Jose

Miranda

Miranda missed four weeks after his demotion last month due to a left-hand injury suffered off the field. He’s played every other day since returning last week and gone 1-for-14 with five strikeouts so far. Clearly, it’s going to be a little while longer before he’s a candidate to rejoin the Twins.

The Athletic’s Dan Hayes reports Miranda hurt his hand earlier this week when he dropped a case of water while shopping at Target. It’s one of the more bizarre injuries you’re going to see all season. The problem here is that the Twins are dealing with several injuries at the big-league level and Miranda won’t be an option to replace them.

It’s official. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli is attempting to shake things up after the club’s disastrous 4-11 start to the season. It’s a bit unfair to label Miranda as a scapegoat here since he’s batting .167 with one homers in 12 games and committed a calamitous baserunning error during Saturday’s loss. It’ll be Brooks Lee (back) coming off the injured list to take Miranda’s spot on Minnesota’s roster.

The Twins are apparently ready to make a change at the hot corner after Miranda committed a costly mistake on the basepaths during Saturday’s loss to the Tigers, which dropped Minnesota to 4-11 overall on the young season. Miranda was hitting .167 with one homer and five RBI through 12 games. It’ll be Brooks Lee (back) coming off the injured list to take his roster spot ahead of Sunday’s game.

As much as the Twins are struggling at the moment, the blunder will likely be remembered. After Miranda’s single, Christian Vázquez hit an easy grounder to first that Spencer Torkelson handled and threw to second on. Miranda should have been retired easily, except that Colt Keith was in front of the bag and failed to find it with his back foot. The umpire correctly called Miranda safe, but Miranda assumed he was out and started to return to the dugout, allowing Keith to tag him. It probably didn’t decide the outcome in a 4-0 loss, but it was a bad look from a player hitting just .167/.167/.250 in 36 plate appearances. Miranda, who has started only one of the last four games, is a candidate to be sent down when Brooks Lee returns.

Julien, who didn’t start any of the Twins’ first four games, went 3-for-14 with a double and a walk in the last five contests. Jose Miranda is getting the nod over Julien today, with Willi Castro sliding from third base to second.

Miranda is sitting even though Ty France is getting his first day off of the year, opening up first base. Mickey Gasper was chosen to start there, though. Edouard Julien is making his fifth straight start, so it seems like he’s overtaken Miranda in the Twins’ eyes, even as it very obviously was tilted the other way a week ago. Miranda is off to a 4-for-24 start at the plate, while Julien is 2-for-14.

Miranda delivered the biggest punch during Minnesota’s six-run explosion in the fourth inning by taking Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti deep for a three-run blast. It was his first round-tripper of the season. There’s going to be a logjam once Royce Lewis (hamstring) and Brooks Lee (back) return from the injured list, but Miranda will continue playing everyday until that happens.

Miranda is just 3-for-18 (.167) to start the season with six strikeouts and no walks. He will get the day off with Willi Castro sliding over to third base and Edouard Julien starting at second base.

The Twins couldn’t get anything going through the first 5 2/3 innings against Shane Smith in this one, but they chased him as Byron Buxton and Trevor Larnach worked a pair of two-out walks. Ryan Jeffers, Ty France and Edouard Julien then followed with RBI singles to tie the game before Miranda knocked in a pair with a single of his own to give the Twins a 5-3 lead. The 26-year-old is off to a slow start at the dish this season, hitting .167 (3-for-18) with zero homers and two RBI.