The Twins have recalled infielder Alexi Cassilla from Class AAA Rochester and have optioned infielder Matt Tolbert to Rochester.

Casilla homered in his first at-bat on Sunday before being pulled from Rochester’s game against Lehigh Valley. He was batting .340 in 40 games before the call up.

This will be Casilla’s third stint with the Twins, who could use his bat and not the mental laspes that led to him being demoted twice this year.

“He’s a heck of a talent and a big part of our success last year,” Twins catcher Joe Mauer said. “Hopefully, he can help us out.”

While Casilla is expected to return to second base, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said that he will find time for both Nick Punto and Brendan Harris at shortstop.

Casilla also is expected to return to the No. 2 hole in the batting order. Twins hitters are batting .191 in that spot - when they don’t wear No. 7 on their jersey.

The Twins are expected to add a 12th pitcher in time for Friday’s series opener in Texas.

Class AA New Britain closer Anthony Slama has been named the Twins minor league player of the week after going three-for-three in save opportunities.

Jim Thome’s homer in the sixth was the 555th of his career.

Mike Redmond broke a 0-for-16 skid with a single in the second.

Carlos Gomez had a career high five RBI

Joe Mauer had a career high four strikeouts.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 12th, 2009 at 4:58 pm and is filed under Breaking news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.