Twins activate Carlos Correa, send Austin Martin to St. Paul

CHICAGO — After winning seven consecutive games, the Twins received more good news before their series opener against the Chicago White Sox on Monday.

Carlos Correa was activated from the 10-day injured list after missing the past 16 games because of an intercostal strain. Austin Martin was optioned to Class AAA St. Paul.

Correa was one of the team’s offensive bright spots before his injury. In his first 11 games, he batted .306 with two doubles, a homer, four RBI and nearly as many walks (eight) as strikeouts (nine).

“I felt like I was ready to go the previous series, but obviously you want to be cautious,” Correa said. “It’s a long season. I follow the [training staff’s] lead, and I follow their expertise. They told me Chicago is realistic and we’re going to aim at that. We worked and we did everything that we had to do in order for me to prove to them that I was ready.”

The Twins opted to keep Jose Miranda on their big league roster over Martin when they needed to create a roster spot for Correa. Miranda entered Monday with seven hits in his past 13 at-bats, which included three doubles and a homer.

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Miranda “has been able to play more,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “His arm has been built up and able to handle playing third base more often than not. Early on, he really was only playing third, maximum, a couple of times a week while we were getting him into shape.”

Martin, a Twins rookie, produced a .226 batting average and .294 on-base percentage in 22 games with six doubles, a homer, six RBI and two stolen bases. With Correa returning as the Twins’ everyday shortstop, Willi Castro is freed up to play in the utilityman role that Martin filled.

Jhoan Duran arrived in Chicago on Sunday night. The Twins closer is expected to join the bullpen Tuesday after he started the season on the 15-day injured list because of an oblique strain.

Duran made two rehabilitation appearances with St. Paul. In his outing Saturday, he reached 103 mph with his fastball and struck out two of his three batters. Even his off-speed pitches, Baldelli noted, had more velocity than they did throughout spring training.

“I’m in the best spot right now,” Duran said. “In spring training, I opened [my hips] little early. Maybe that’s why I lost my velocity a little bit. Now it’s back.”

The Twins didn’t activate Duran on Monday because they wanted to avoid him pitching three times in four days. If he pitched Monday, along with Saturday’s rehab outing, he likely would’ve been unavailable Tuesday.

The Twins were a popular topic on sports shows Monday, particularly MLB Network, but it was more about their Rally Sausage than their seven-game winning streak.

“It’s very weird, very gross,” Correa said, “but at the same time, it’s working so we’ll stick with it.”

The Twins brought the Cloverdale Foods tangy summer sausage to Chicago — transported in a Ziploc bag inside of a shoe — but they’re planning on introducing a new sausage soon.

“Eventually, we’ll have to switch the sausage out in order to avoid the health department knocking our door down,” said catcher Ryan Jeffers, who was interviewed on MLB Network on Monday about the strangest superstition in baseball.

The Twins are concerned about the wear and tear on the plastic exterior of the sausage, which players have tapped and tossed to one another over the past five games. Players have stopped touching it before every at-bat.

“The season’s too grueling and baseball’s too hard of a sport to not have fun once in a while, right?” Jeffers said.