There was good, if not definitive news, regarding a pair of right-handed relievers the Twins were counting on not just to pitch this season, but pitch well.
Brock Stewart, who has been lights-out when he pitches, had a successful live bullpen session before Friday night’s game against the Houston Astros at Target Field and appears close to a rehab assignment.
Justin Topa, who has yet to pitch for Minnesota since being acquired in the deal that sent Jorge Polanco to Seattle in January, will throw a bullpen Saturday morning and said his injured left knee feels better since getting a platelet-rich plasma injection in mid-May.
Topa, who was diagnosed with a partial tear in his patella tendon, had the PRP injection his first attempt at rehab was unsuccessful. Last season in Seattle, he had a 2.61 earned-run average and 1.145 WHIP in 75 innings pitched.
Topa, 33, doesn’t appear all that close to pitching with the Twins, but closer.
“It’s been feeling really good up to this point,” Topa said Friday.
Stewart, 32, seems closer.
Since being promoted to the big-league club last season, he is 2-0 with an 0.61 ERA and 1.073 WHIP for the Twins. Last year, he was limited to 29 appearances because of elbow soreness. He started this with 13⅓ scoreless innings but hasn’t pitched since April 29 because of tendinitis in his right shoulder.
Stewart, however, threw 20 pitches to live hitters before Friday night’s game and came off the mound feeling good, even if he did plunk Kyle Farmer on the shoulder.
“He said it’s all good, but it’s not all good,” Stewart said. “I don’t need to be hitting my teammates.”
The good news is his velocity was up between 95 and 96 mph, up from 90 to 92 mph his first time back on a mound. Before being hurt, Stewart was averaging 97 mph on his four-seamer and sinker, and hitting 98 and 100 on the radar.
“Hopefully, it will keep ticking up to where it was,” he said Friday. “At the end of the day, I just want to be healthy and help the team, and I think I can help the team if I’m 95, 96. Obviously, 99 to 100, that would be great, but I just want to be able to pitch and then the next day come in here and be ready to pitch again.”
That would be great for the Twins, whose plans for this season featured Stewart and Topa playing big roles in the bullpen.
Manager Rocco Baldelli said he didn’t know what Twins trainer Nick Paparesta and pitching coach Pete Maki had in mind for Stewart before adding, “But he’s going on a rehab assignment at some point. When that is, I don’t have at the moment.”
“We’re going to have him continue throwing at a high level,” the manager continued. “We’re going to have to like what we see. He’s going to have to face some hitters in a live-game situation. And then we’ll hopefully be able to bring him back. I think we’re getting towards that point, but I can’t tell you when he’s pitching.”
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