Minnesota Twins Lose Valuable Part of Lineup to Injury as Stretch Run Hits

The Minnesota Twins are now without Alek Kirilloff as he hits the injured list with a shoulder problem.

The Minnesota Twins will enter the stretch run without one of their most valuable lineup contributors.

The team, which heads into Sunday's game action up by 1.5 games in the American League Central, has placed Alex Kirilloff on the injured list with a shoulder problem.

The following comes from the Rotowire fantasy baseball portal:

The Twins placed Kirilloff on the 10-day injured list Sunday with a right shoulder strain.

ANALYSIS
According to Audra Martin of Bally Sports North, Kirilloff had been bothered by the shoulder for the past week and even sat out Wednesday's 8-7 loss to the Mariners because of the issue. After a team off day Thursday, Kirilloff returned to the lineup for the first two games of the Twins' series in Kansas City, but he didn't come out of Saturday's 10-7 loss feeling well and will now be deactivated as a result, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com. Manager Rocco Baldelli is optimistic that Kirilloff will avoid a long-term absence...While Kirilloff is on the shelf, the Twins will likely turn to Donovan Solano and Joey Gallo to pick up most of the starts at first base.

For a Twins team that strikes out a lot and doesn't do much to sustain offensive rallies without the homer, losing Kirilloff at this time of the year is a tough blow.

He's put together a nice season, hitting .270 with a .357 on-base percentage. He's also got eight homers and 32 RBI.

The Twins take on the Royals on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 2:10 p.m. ET as Kenta Maeda (MIN) pitches against Ryan Yarbrough (KC).

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