DETROIT — Joey Gallo has twice been a Gold Glove defender, but power has always been his calling card. From 2017-2021, the big left-handed bat averaged 35.1 homers with an .830 OPS and made two All-Star Game appearances.
But the Twins outfielder/first baseman said before Sunday’s afternoon game against the Tigers at Comerica Park that he doesn’t feel pressure to hit home runs.
“It’s always nice to hit them and stuff, but I don’t ever feel pressured to do it,” he said. “For me, I feel pressure that I want to put the ball in play and have success that way, and do damage in terms of slugging and hitting doubles and getting on base and having good at-bats.”
Still, it was with some relief that Gallo slugged a home run to straight-away center field in Saturday night’s 3-2 loss to the Tigers. It was his first home run since May 20, covering 19 games.
“The last few games hadn’t gone the way I would have liked them to,” he said. “Just trying to get back on track and help the team where I can. Yeah, it felt good to hit one out.”
Manager Rocco Baldelli said Sunday that Gallo can “carry a team at the plate by himself, when you look up and a guy has two or three or four home runs in less than a week, he’s capable of doing that. He’s had many weeks like that in his career.”
Certainly Gallo’s bat has made a difference for Minnesota, which holds a two-game lead on Cleveland in the American League Central. From March 30 to May 20, Gallo hit 11 home runs and had a .911 OPS, at the end of which the Twins were 25-21 and had a 3 1/2-game division lead.
Over the next 19 games, Gallo hit .125 with two doubles, an RBI, a .440 OPS and, in the slugger’s own words, “a lot of (flippin’) strikeouts.” Thirty-two, to be exact, and he had two more on Sunday to bring his season total to 79. That’s always been a part of Gallo’s game.
“I swing hard,” he said. “I get pitched to strike out, as well. So I think all this is sometimes part of the equation. … At some point, you get hot, and this stretch doesn’t really matter anymore.”
With the Twins struggling to string wins together, they can use a hot streak from Gallo. After going 2 for 3 in Detroit, the Twins (40-39) were set to leave for road series at Atlanta (49-27) and Baltimore (46-29).
“Hopefully, him hitting the home run against a left-hander and finding himself in that way, that gets him where he needs to be,” Baldelli said. “He’s not going to stop working. I mean, he’s always looking for what he needs to do next. He’ll keep going.”
De León to IL
Right-handed pitcher José De León was sent back to Minneapolis on Sunday to get his right elbow examined. He was throwing warm-up pitches in the eighth inning on Saturday when he grabbed his elbow and raced off the mound.
He was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right flexor muscle strain, but the Twins weren’t sure of the exact nature, or severity, of the injury on Sunday morning.
“There is no reason to speculate on anything. Obviously, it doesn’t look great,” Baldelli said. “He’s got some sort of arm issue going on. Other than that, we don’t actually know exactly what is going on in there. We’ll know soon.”
As a top prospect for the Tampa Bay Rays, De León, 30, had surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow in March 2018 and missed all of that season. It’s been a long road to the majors since, 17 big league appearances combined in Tampa and Cincinnati before he made 12 appearances with the Twins this season.
Baldelli talked to the reliever before he left for Minnesota.
“There is no way around it being emotional,” the manager said. “He’s had ups and downs in his career. This is obviously something he’s gone through before in one way or the other. You feel for him.”
Briefly
Byron Buxton, who left Saturday’s game in the sixth inning with back spasms, pinch hit for Gallo in the eighth inning, grounding out to short. … To take De León’s place on the active roster, the Twins recalled right-hander Josh Winder from Class AAA St. Paul.
