of something he thought he should know: Miller — and each Tampa Bay batter who came to the plate — could hear each pitch called through the PitchCom receiver in catcher Tony Wohlers' helmet.

Kenta Maeda pitched two scoreless innings, though each batter knew what pitch was coming.

"The volume on Tony's [receiver] was loud, and the Trop was very quiet," Maeda said through interpreter Daichi Sekizaki. "I'm not sure why they didn't tell me after the first inning, but I got guys out."

Indeed, Maeda didn't give up a hit in the first inning, then gave up back-to-back singles in the second before ending the inning with a strikeout and double-play grounder.

"If I had given up runs, I could have used it as an excuse," Maeda joked.

Gordon sidelined

Nick Gordon fell awkwardly during Friday's game while trying to make a throw to first base, and suffered a high left ankle sprain that will keep him out of action for several days.

X-rays found no fracture, but the Twins will conduct more tests.

"Looks like more like a mild to moderate high ankle sprain, and not a severe [one]. So that was a good thing," Baldelli said. "It's a few days, bare minimum, where he's not going to play."

Etc.

  • The Twins optioned pitcher Jordan Balazovic, who has yet to pitch off a mound after being punched late Feb. 12 in downtown Fort Myers and suffering a broken jaw, to Class AAA St. Paul.
  • Garlick reported to camp Friday after being excused from the first two weeks because of family considerations. He'll begin a normal spring work schedule but probably won't play in a game for seven to 10 days, Baldelli said.