Twins get Caleb Thielbar back, but send Jorge Alcala down to Class AAA St. Paul
DETROIT — The Twins’ doubleheader sweep didn’t come without day-after consequences.
In need of another fresh arm after using seven relievers Saturday, the Twins ended Caleb Thielbar‘s rehabilitation assignment, flew him to Detroit and added him to the active roster.
“It’s great to get Caleb back. He’s been an incredibly reliable member of our team for so long now, and he’s ready,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said before Sunday’s game. “We can use Caleb against almost anyone in almost any situation. He goes out there and just gets outs.”
Well, he got only one of them Sunday and allowed three runs, one of them on Javy Báez’s first homer of the season. But he got nine outs over two games against the Iowa Cubs last week, enough to convince the Twins that he’s no longer affected by the hamstring strain that sidelined him for all of spring training.
“It was frustrating. It just didn’t heal as fast as I thought it was going to,” the 37-year-old lefthander said. “But I’ve thrown four or five live [bullpen sessions], and I felt really good. The two games were just to really lock it in. It felt really good, so hopefully I’ll be able to keep it going.”
The flip side of the transaction, though, is that someone had to go — in this case righthander Jorge Alcalá, who threw 22 pitches, more than any other reliever but long man Cole Sands, on Saturday. Alcala, who was credited with the victory in the Twins’ 11-5, 12-inning victory in the doubleheader opener, was optioned back to Class AAA St. Paul despite not having given up an earned run in his 8⅓ innings this season.
“He did a good job for us. He got the job done [Saturday] in a pretty tough spot,” Baldelli said. “It’s hard when someone gets the job done for you and then you’ve got to talk to him after the game about something like that. … Some of it is really out of your control.”
Baldelli said Alcala’s stint with the Saints will give him time to work on getting ahead of hitters — his first-pitch strike percentage is only 55.2% this year — and entering games with peak velocity, rather than working his way up to it.
Missing the cutoff man
We’ll never know, Baldelli said, whether the Tigers’ Mark Canha would have scored Sunday’s game-winning run from second base on Spencer Torkelson’s bloop single. That’s because, when rookie Austin Martin fielded Canha’s double into the left-field corner, his relay to the infield sailed over third baseman Kyle Farmer‘s head and allowed Canha to take third.
“We just try to keep the throws down. So any throw that’s not down and able to be cut by anyone is something we try to avoid,” Baldelli said. “I wasn’t watching that thinking [it was a glaring mistake], but he needs to throw it to somebody and not just let the baserunners keep running.”
Saints outslug Cubs
Yunior Severino drove in five runs as the St. Paul Saints jumped out to an eight-run lead and held off the Iowa Cubs 13-11 in International League play at CHS Field on Sunday. Diego Castillo and Chris Williams also homered for the Saints (7-7), who collected 17 hits off four pitchers for Iowa (9-6).
