Twins' Joey Gallo knows he's striking out a lot, but he believes the home runs will come

DETROIT – Joey Gallo has slumped throughout the past month, and he knows the root of the issue.

"Striking out," said Gallo, whose home run Saturday was his first since May 20.

Strikeouts have always been a large part of Gallo's game. He led the majors with 213 strikeouts in 2021, one of three seasons he has surpassed 195 strikeouts.

Typically, the strikeouts come with walks and homers. Except Gallo has totaled only one homer, two RBI and 11 walks in his past 21 games, while he's struck out 37 times.

"I'm going to strike out a lot," said Gallo, who saw his batting average drop to .182 on Sunday. "That's how it is with me unfortunately. Just continue to keep going out there and putting swings on the ball because I can do damage when I do that. The work is incremental stuff here and there."

Gallo had the worst season of his career last year, batting .160 with 19 homers and 47 RBI in 126 games with the Yankees and Dodgers. The Twins signed him to a one-year contract, projecting a bounce-back season for the two-time All-Star.

"For me, I feel pressure that I want to put the ball in play and have success that way and do damage in terms of slugging and hitting doubles and getting on base and having good at-bats," Gallo said. "I know the home runs will come if I put barrel on the ball."

José De León walked around the Twins clubhouse Saturday night with a swollen elbow, an injury that might end his season, and he kept smiling and telling teammates, "I'm good," when they offered sympathy.

De León threw a slider during his warmup pitches, and he said his arm felt "a little funky." His next pitch, a fastball, gave his arm the same feeling, plus "like an electric shock." He immediately grabbed his elbow and walked off the mound.

"These things happen," said De León, who had elbow surgery in 2018 and a rotator cuff injury in 2022. "There's nothing that's going to get that [smile] off my face. Just having a positive mindset through a rehab, I've learned that's probably the best healer."

The Twins placed De León on the 15-day injured list Sunday because of a right flexor muscle strain. Manager Rocco Baldelli said he didn't want to speculate on the severity of the injury.

"A lot of guys were shook up about that in general just because of the respect we have," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters. "Hopefully, it was a scare and not an injury, but that one was bad."

Riding a seven-game hitting streak, Royce Lewis is 12-for-26 with two homers, a double and only three strikeouts.

"Honestly, it's a mind-set," Lewis said of lowering his strikeout rate. "Not waiting for a pitch you can drive because these guys are going to execute. If they dot one up on the outer third, that's 0-1. Then they do it again, 0-2. 'OK, great, now you're 0-2.' Now you're battling and you're looking for a pitch to drive at the same time. That doesn't work.

"I looked at where some of our plans were going and how the pitchers were pitching us, and they weren't attacking us with our plan of getting a mistake. I was like, 'Why don't I just start being aggressive, putting the ball in play. I know I can at least touch it and go to right field.' "

• The Twins called up Josh Winder from Class AAA St. Paul to replace De León in the bullpen. Winder pitched two scoreless innings at Toledo on Saturday night, then hailed a ride from a clubhouse attendant Sunday morning for the one-hour trip to Detroit.

• Dallas Keuchel gave up a solo home run to Andrew Knapp, but the 2015 AL Cy Young Award winner otherwise pitched well in his Saints debut, working four innings at Toledo. The Mud Hens scored six sixth-inning runs to take a 7-3 lead before rain washed away the rest of the game.