Twins put Perkins on DL, recall lefty Rogers

By foxsports
Published

When it rains, it pours for the Minnesota Twins.

The Twins, still looking for their first victory of the 2016 season, placed closer Glen Perkins on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday with a left posterior shoulder strain. The move is retroactive to April 11.

To take Perkins' place on the roster, Minnesota recalled left-handed pitcher Taylor Rogers from Triple-A Rochester. An 11th-round pick in the 2012 draft, Rogers has yet to appear in a major-league game. Rogers made one relief appearance for Rochester this season, pitching two scoreless innings. In his minor-league career, Rogers has 93 games with 85 starts and a 3.27 ERA. Last season with Rochester he was 11-12 with a 3.98 ERA and 1.345 WHIP.

"It kind of has a feeling of I plugged one hole in the dam and another hole opened up," Perkins said before the Twins hosted Chicago on Wednesday. "Thankfully my back and all those things feel good right now. It's frustrating. I've done a lot of shoulder work this spring and stretching and making sure that I stay loose and that I keep the flexibility, because that's something that I have to battle as I get older."

The injury was initially diagnosed as a strain of the rotator-cuff muscles. Perkins said he was told he has some fraying of his labrum, too. He was still working on a treatment plan with the team's medical staff, but he said he won't throw for at least a week.

"Whether it was the amount of pitches he threw over the course of two days, you can speculate all you want," manager Paul Molitor said. "But we've been assured that he'd been feeling fine."

Perkins appeared in just two games this season, both against Kansas City. On April 9 he allowed two hits and one walk with two strikeouts in one inning. The next day he was charged with a blown save after allowing two runs on three hits -- with one strikeout -- in one inning.

In 2015, neck and back injuries curtailed Perkins' season and he struggled in the second half with a 7.32 ERA after the All-Star break. Kevin Jepsen took over Perkins' closer role and that is expected to be the case again.