KANSAS CITY, MO. — Rocco Baldelli might have left Pablo López in to finish off the final out of seventh inning on Thursday if the rules replay had taken, say, 45 seconds instead of more than 10 minutes.
But a lengthy delay eventually forced him to turn the ball over to reliever Griffin Jax, who required just one pitch to get out of the inning. When the eighth inning rolled around, Jax trotted back to the mound.
It was just the second time this season — the other coming on May 8 — that the Twins have asked Jax, whom López described as “the best reliever in baseball,” to throw more than an inning. And it might be something the Twins do more often with Jax, who entered Friday with a 1.89 ERA, as the games get increasingly important in the final month of the regular season.
“I would bet in September, it’s going to happen,” Baldelli said days earlier. “You always want to keep pitching your guys and you want to keep pitching your best pitchers even more, especially when you’ve lost some games recently. … I can see him going back out there in a lot of situations in September.”
After retiring his first batter on just one pitch, Jax said he figured he’d be called upon for the eighth inning, as well, even though it hasn’t been something he’s been asked to do recently.
While getting two “ups” might be a little different than what he’s been accustomed to, Jax has experience doing it in the past. He did it quickly on Thursday, needing just 13 pitches to collect his four outs.
“I just try to stay mentally locked in,” Jax said. “Thankfully, it was a pretty quick inning on offense. You never want to say we didn’t make any noise in the top of the eighth, but it kind of helped me out a little bit to stay locked in a little bit longer. It was a normal lane that I was going to go face anyway. I just reviewed those guys, went back out there and tried to keep pounding the zone.”
Varland shifts to bullpen
The assumption for some time now is that the Twins would eventually shift Louie Varland to a bullpen role. A couple injuries to starters in their rotation potentially delayed that slightly.
The Twins have been prepping him for it recent days. In his last outing at Triple-A, Varland came out of the bullpen and threw, essentially, a whole start. He came on in relief on Wednesday against Tampa Bay in his return to the majors and was hit hard, giving up eight runs in 2 1/3 innings pitched.
Now, the Twins have confirmed that their plans are to use Varland in relief down the stretch, a role he excelled in last year.
“It’s late in the year. Things can change. One injury to anyone on our team changes everybody’s role so we never tie our hands in that sense, but right now, we’re going to get him in some shorter stints in the bullpen and see if that can help us in a few different ways,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I think he could be a really nice force in our bullpen.”
The Twins’ bullpen has been hit by injuries — Brock Stewart, Justin Topa and Kody Funderburk are all out — and has been reshaped recently by roster moves. Adding Varland, Baldelli said, will “support some of our other late-inning guys in some really good ways.”
Briefly
Baldelli said Byron Buxton was still being re-evaluated after feeling hip discomfort during a rehab game on Wednesday night in St. Paul and did not have a further update on his status. … Bailey Ober will start on Saturday for the Twins against Kansas City. That game will be aired on FOX.
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