Alex Kirilloff pushing wrist rehab to see if he can play without surgery

Alex Kirilloff took batting practice Sunday ahead of the Twins' 7-6 loss to Oakland at Target Field.

The rookie progressed from swings in Chicago last week, hitting off a tee and soft toss as he works to recover from a right wrist sprain. The injury, which Kirilloff declined to specify, has sidelined him on the 10-day injury list since May 4 and required a visit to a hand specialist.

But the rehab isn't quite straightforward.

"I'm just encouraged right now with how it's felt so far. Apparently, it's something that has been able to be managed before, and it's basically just what kind of symptoms that you're having," the first baseman/outfielder said. "It doesn't sound to me like something that you can make worse with using it and trying to go for it in terms of overall health and wrist health. So I feel comfortable just trying to push it as long as I don't have any heavy symptoms while doing it."

In addition to some of the swing work, Kirilloff has also been able to run, lift, throw and practice some outfield and fielding skills. He planned to take batting practice on the field Monday before ramping up to higher-velocity and off-speed pitches. In the next week or so, Kirilloff said he should know what his next step is.

The hope is he can return on a rehab assignment feeling close to 100% before eventually rejoining the team.

"I wouldn't really want to go out there if I felt like I couldn't be effective, and I think that's just part of being a professional and something that comes along with that," Kirilloff said, adding he had another right wrist injury, albeit it in a different area, in 2019 and played through that. "I wouldn't want to put my teammates or my team in jeopardy just because I wanted to go out and play to play. I wouldn't get out there unless I felt like I could be effective playing."

Surgery, though, is potentially in the future. It could be as soon as the next couple weeks, depending on Kirilloff's comfort in playing through any soreness or stiffness. Kirilloff said the doctors won't know the recovery time for that until they go in and see it. But it could be anywhere form weeks to months.

"If I can play and manage it now, great. But if I'm still feeling it a little bit, I'm probably going to get it surgically taken care of maybe at the beginning of an offseason," Kirilloff said. " … Or even a better scenario, there have been scenarios before where people just leave it alone because they just don't feel a need. It just depends. Time will tell."

In-game injuriesThe Twins had three players deal with in-game injuries Sunday.

Willians Astudillo, making his first start of the season at catcher, took a pitch off his glove hand in his first plate appearance in the second inning. Astudillo was visibly in pain, though he managed to stay in the game. But by his next time up an inning later, he struggled to grip and hold on to the bat, and Ben Rortvedt replaced him behind the plate in the fourth inning. Manager Rocco Baldelli said the left hand contusion caused swelling and bruising.

Starting pitcher Kenta Maeda stayed in the game into the fifth inning despite dealing with groin tightness.

"He was adamant that he not only could pitch with it, but he's actually dealt with this a little bit over the course of his career and has pitched with it and pitched successfully," Baldelli said. " … Visually to the eye, I couldn't tell that much difference [from the injury]. Maybe a tick on his fastball down at that point in the game."

Max Kepler bowed out in the ninth inning after carrying the team offensively for much of the game with his three-run homer in the second inning, sacrifice fly in the fourth and double in the eighth ahead of Andrelton Simmons' home run. Rob Refsnyder stepped in for him — his first major league game in center field.

"Kep tweaked his hammy running the bases later on in the game," Baldelli said. "And he tested it out, he was downstairs running, but there was concern that if he had to open it up and really cut it loose, that he would not be able to do that."

All three received treatment after Sunday's game, and the team will evaluate them again Monday.