dozier’s detour

The road back to The Show may not be easy for Brian Dozier. The Southern Miss product, sent down to Triple-A Rochester by Minnesota early last week, slipped while making a play on Saturday night and left the game limping. He is 2-for-15 in his four games with the Red Wings. Dozier’s promotion to the Twins earlier this season generated a lot of excitement in the Twin Cities, but the highly rated shortstop prospect had begun to falter in recent weeks. When he was sent down, he was batting .234 with six home runs and 33 RBIs in 84 games. The bigger concern, however, seemed to be his defense. He had made 15 errors and many mental mistakes, as well. “(H)e needs to go relax a little bit and get his swing back to where it was,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “He was frustrated with it at times, carrying that swing out there to defense.” Dozier could be recalled when rosters expand in September, but there is no guarantee. P.S. Former Hillcrest Christian and Ole Miss standout Seth Smith is likely to return to the Oakland roster early this week. Smith was batting .237 with 11 homers when he went down with a hamstring injury about two weeks ago. … Taylorsville product Billy Hamilton swiped his 143rd base for Double-A Pensacola on Saturday night, leaving him two shy of tying Vince Coleman’s pro record of 145. The Blue Wahoos come to Trustmark Park in Pearl on Friday.