Starstruck Twins get a visit from Jose Miranda's cousin, Lin-Manuel Miranda

NEW YORK – When Jose Miranda was called up to the Twins early last season, reliever Emilio Pagán sought him out the day he arrived with an urgent message: I want to meet your cousin!

He finally got his chance on Sunday. Lin-Manuel Miranda, composer of the Broadway smash "Hamilton" and several other award-winning projects, took his young son Francisco to his first baseball game on Sunday — and stopped by the Twins clubhouse to visit his big-league blood.

"I know he was here to see Jose and show his son around, but I had to say hi. I had to," Pagán said like a star-struck stage-door fan. "My older brother Javier is in theater, and he played the Lin-Manuel role in 'In The Heights' in a show back home in South Carolina. I told him that, and I told him my daughters absolutely love his movies, 'Vivo' and 'Encanto.' I said I can't wait for the next one."

"Emilio was fired up, yeah," Jose Miranda said with a laugh after giving his cousin a tour of the Twins clubhouse and dugout. "Everyone was super excited, like, 'wow, he's here.' Some guys took pictures. Yeah, it was fun."

Now that his cousin has visited him at work, Jose Miranda said he intends to reciprocate by seeing "Hamilton" on stage for the first time — in Minneapolis, where by coincidence the show's touring company is currently performing.

The cousins' roots both extend to the same Puerto Rican village of Vega Alta, which has "an insane tradition" of baseball, Lin-Manuel Miranda said. "My grandfather was the manager of Bernie Williams' Little League team. We have the Molina brothers [Bengie, Yadier and Jose, all former big-leaguers]. So to actually have someone in our family make it up to the majors is, like, an enormous source of pride."

The actor and writer, a longtime Yankees fan whose new theater adaptation "New York, New York" opens on Broadway later this month, said his entire extended family follows the Twins closely now that one of their clan is in uniform.

"It's been really lovely to watch his rise. He's just so gifted and a lovely, humble guy," Miranda said of the Twins third baseman. "Our whole family is so proud. The entire cousin network is always on high alert when he's at bat."

An entire network? How big can that be?

"We're Puerto Rican!" Miranda said to laughs. "It's dozens and dozens!"

The Twins already have two lefthanders in their bullpen, so when St. Paul manager Toby Gardenhire told him Saturday that he was headed to the majors, Brent Headrick was shocked.

"It was just a surreal moment," Headrick said after pulling on his Twins uniform at a Yankee Stadium locker that was occupied during this series by Cole Sands and Louie Varland before him. "I never thought it would be possible this early."

But the Twins intend to restore Kenta Maeda to their rotation this week and manager Rocco Baldelli was anxious about not having a reliever available to pitch multiple innings. Swapping Headrick for Varland, who started Friday's game, was the solution.

"He's big and he's got a little bit of funk to what he does. Some of those big lefties offer a little bit of a different look," Baldelli said of the decision. "I'm excited to see this guy pitch. He did a good job in spring training."

• Alex Kirilloff and Jorge Polanco each singled in four at-bats for Class A Fort Myers on Sunday, after each played Saturday night as well. It's a sign, president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said, that they are probably ready to be transferred to Class AAA St. Paul to begin a formal rehab assignment, which could lead to them being activated within a week or so.

• The St. Paul Saints struck out a season-high 17 times — the second-most in franchise history in a nine-inning game — and were shut out 7-0 by the host Indianapolis Indians. Joey Gallo finished his third rehab game going 1-for-5 with a single.