Within a six-day span starting on June 28, the Saints lost utility man Will Holland to a fractured fibula, utility man Tony Kemp was released and starting shortstop Brooks Lee was called up to the Twins.

All that on the heels of losing infielder Michael Helman to a left hamstring strain on June 17.

In short, manager Toby Gardenhire has been woefully short of available players in recent games, with four losses in the past six games leading up to Thursday night’s game against the Gwinnett Stripers at CHS Field being the result of going short-handed.

“We went through a couple weeks where we had a healthy team — and we won,” Gardenhire said, referring to a recent 11-game winning streak. “But it didn’t last very long. We’re pretty shorthanded right now and we’re just trying to get through it.”

Reinforcements arrived on Thursday.

Second baseman Payton Eeles, who was signed as a minor league free agent on May 7, was called up from High Class-A Cedar Rapids. Relief pitchers Matt Bowman and Diego Castillo also rejoined the team after signing minor-league contracts.

Gardenhire said a team needs at least 12 position players to play at the optimal level. The addition of Eeles gives the Saints 11. Five starting pitchers is ideal, but that would be
considered a luxury for the Saints at this point.

“We’ve had four the last couple weeks and that cuts it pretty thin,” Gardenhire said. “So you have bullpen games. We’ve done a good job with them, because we have a good bullpen. But we’ve had there weeks in a row with bullpen games, so guys start to wear down a little bit. All of a sudden your bullpen isn’t as good as it was before.”

Gardernhire said he’s on the phone with Twins director of player development Drew MacPhail on a daily basis discussing the personnel wants and needs at the various levels of the organization. The needs of the Twins obviously take precedent, but it is becoming increasing difficult to fill in behind players called up to the major leagues.

“The tough thing we have right now is that every level is kind of short-handed,” Gardenhire said. “We’ve had a lot of injuries. A lot of different stuff has happened, to where everyone is kind of searching.”

The 24-year-old Eeles, who played collegiately at Coastal Carolina, started at second base Thursday night and got an infield single in his first at-bat. The Saints are the fourth team he has played for this season, having started the season playing for an independent team in Maryland.

“I’ve worn a lot of uniforms this year already,” he said. “It’s been a crazy two-and-a-half months.”

Thursday was another crazy night for Saints starter Louie Varland. He struggled in the first inning, throwing 42 pitches before Gardenhire made the unusual move of sending Varland out to left field with two outs and the bases loaded and having left fielder Chris Williams come in to pitch.

Williams got the last out of the inning, keeping the Saints’ deficit at 1-0.

Gardenhire sent Varland back to the mound for the top of the second, but, much to his displeasure, the umpires determined that Williams had to face a minimum of three batters
because he didn’t leave the game.

Williams surrendered a walk and a single before Varland returned to the mound. Varland gave up a three-run home run on the first pitch he threw.

The pitching moves also cost the Saints their designated hitter. Varland, hitting seventh in the order, struck out without swinging the bat in the second inning. Varland left the game after
pitching a scoreless third inning.

The Stripers scored six runs in the fourth inning off of Saints reliever Nick Wittgren in the fourth inning. They took a 10-0 lead into the top of the sixth inning and the game was not finished at press time.

Related Articles

Louie Varland focuses on regaining consistency with Saints so he can return to Twins

Bullpen falters, Saints lose game late to Iowa Cubs

Hot-hitting DaShawn Keirsey Jr. collects 3 hits in St. Paul Saints’ 8-2 rout of Iowa Cubs

Keirsey saves Saints from being no-hit

Wallner homers again, but Saints lost 11-9 at Iowa Cubs to snap road winning streak