Rosario moved to second in the order as Twins face Cubs

There should be an electric atmosphere at Target Field all weekend with the Cubs in town. Torii Hunter is getting a day off for the Twins on Friday. Eddie Rosario has landed in the No. 2 hole.

June 19, 2015 at 10:20PM
Minnesota Twins' Eddie Rosario
Minnesota Twins' Eddie Rosario swings for an RBI-double scoring Byron Buxton for the go-ahead run against the Texas Rangers during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, June 14, 2015, in Arlington, Texas. The Twins won 4-3. (Associated Press - Ap/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Torii Hunter is getting a day off. In the resulting roster shakeup, Eddie Rosario has landed in the No. 2 hole in tonight's lineup.

After hitting the first pitch of his career for a home run, Rosario struggled some. But he has bounced back lately to hit .362 over his last 17 games.

``He's been good," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. ``A lot of good at bats, making adjustments on the fly. For a young guy to do some of the things in-game that he has been doing, I think that has been pretty good."

Kennys Vargas is back in the lineup after his walk-off home run yesterday, and Molitor hopes that Vargas will get on a roll.

``I hope some of the weight has been lifted off of him," Molitor said.

The Twins were going to announce yesterday that they had released Jordan Schafer, but it was lost in the madness after the dramatic win.

Molitor said with the outfielders they have recently called up, there was a logjam at the position. And he likes how Shane Robinson can be the fourth outfielder.

``There wasn't a lot of space," he said. ``It became a bad fit."

Oswaldo Arcia is trying to hit his way back to the majors, and Aaron Hicks should return from the disabled list in a week or so.

Molitor really wanted to get Eduardo Escobar back in the lineup after a couple days on the bench. But he starts him in left tonight so Eduardo Nunez can stay at short and maintain his routine.

Cubs

Dexter Fowler, CF
Anthony Rizzo, 1B
Kris Bryant, 3B
Miguel Montero, C
Starlin Castro, SS
Chris Coghlan, LF
Chris Denofia, RF
Kyle Schwarber, DH
Addison Russell, 2B

Kyle Hendricks, RHP

Twins

Brian Dozier, 2B
Eddie Rosario, RF
Joe Mauer, 1B
Trevor Plouffe, 3B
Eduardo Nunez, SS
Kurt Suzuki, C
Kennys Vargas, DH
Eduardo Escobar, LF
Byron Buxton, CF

Phil Hughes, RHP

about the writer

about the writer

La Velle E. Neal III

Columnist

La Velle E. Neal III is a sports columnist for the Minnesota Star Tribune who previously covered the Twins for more than 20 years.

See More

More from Twins

card image

What the Twins and Wolves have to hope for is ownership that is rich enough to fund a winner, and humble enough to let the experts run the show.

card image