MINNEAPOLIS _ Rich Hill threw five shutout innings against St. Louis in his Twins debut on July 29, then disappeared.
A slightly sore shoulder forced the 40-year old Hill out of action until Wednesday. So the Twins hope the crafty lefty could pick up where he left off while easing his way back into the rotation.
"We're hoping he goes out and pitches like he normally would and get us into the middle of the game," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said before the game, "and hopefully we can win the game because he's pitched well and gotten us to that point."
The first two innings were an extension of the first five he threw against St. Louis.
The third inning showed that he has a little ways to go to rediscover the sharpness he had.
Hill was knocked out in the third inning as the Brewers blasted their way to a 9-3 victory over the Twins in the second game of the three-game series at Target Field. Milwaukee took an 8-1 lead in the middle innings, powered by three home runs.
Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Rich Hill heads to the dugout after he was pulled in the third inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewer
Brewers lefthander Brett Anderson took the big lead and ran with it, holding the Twins to one run over six innings. It got so out of hand than Twins infielder Ehire Adrianza was given the ball to pitch the ninth inning.
To make matters worse, the Twins lost starting catcher Mitch Garver midway through the game.
Garver struck out in the sixth inning while attempting to hit a break ball that was down and away. While doing so, he dropped to one knee and grabbed his right side before slowly walking back to the dugout. It was unknown exactly what happened to Garver, but it was enough that Alex Avila had to slip on his gear to take the field in the top of the seventh.
The club announced that Garver left the game with right side sorness and will be re-evaluated. He's batting .154 with one home run and two RBI, a horrendous start after he blasted 31 home runs last season.
The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the second when Miguel Sano doubled and Eddie Rosario followed with an RBI single. Hill needed just 16 pitches to get through the first two innings and retired the first two batters of the third before he lost his command.
He walked Oswaldo Arcia then gave up a two-run home run to Ryan Braun, walked Cristian Yelich, and gave up a single to Keston Hiura.
Replays showed that he struck out Jedd Gyorko with a 3-2 curveball, but homeplate umpire Ed Hickox called it a ball. A clearly frustrated Hill received a visit from pitching coach Wes Johnson.
The result: Avisail Garcia lined a two-run single to left as Milwaukee took a 4-1 lead. That brought Baldelli out to the mound. After throwing 16 pitches in the first two innings, Hill threw 37 in the third and fell short of getting three outs.
The Twins hoped Hill could pitch into the middle innings, but the clunker of a third inning forced the bullpen door to swing open earlier than planned. Caleb Thielbar got four outs in relief of Hill, and Baldelli then handed the ball to the third lefthander of the night, Lewis Thorpe.
Braun singled and Yelich homered to left. Milwaukee led 6-1, as Yelich looked ready to emerge from a season-long slump and Braun dialed the clock back four years. Three batters later, Garcia blasted a pitch out to left for a two-run homer that tried to puncture a hole in the tarp covering the seats.
The rout was on. Yelich's homer had an exit velocity of 104.9 miles per hour, Garcia's was 107.2 mph. And Justin Smoak hit a double later in the inning that was clocked at 105.3 mph.
Thorpe was sent back out for the sixth, as the Twins attempted to protect some of their bullpen arms.
