Kenta Maeda to get break from Twins rotation after getting shelled for 10 runs in loss to Yankees

While Twins pitcher Sonny Gray leads the majors in ERA and Joe Ryan is the first five-game winner, Kenta Maeda headed to the doctor after Wednesday's 12-6 loss to the Yankees at Target Field.

He left the game and stadium 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA, citing muscle discomfort in his pitching arm after he allowed 10 runs in three innings. He had been cleared to keep his spot in the rotation six days after he was knocked down on the mound and knocked out of the game by a 111 mph line drive off his ankle in Boston.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said the 2020 American League Cy Young Award runner-up was headed to get a MRI, as he said the team would do with any pitcher experiencing an arm issue. Meanwhile, the club is exploring roster moves to replace Maeda temporarily in the five-man rotation on his way back from 2021 Tommy John elbow surgery.

"One way or the other, he's going to need some time off," Baldelli said.

Baldelli said he went upstairs to the clubhouse during the game to see Maeda. He said Wednesday's discomfort could be related to the arm fatigue Madea experienced in his return after he missed the entire 2022 season injured.

"The positive part is it's not on the medial side where you normally would be very concerned," Baldelli said. "He actually seemed in good spirits. A lot of the time you can get a read on how a guy is doing with the injury itself by just how he is. He actually seemed OK. Disappointed, but OK."

Maeda started Wednesday in a noticeably reconfigured lineup that included neither Byron Buxton nor Jorge Polanco, both out for a noon start the day after a night game. The lineup included Donovan Solano at second, Willi Castro at third and Nick Gordon in center field, at positions they don't typically play. Officially, the Twins committed two errors, but they were adventurous in the field throughout.

Maeda didn't miss his turn in the rotation because swelling on his left plant leg subsided rather quickly, he moved and he moved in workouts what Baldelli called "a little gingerly, but fine" and could field his position. Baldelli also called Maeda's Monday bullpen session "real good."

"There was nothing standing in the way of him pitching ultimately," Baldelli said.

Until the Yankees stepped to the plate, that is.

New York scored five runs off Maeda in the second inning and five in the fourth, part of its six-run inning. By then, the Yankees led 11-1 before Brent Headrick entered in relief and threw five innings.

Yet the Twins won the season series 4-3, their first such edge over the Yankees since 2001.

Maeda left after failing to retire any of the five batters he faced to start the fourth inning. He was checked upon at the mound in the second, when he dived for a bunted ball and got up slowly. The game was stopped long enough for Maeda to throw two warmup pitchers to see if he was all right.

The Yankees tested Maeda's mobility with two bunts. On the other, he committed a throwing error that extended the fourth inning. He allowed 10 runs on 11 hits, and threw 72 pitches, 46 of them strikes.

"Kenta's a tough guy," Gordon said. "We know he'll definitely be strong. He goes out every day and gives us his all. That's all we can ask of him. We're here for him."

Baldelli acknowledged Maeda's struggles but contended his comeback form so far this season isn't that far from his pre-surgery form.

"It wasn't one of his best starts, that we know," Baldelli said. "We didn't exactly play good baseball behind him, either. So it's hard to tell just how that would have gone if we made the plays, held runners to the bases they should be at. It was far from a crisp game at our end."

The Twins have options at Class AAA St. Paul for a fifth pitcher in their rotation. Sunday's winning pitcher for the Twins, Bailey Ober, was sent back down to St. Paul on Monday and was last man left out at spring training's end. Other options would include Louie Varland, Cole Sands and Randy Dobnak.

"But now that we're at this point, this is definitely going to be some type of reset for him so he can get his arm feeling better first and foremost," Baldelli said of Maeda.