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A bit of good news! After a elongated absence from baseball, the Minnesota Twins will be hitting the road again. Games will resume pretty quickly from the sounds of it, according to Betsy Helfand of the St Paul Pioneer Press:
The Twins have no new positives from this round of COVID-19 testing, a source confirmed. They're traveling up to Oakland tonight and their doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow.
— Betsy Helfand (@betsyhelfand) April 20, 2021
There is no word yet on how the rest of the series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will be made up (if it will be made up, that is). However, the Twins will face the Oakland Athletics tomorrow in a straight doubleheader starting at 530p Central time. This means two seven-inning games will be played back-to-back with a short break in the middle. Plan to get the coffee ready - or some adult beverages, whatever you want to choose, I don’t judge - for some late-night baseball.
Beyond the roster move of sending Andrelton Simmons to the COVID Injured List, only one move has been officially made since the pause button was pushed. The Twins have optioned Lewis Thorpe in favor of Devin Smeltzer. Smeltzer will be on the 2021 roster for the first time while Thorpe started the only game Minnesota played against the Angels, doing a decent job from the bump (4.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, BB, 2 K). Kyle Garlick has tested positive as well and with the doubleheader tomorrow (meaning a 27th player can be called up), a few roster moves are in store.
Get your typing fingers ready, everyone - we’ll have game threads for you tomorrow night!