Rocco Baldelli celebrates 300th Twins win with a hometown victory beer

Rocco Baldelli came to his postgame media interview holding a tall beverage to celebrate Sunday's 3-1 victory over Washington, the 300th victory of his Twins managerial career.

"Juice Machine, Charlton, Mass.," said the Rhode Island native, showing off a New England IPA-style beer. "I was going to have this beer regardless [of the outcome}, but it tastes a little better now."

He was denied that 300th victory during a three-game losing streak that ended Sunday, when his team avoided a series sweep against the last-place Nationals.

Baldelli's 300 victories is sixth on the club's career list, behind Tom Kelly's 1,140, Ron Gardenhire's 1,068, Sam Mele's 524, Gene Mauch's 378 and Paul Molitor's 305.

It's also just ahead of Frank Quilici's 280 and Billy Gardner's 268.

"I don't really keep track of those things," Baldelli said. "But I got a nice baseball and lineup card for the mantel. The wins are all about the players. In all 300, they are the ones leading the way. They get this organization to where we're going."

Since 2019, Baldelli is fourth among AL managers in victories, trailing the Yankees' Aaron Boone (340), Tampa Bay's Kevin Cash (340) and Cleveland's Terry Francona (310).

On the Twins' list, he needs only 840 more victories to catch two-time World Series champion Kelly. "TK is on a level all by himself," Baldelli said.

Jorge Polanco's fourth-inning home run was his first this season in his third game back from knee inflammation. That RBI was the 400th of his career, making him the 23rd player to reach 400 RBI in a Twins uniform.

The second baseman has safely hit in all three games, going 5-for-13 (.385) with a double, a homer, two RBI and two runs scored.

Asked if he expected to be this productive this soon, he said: "That's what we work for, you know? Sometimes we do good. Sometimes we do bad. The good thing is just go out there and try to play hard, try to help the team win. It's just good to be back after a long time without playing in the big leagues."

Kenta Maeda has a bullpen session set for Monday that will determine if he will pitch his next scheduled outing, on Wednesday against the Yankees. He was struck on the ankle by a line drive Thursday at Boston.

The righthander played catch and ran on Sunday.

"The bullpen scheduled has to go I would say quite well for us to pitch him on Wednesday," Baldelli said. "He's active. He's scheduled to pitch. I still want to see more progression from him before we actually send him out there. But as of now, he's in line for that."

Alex Kirilloff hit a first-inning homer, had five RBI and went 2-for-4 Sunday on his rehab assignment, playing first and batting second as the Class AAA Saints beat Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 8-5 at CHS Field. Kirilloff had two at-bats Friday and didn't play Saturday on his way back from wrist surgery last August.

"I think he's doing very well," Baldelli said. "I hear he's swinging the bat well."

Washington lefthander Patrick Corbin's Sunday start gave Baldelli the relatively rare chance to load predominantly righthanded bats on his lineup card. The Twins faced a lefty starter for only the fourth time in the season's first 22 games.

They were 1-2 the first three times, losing to Miami's Jesús Luzardo and Boston's Chris Sale and beating the Yankees with Nestor Cortes. The Twins had the fewest at-bats against lefthanded pitchers entering the game with 117.

On Sunday, Donovan Solano played first and batted first, catcher Ryan Jeffers hit fifth and switch-hitter Willi Castro batted eighth and played left field. Switch-hitter Polanco had all three of his hits righthanded.

"I'm excited we're actually facing some lefthanders," Baldelli said. "We're not going to get locked in against lefthanders if we don't continually face them, so the more we can see like this, the better."

The 92-miles-per-hour pitch that hit Twins shortstop Kyle Farmer in the face April 12 against the White Sox will require four root canals this week to help fix the damage caused.

That's not the only bad news — someone stole his Ford Bronco from his driveway recently.

"I love that car, but it's replaceable," he said. "But if you see it …"