Playing baseball is always fun, Matt Wallner said, but the Twins outfielder acknowledged Sunday that it’s more fun when you’re hitting.

“Wasn’t as fun at the beginning of the year,” he said.

That’s because after making the big leagues out of training camp this spring, the slugger from Forest Lake went cold — two hits, three walks and 17 strikeouts in 13 games before he was sent back to Class AAA St. Paul.

Wallner, 26, was back in the Twins’ clubhouse and lineup for Sunday’s afternoon start against the Houston Astros, batting eighth and playing left field in his first major-league game since April 15. He was recalled after the Twins placed Austin Martin on the injured list with an oblique strain suffered during a pinch-hit appearance on Friday.

And while Wallner says he didn’t change much with his swing, something certainly clicked in St. Paul, where he has been nearly as hot as Jose Miranda, the Twins infielder who tied the major-league record with his 12th hit in 12 at-bats in Saturday’s 9-3 victory over the Astros.

“It’s been fun, that’s for sure,” Wallner said, “and that’s been a nice relief.”

Wallner was the International League’s player of the month for June after hitting .324 with 12 home runs, 28 RBIs and 27 runs scored. In three games with the Saints in July, he was 6 for 12 with three doubles, an RBI and run scored.

“All of the things he was challenged to do, he took it to heart and he went to work,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He looks good right now and he’s earned his opportunity to come back to the big leagues and play.”

Asked if he had made many changes to his swing, Wallner said, “Nothing crazy.” Mostly it was simplifying what he already was doing. He finished the regular season strong with the Twins in 2023, hitting .284 with four home runs and 15 RBIs in September before making the postseason roster.

“Honestly, I just feel like I did the second half of last year, versus the beginning of the year, (when) I did not — at all, for whatever reason,” he said. “I didn’t even necessarily feel like I was hot (in St. Paul); I just felt comfortable at the plate, and felt like I was hitting pitches that I had been missing.”

Pinch pinch

Martin said he was injured during a pinch-hitting appearance in Friday’s 13-12 loss to Houston, a single that was part of a seven-run, ninth-inning rally.

A magnetic resonance imaging exam revealed a mild oblique strain, something new for the outfielder, and he was shut down. Martin said he doesn’t anticipate being out long.

“I just felt some tightness and some pain,” he said. “It wasn’t anything initially that was alarming to me, but it was something that I’ve never felt before. I just wanted to go in and bring attention to it. That was it.”

Acquired with Simeon Woods Richardson in the 2021 deadline trade that sent Jose Berrios to Toronto, Martin, 25, is hitting .265 with a home run, nine RBIs and 27 runs scored in 47 games this season.

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