Rocco Baldelli downplays importance of Twins-Guardians series

Perhaps the biggest indication this weekend’s four-game series with Cleveland was important was that Twins manager Rocco Baldelli convened a rare, if brief, postgame meeting to emphasize that it wasn’t.

“I did tell our guys after the game, just very quickly, that every series we play from here on out will be the most important series of the season,” Baldelli said after the Twins lost to the Guardians 5-3 on Sunday to split the four games and remain 3½ games behind the AL Central leaders. “We’ve got plenty of games [left]. I don’t want anyone to get too caught up, just in case anyone might be thinking that this series mattered any more than any other series. I wanted to remind them that right now, it doesn’t.”

Especially with the Royals, who own the final AL wild-card position and trail the Twins by only half a game for second place in the division, opening a three-game series here Monday. That will be a challenge, given the Royals own the division’s most effective rotation and will start their top three pitchers in the series, none of whom own an ERA above 3.27 — lower than any Twins starter.

“The Kansas City series that’s starting tomorrow is what all of our attention needs to be on, and I want the guys feeling good about themselves and the way they just played over the last few days,” Baldelli said. “I want them to just move on. And they will.”

Steven Okert returned to the Twins after spending three days dealing with a family situation, and the lefthander will be activated from the bereavement list Monday.

It’s not clear how the Twins will make room on the roster, but it must be a pitcher who is subtracted since they are at MLB’s 13-pitcher limit.

Scott Blewett, called up to replace Okert on Friday, has yet to make his Twins debut and is a natural candidate to be sent back to Class AAA St. Paul.

But given the Twins don’t have another off day for 10 days, Blewett’s rested arm might keep him here. Randy Dobnak pitched three scoreless innings to finish Sunday’s game, a 51-pitch effort that means he would likely be unavailable for the Royals series. That factor might make the 29-year-old righthander, who has given up five runs in 7⅔ innings with the Twins this season, expendable for now.

The Twins have rarely acknowledged the first 60 seasons of their American League history, when they were located in Washington, D.C., and named, at various times, the Senators or Nationals. But that might be changing.

Twins players wore patches on their sleeves Sunday commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Senators’ lone World Series championship, which they won in 1924 in seven games over the New York Giants. The team, which moved to Minnesota in 1961, unveiled a W matching the Senators’ hat logo alongside the Twins’ 10 retired numbers in left field.

The ceremony included Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Kaat, whose career began with the Senators in 1959 and ’60 before moving with the team to the Twin Cities. And it concluded with Hank Thomas — grandson of the Senators’ best player, legendary Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson — throwing out a ceremonial first pitch before the game.

Lefthander Christian MacLeod gave up five runs (four earned) in five innings in his Saints debut, a 6-5 loss to Columbus at CHS Field. Chris Williams set the Saints Class AAA home run record with his 44th overall and 13th of the season, and Edouard Julien and Anthony Prato hit two-run homers.