Matt Wallner gets rare day off as slump continues, strikeouts stack

Matt Wallner wasn't in the Twins' lineup Monday night, only the second time since being called up at midseason that Rocco Baldelli didn't start him against a righthanded pitcher.

The Twins manager said he made the decision reluctantly.

"We still want him out there. I left him out there yesterday — I wanted him to give us a chance to win the game. He's a dangerous hitter," Baldelli said. "He's still walking, finding ways to get on here and there."

But the rookie's late-season downturn has become too persistent to ignore. In the 19 games since he last sat out an entire game, Wallner has gone 9-for-53 at the plate, a .170 average, and more than half of the outs, 24 in all, have been strikeouts. He's 0-for-12 in his past five games.

"I want to get him a day or two of work [with hitting coaches], where he can take a step back, take a deep breath," Baldelli explained. "Obviously he's not feeling the way he was earlier in the season. So we'll get him some work."

Wallner has walked 10 times during his cold stretch, so his .353 on-base percentage over that time remains strong. And Baldelli said he's not concerned about the rookie's recent drought, which he described as "the normal ups and downs" of a long season.

"I still think he's having solid ABs up there for us. I'd say he's probably just missing his fastballs when he gets them," the manager said. "Some of that leads to longer at-bats, because balls that he was probably putting into play before are just not going into play as often right now. He's probably like a swing away from finding that feel against and getting where he needs it to be."

The Twins' September surge by their pinch hitters — they are 8-for-16 in their first nine games this month — have made this the Twins' most successful pinch-hitting team since 2000, and pulled them within two hits of Oakland, which has 39 pinch hits to the Twins' 37 — for the major league lead.

Donovan Solano's eight pinch hits rank second in the majors behind Tampa Bay's Harold Ramírez, who has nine. Solano, though, has been a starter in 23 of his past 25 appearances, severely limiting his ability to add to his total.

It's a reflection of what Baldelli last week called "the deepest, most talented bench" in his five years as manager.

The players on the bench feel the same way, Willi Castro said.

"We're all doing a great job. The team has the energy every day — I just think that's what a winning team does," Castro said. "We're just cheering everybody up, doing the little things right. That makes a big difference. We've got to keep playing like this and we're going to be in a great spot."