With two starters — Pablo López and Zebby Matthews — already hurt by the time Bailey Ober landed on the injured list himself, the Twins’ rotation depth has gotten tested over the last month.
David Festa and Simeon Woods Richardson have already been called up to fill spots in the rotation and one other potential option, Andrew Morris, is on the Triple-A injured list himself. So, when the Twins needed a replacement for Ober, they opted for a bullpen day on Saturday and ended up riding that group to a walk-off 6-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
“The bullpen likes to take pride in helping out wherever we can,” said Cole Sands, who started the game. “By Louie Varland (throwing two innings) yesterday and me and Danny (Coulombe) starting early today and then (Jhoan) Duran doing what he did, it shows that we care a lot and we want to keep winning.”
After Sands and Coulombe each tossed a scoreless inning to begin the day, the Twins turned to Travis Adams — who was making his major league debut — for much of the game.
Adams, a starter whom the Twins have been shortening up and throwing every four days in the minor leagues this season this season, went four innings taking them through the middle innings of the game.
“I had a blast,” Adams said. “I thought I was going to be more nervous, more adrenaline, but I felt like I was pretty calm for what I was expecting.”
The rookie did give up five runs on nine hits in his debut, but he gave the Twins four innings, which is what manager Rocco Baldelli said was “exactly” what they thought they would get from him.
From there, the Twins turned it over to Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran, who threw two scoreless innings. Duran pitched over a two-out double in the eighth inning, stranding a pair of runners on base (the other was intentionally walked) and in the ninth, he left a pair of runners in scoring position, a big escape that kept the game tied.
“The bullpen day and the performances that our guys gave us doing something that they don’t do every day was really good,” Baldelli said. “The guys that came in early did a great job in Cole and Danny and also the guys that came in great did a really nice job, too. It was really a team effort.”
All-Star announcement
Major League Baseball will unveil the full rosters for the upcoming All-Star Game on Sunday at 4 p.m. on ESPN.
Byron Buxton would appear to be a lock to represent the Twins in the game, which will take place in his home state of Georgia. Buxton, who scored the game-winning run on Saturday, is hitting .268 with a .869 OPS and 19 home runs and 52 runs driven in. Buxton led American League center fielders in OPS and fWAR (Wins Above Replacement per FanGraphs), among things, entering Saturday.
It seems the bigger question is if any of his teammates will join him in Atlanta.
Joe Ryan has strong credentials and would seemingly be a candidate. In 17 games this season, Ryan has posted a 2.75 ERA, good for ninth among AL starters entering the day. Jhoan Duran and his 1.56 ERA stand a chance, too. It would be the first trip to the Midsummer Classic for either.
As always, not being named to the team on Sunday does not shut the door on a potential nod, as Willi Castro experienced last year. More players, pitchers especially, usually get added to the roster after the initial announcement.
Briefly
Saturday’s game started after a 15-minute rain delay. The tarp was placed on the field shortly before the game was supposed to begin and removed just minutes later. … The Twins will send Ryan to the mound on Sunday to face off against Drew Rasmussen, who has a 2.78 ERA on the season.
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